I've never read Sarah Pekanen, but after GONE TONIGHT I will read her other books. Why? Because I found this thriller unique and a refreshing change from many thrillers out there.

Catherine and her mom Ruth tell their stories in alternating chapters. Pekanen keeps the pace and tension going with Catherine's distrust of her mother and Ruth's big secret that keeps them on the run. Catherine no longer can stand the life they lead or her mother's secretiveness so she starts investigating where they're from and her mother's past. The thrills mount as Ruth because of her past puts them both in danger. The ending put me on pins and needles and I wasn't sure how the author could possibly wrap this up successfully. But she does!

I listened to this on Audible and I have to say my biggest problem was the narrator. She didn't even try to make the voices different and at times I wasn't sure who was telling the story. About half way through I caught on, but please! Next time, use a different and more professional narrator for an otherwise great story.

Thank you to Sarah Pakkanen, #MacMillanAudio and #NetGalley for a free audio book in return for an honest review.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to listen and review this audio.

This audio was clear and paced well. I found the narrow stir to be engaging and I found the overall audio to be exhilarating!

How far do you go to keep your kid safe? Do you protect them from the knowledge they are in danger? What happens when they start out into adulthood and starting their very own independent path
?
Sarah Pekkanen's thrillers, which she typically coauthors with Greer Hendricks, are captivating and hard to put down. When I saw Pekkanen was releasing a solo book, I was intrigued. When I read the synopsis, my interest deepened and when I saw that Kate Mara would be narrating the audiobook, I knew I had to listen
- it was a great audio, very atmospheric, with viewpoint distinctly switching between mother and daughter.
The storyline did not disappoint. The plot was fresh and different - a great domestic thriller. This book focuses on a very exclusive and solitary mother-daughter bond forged by a string of moves.
Catherine is 24 years old and very close to her mother, Ruth, a 41-year-old who always seems overly concerned about her daughter's whereabouts and acquaintances.
Catherine doesn't know about Ruth's past and soon, the secrets that Ruth has worked so hard to keep hidden start to bubbling up. This is a gripping, emotional tale of motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, dark secrets, and fear.
I enjoyed listening to this riveting tale.

I’ve read a couple books by the writing team of Hendricks and Pekkanen, which I both enjoyed. This is the first book I’ve read by Pekkanen alone and one thing I’m learning is; Sarah knows how to write characters whose looks are deceiving!!! I love how you can’t trust your first impression with them.

The story begins with Catherine Sterling who has recently learned her mother is in the early stages of dementia. From day one it’s been just Catherine and her mother, Ruth. Ruth’s past has always been a mystery to her daughter, and she is the only family she knows. Now that her mother is losing her memory, Catherine is desperate to learn as much about her mother’s life and past as she can before it is lost to them both forever.

As she begins to take a closer look at her mother, she realizes things may not be as they always appeared. Her mother has been deceiving her and she becomes desperate to discover why.

This story was extremely well crafted. Reading each chapter was like peeling a new layer off of an onion. It certainly had my attention and kept me guessing. It demonstrates the lengths a mother will go to for her child and how little we can actually know about those we are closest to and think we know best.

This was an excellent thriller! I don’t think I ever read this author, despite having a few of her books on my shelves, and I’m absolutely going to change that!


While it was a slow burn, the pacing was just right that it didn’t drag like they can sometimes. I loved the complex characters, the multiple POV and the dual timeline which I think are my holy trinity when it comes to a thriller.


Overall a really solid read with a truly suspenseful vibe that kept me invested as I was eager to uncover each of the mother/daughter duo’s secrets as the past and present events were revealed.

I was excited to listen to Gone Tonight when I learned that it was narrated by the actress Kate Mara from House of Cards. But I was quite surprised at the lack of acting done by Mara who portrayed the characters of Catherine Sterling and her mother, Ruth. In fact, every chapter felt the same instead of two stories from two distinct characters. I found myself having to rewind the chapters to follow along and figure out whose story I was listening to.

For this being a thriller, the audio initially lacked suspense. There was a lot of set up. That said, I did enjoy the story once the secrets started to come out. But the beginning was a bit too slow.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy via the NetGalley app.

Wow wow wow! Intensity hummed in this book from beginning to end, I ended up pacing while reading. Loved it so much!
The narrator did a great job creating the tension.

Mini synopsis: Catherine knows who her mother is, keeps to herself & works hard. But when she’s ready to move on to a life of her own, her mother suddenly starts becoming forgetful. Her actions make Catherine second guess everything she thought she knew.

Slowwwww burn! That can sum up this book in a few short words. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, just know that there’s a lot of setup, lots of questioning & a lot of what is going on here! I enjoyed the slow unfolding, pulling back layers & layers of deceit. Ruth (the mom) is telling Catherine her story thru a journal, which I questioned the whole time as is this the truth? I found myself just as confused as Catherine with what to believe. However, the past & present timeline came together nicely & answered a lot of questions i had.

I think the author did this very well, placing just enough breadcrumbs to keep you wanting to know more! While I wouldn’t say this is completely “thrilling” I will say there’s a lot of “suspense” to keep you reading on! Unpopular opinion but I enjoyed this more than Behind Her Eyes!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan for the advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review!

If you haven’t read this book or at least picked it up since publication day, go pick it up now!! This book was so good and kept me turning the pages and not wanting to put it down! I loved the twists and turns that Pekkanen incorporated throughout the book. This book was told in a dual timeline and I felt like that was perfect for the storyline because it allowed the readers to slowly figure out what happened in the past and how all of that is connected to the present day!

This is one I listened to for about half of the book while we were driving back from the beach and I am so glad that I did! I loved the narrators voice and it kept me so engaged throughout the readings. I also didn’t feel like it was that confusing with the dual timeline in the audio version like some audiobooks have been for me. It was one that I could definitely keep track of and understand what all was going on!

Definitely one I would recommend if you are looking for a suspenseful and gripping novel!

Catherine is a young woman about to leave home to begin a promising nursing career when she learns that her mother is developing dementia. It's always been just the two of them, so she begins to reconsider her plans in order to care for her mother. That description makes it seem like this will be a family drama novel. It is, but also it is so much more. Yet I don't want to spoil the numerous twists and turns that are part of this very intriguing book! All I can say is that it was a riveting story that had a great plot! Check it out!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending this audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This was my favorite by the author so far! The writing was solid, the characters engaging and the story moved along at a good pace. A great weekend read!

𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐁𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐏𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 / 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟖.𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑


I know this one has gotten a lot of love recently, and rightly so, it’s great! I won’t go into all the details here and you can always read the synopsis on Goodreads. Plus, I feel the less you know, the more you’ll enjoy it, as secrets start to be revealed.

If you enjoy the following, don’t miss this one:
🔹psychological thriller
🔹mother/daughter dynamic
🔹dual POV
🔹journal entries
🔹secret past
🔹what would you do for family?

I listened to the gifted audiobook - thank you to @macmillan.audio - and the narration by #katemara was excellent.

This is one of those books that's difficult to describe (or review) without giving too much away. There's a lot going on with the mother/daughter team of Ruth and Catherine - the publisher's blurb makes that clear. They've always been a "you and me against the world" team, and Catherine hasn't given too much thought to why their life has been that way, and accepted the answers Ruth gave her when she did ask. Then Catherine learns something that makes her question everything, and we're off on an interesting ride.
I liked this one a lot, even though at times it took a bit of suspension of disbelief. It jumps back and forth in time, but it wasn't difficult to keep up with where we were on the timeline. The bits and pieces of Ruth's story are revealed slowly over the course of the book and the tension ratchets up at a nice even pace. In the end it's the story of the lengths a mother will go to to protect her daughter. The audio version is well done, and Kate Mara's narration is excellent.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

This was such a great listen. I loved listening to it and I could not stop listening. It had me on the edge of my seat to see what would happen.

I couldn’t get into this one as much as I’d love to. It felt very predictable and I just didn’t love it. I struggled to connect with the characters.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to Sara Pekkanen's newest novel.

WHAT A RIDE. I'll be honest from the description of the book and the first couple chapters I was not sure what I was in for. It seemed more like just a novel telling the story of a mother and daughter. But after a few chapters and the journal entries from the mom's life before. I was hooked! I needed to know more and was so invested on watching the story unfold.

Kate Mara was an awesome voice for this. I just wish she would have been the daughter's voice and we could have had a second voice read the mom's POV. There were a couple times were I had to pause and go whose POV am I on.

Thanks again! Definitely recommend this one!

Let me start by saying I usually like books by this author and her writing partner, however this book failed to captivate me and honestly, left me confused.

1. There were too many plot holes and too many times you had to suspend reality to follow the storyline.
2. Gone Tonight has two POVs, which normally I am fine with. However, the characters sounded too much a like and the characters jump into flashbacks too quickly, which made me have to go back to figure out what just happened in the chapter.
3. I'm going to be vague here because its a spoiler, but I was not a fan of how the mother's alztimers played out in the story.
4. I'm still trying to figure out what the point of the book was.
5. The pacing of thee storyline is off. The story moves so slow in the beginning and then goes too fast in the last quarter of the book.

Overall, I think this could have been a good novel. However, I think the plot is too complicated with all the flashbacks and plot holes that were never addressed.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing better that the intricate relationship of a mother and a daughter on a family mystery. I wouldn’t say this book was a thriller nor a psychological thriller yet it offered so much; I was very entertained by it. One of the things I dropped down to 4⭐️ it was because with only 1 narrator it was a bit of a challenge to follow, especially when putting the book away and coming back to it. Other than that I would read whatever Pekkanen writes.

Another incredible thriller from Sarah Pekkanen! I listened to this one as an audiobook, and Kate Mara is an amazing narrator - she fit this story perfectly.

This story is about the relationship between a mother - Ruth - and her daughter - Katherine. It begins with each one telling their story from their own perspective. Ruth is a single mother who works as a waitress and has raised Katherine all on her own. Katherine has just graduated from nursing school, and is getting ready to begin a new job at Johns Hopkins. However, events in their lives begin to throw roadblocks in front of their carefully laid plans.

Ruth has secrets that she has been keeping from Katherine. Katherine has wanted to know more about Ruth's past her whole life. This puts Ruth and Katherine on a path that will change their lives.

This story is a slow burn thriller with elements of domestic suspense. It is told through flashbacks of Ruth’s past as well as through the present day point of views of both main characters. The author weaves a story that keeps you guessing until the very end. And what an ending - it left me stunned.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this excellent audiobook! Sarah Pekkanen is one of my favorite authors, and I was excited to listen/read this one. I highly recommend this one if you like books with secrets and twists that you will not see coming!

If you start reading this, be prepared to remain up all night! It's a well-crafted thriller with a number of unexpected twists and two memorable main characters.

Ruth Sterling and her adult daughter Catherine are inextricably linked in each other's lives, but for good reason. Ruth was an adolescent single mom with no family support, and her memoir of how she made enough money to maintain herself and her baby is included in the novel. It It makes for intriguing reading.

The rest of the novel takes place in the current day and alternates between Ruth's and Catherine's points of view. Catherine is aware that her mother conceals a lot of information about her mother's past and present actions, and she is on the lookout for it.