This one kept me up late into the night. Ruth is an ill mother with a secret, Catherine a daughter she desperately wants to protect. This takes the reader on a wild ride like no other. The story is told in alternating voices with their own views.

Thrilling and Brilliant page turner. the will grab the reader tight on within the first pages. Very likeable, strong characters and a twist that many will not see coming.

Highly recommend for all Thriller fans

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC E-book in exchange for my honest review.

I tried reading this a few months ago and it was a DNF...for now. I'm glad I picked this back up via audio. I thought the dual POVs and the stories told within them were engaging, but it definitely is a book that requires a bit of concentration to follow along.

It is fast paced, while the characters still have positive development. There was a ton of tension between the mother-daughter pair - and the mother character just brings out so much rage while reading - and yet, you get to understand her as the story progresses.

Overall, this was a fun, fast-paced thriller that I would recommend to lovers of the genre.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I'm glad I took a chance on this book.

Sadly this was just too slow burning for me. The story felt lackluster and I wasn’t intrigued enough to power through the beginning to find out if things picked up. Thank you for the opportunity.

Single-mother Ruth (42) and her daughter Catherine (24) have always been a team. They have no contact with Ruth’s ultra-religious family who disowned her when she became pregnant as a teenager or with Catherine’s father. They’ve never even spent more than a few days apart.

Catherine, though, is about to move from their home in Pennsylvania to Baltimore for a nursing position at Johns Hopkins. Just as she is preparing to leave, Ruth is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She decides to stay and care for her mother.

Shortly, though, Catherine starts to believe her mother’s illness is an act, and she begins to investigate her mother’s past. Catherine’s questions unwitting open her and her mother to a long-simmering danger.

GONE TONIGHT, told in dual points of view, has short chapters that help maintain a fast pace. Still, it took me some time before I really got into the book. Once Ruth’s back story was revealed, though, I was highly invested and thought the plot was cleverly constructed.

In this book, the characters struggled financially, and it seemed a realistic portrayal of poverty and the difficult choices lack of resources require. The mother-daughter relationship between Ruth and Cathrine offers much to unpack: how close is too close? what’s the line between protective and stifling?

Expect a slow-burn with unreliable narrators, an exciting, jaw-dropping second act, and a touch of ambiguity in the ending.

I have read a lot of this author’s books and I was excited when I got an ARC of her latest book and boy I was not disappointed at all. I enjoyed this book a lot and the mystery. I hope to read more by this author.

Ruth Sterling's life imploded before she even finished high school, and she went on the run, never staying long anywhere, even after her daughter Catherine was born. She had no friends, and neither did her daughter, since they moved so frequently and without notice, and never keep in contact with the people they left behind. But now Catherine is an adult and has questions about why they live the way they do. She has ambitions of her own, but those ambitions will make her visible, and Ruth will do anything to keep that from happening. But why?

This is an incredibly good book, and I recommend starting it when you have plenty of time since you won't want to put it down. I liked the way the book was constructed - the chapters alternate between Ruth and Catherine's point of view.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher St. Martin's Press via NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

A quick read over a snowy weekend. Sadly it hit closed to home with my mom’s condition but the book is worth a read.

I had read a few books that Sarah Pekkanen co-wrote with Greer Hendricks, so I was excited to read my first solo book by Pekkanen. I felt this was more of a dramatic suspense than a true thriller, but I loved the story, and I got hooked right away!

A mother’s love is like no other. They want to protect their child at no cost. Ruth and Catherine’s bond is inseparable. Ruth has always been a single mother, and Catherine is her world. Ruth has been protecting Catherine by not staying in the same place too long and not letting anyone else come close to them. Now Catherine is in her twenties, and Ruth is more desperate than ever to keep her safe. How far would Ruth go, and what will it cost her?

I got hooked early on. The switching between the past and present and between Ruth and Catherine’s POVs was accomplished flawlessly. The suspense leading up to learning more about Ruth’s history and why she is overprotective of Catherine even as an adult was perfect and kept me interested in the story. The ending was very clever, and the character development was on point until the end. Gone Tonight is a gripping, suspenseful read about how a mother’s love for their daughter knows no bounds.

Also, I had access to both the audiobook and Kindle versions of this book. I loved listening to the audiobook better than reading the book. Kate Mara kept the suspense going while creating a different ambiance for both characters. Being a single narrator with multiple characters is hard and Mara did a terrific job.

Thank you to NetGallery and to St.Martin Press and Harper Audio for giving me a copy of the book and audiobook.

I love Sarah Pekkanen and have read almost all of her books. Gone Tonight was a fanastic book and I couldn't put it down! Looking forward to Pekkanen's next release!

I have been a fan of SP since her novel The wife between us wrote with GH. The perfect amount of thriller, mystery is always what is brought to the table! In this one I loved the vibe of the narrator, almost making it unreliable which is always a plus for me! I have to admit I’m not a fan of family drama, in this case mother/daughter, because not often is relatable and realistic relationships. I really liked it overall and as always excited to see the next one!

I don’t typically give out half stars, but this would probably be 3.5 or even 3.75 for me. I really wanted to like this one because it was unique, but the main character faking early Alzheimer’s is a major ick for me. And the other main character using insulin, which is a very expensive and important drug for diabetics, as a murder weapon just doesn’t sit well with me. I know I’m a medical professional so I’m sensitive to that sort of thing, but 🤷🏼‍♀️. Also really felt like Ruth wanted Catherine to be a murderer with how much she mentioned bed wetting/animal cruelty/fires.

I enjoyed this novel from Sarah Pekkanen. I have read many of her other books co-written with Greer Hendricks. So I was excited to dive into this one. I enjoyed the premise of the story; a mother keeping secrets from her daughter and everything coming to a head. The dementia plot line was a little weak to me. But overall I enjoyed this book.

Finished this one in a day. Such a twisty read with unreliable character pov’s. The only thing is , I finished it a week ago and I couldn’t tell you anything about this book. It was good at the time, but forgettable.

Single-mother Ruth (42) and her daughter Catherine (24) have always been a team. They have no contact with Ruth’s ultra-religious family who disowned her when she became pregnant as a teenager or with Catherine’s father. They’ve never even spent more than a few days apart.

Catherine, though, is about to move from their home in Pennsylvania to Baltimore for a nursing position at Johns Hopkins. Just as she is preparing to leave, Ruth is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She decides to stay and care for her mother.

Shortly, though, Catherine starts to believe her mother’s illness is an act, and she begins to investigate her mother’s past. Catherine’s questions unwitting open her and her mother to a long-simmering danger.

GONE TONIGHT, told in dual points of view, has short chapters that help maintain a fast pace. Still, it took me some time before I really got into the book. Once Ruth’s back story was revealed, though, I was highly invested and thought the plot was cleverly constructed.

In this book, the characters struggled financially, and it seemed a realistic portrayal of poverty and the difficult choices lack of resources require. The mother-daughter relationship between Ruth and Cathrine offers much to unpack: how close is too close? what’s the line between protective and stifling?

Expect a slow-burn with unreliable narrators, an exciting, jaw-dropping second act, and a touch of ambiguity in the ending.

When Ruth Sterling was a teenager, she slipped away one night, desperate to escape an abusive home and a troubling boyfriend. Pregnant, alone, and prepared to do anything to survive, she eventually makes a life for herself—and soon, for her newborn daughter Catherine. For more than twenty years, Ruth has lived quietly and has provided for her daughter. But she is always ready to run at a moment’s notice, and never allows either of them to put down roots too deeply. Now, Catherine is grown and craves a life for herself. This is something her mother will do anything to prevent—but for what reasons? It has always been just the two of them against the world. But how well do they really know each other? When Ruth’s deeply held quest to keep Catherine by her side reveals cracks in her carefully constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception. They both have secrets. But which one of them carries the real darkness inside?

I absolutely loved this book. Its unpredictable and unreliable characters. The quick moving plot. The suspense. It was thrilling and everything I could have asked for in a Sarah Pekkanen novel. I liked how the story unfolded and enjoyed the dual POV. This was a 5 star read for me!

I enjoyed this book, but found some of the plot somewhat easy to figure out. The plot kept me engaged and I liked the story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy to honestly review.

4.5/5 Stars

Ruth Sterling and her daughter Catherine have been inseparable since she was born. Catherine is now 24, and beginning her career as a nurse. She gets a job opportunity in Baltimore, but decides to turn in down when she discovers that her mother is showing early signs of dementia. As Catherine begins trying to look into her mother's past, she starts to uncover some darker secrets she has been keeping hidden.

This is told in dual POV between Catherine and her mother Ruth. Both were unreliable narrators, which I love. It was interesting to see both of their deceptions and lies unfold causing so much distrust between the two. Their relationship dynamic changed so much from the beginning to the end, and I found it so fascinating watching it unravel. I listened to it on audiobook, and I think the narrator did a good job with these characters, but wish there had been a bit of change in the voices between Ruth and Catherine to help differentiate the two. The story is also told in alternating timelines of the past and the present. Learning about Ruth's past was such a roller coaster and I was so invested in her story. The twists and turns were so addicting and well done, I didn't want to put the book down.

Overall, I thought this thriller was a lot of fun.

I was captivated from the first to last page. I found the mother daughter relationship to be authentic. I loved how it ended, enjoyed the writing and the story.

Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for the gifted book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Dual POV, dark pasts, slow burn

Wow. I could not stop reading this. This was so well-developed, dark, and twisty. I don't want to spoil anything. Amazing. I highly recommend it!