I love everything this author writes and this book was no exception. The story hooked me from the beginning. The ending was a little too quick and wrapped up but the book was still a great read.

Heckin heckballs of heckness. This was really good. Twists and turns and secrets to uncover abound. I raced through the pages - just one more chapter, just one more page, until I found myself breathless at the end. Sure, there are a lot of good books out there, but when I pick up a story by Sarah Pekkanen, I know I'm in for a treat. The writing is impeccable and it just feels like a warm snuggly author hug I can relax into knowing I'm going to be taken care of and come out on the other end thoroughly entertained.

I absolutely loved this book! It’s clever, and expertly plotted. The unreliable narrator with the journal entries was the creme de La creme. A perfect ending!!! Will be highly recommending this one on my page.

I’m a huge fan of all of Sarah Pekkanen’s books and I was thrilled to receive this advanced copy. Unfortunately, (spoiler alert) I didn’t know one of the main characters would be suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s. As someone who reads for pleasure and escape, this topic just hit far too close to home and I found myself growing more and more upset at the symptom discussion. I only DNF’d this one because of my fathers recent diagnosis. It was just too triggering for me at this time. I’m giving this one 4 stores based on what I read, but I just couldn’t finish for the reasons mentioned,

Whoosh. What a crazy ride! Mother and daughter hunting down a killer in a story where nobody truly ever is who they say they are. If you like psychopath thrillers you’ll love this.

Ruth and her grown daughter, Catherine, live together, but Ruth has Alzheimer’s. She is also covering something up and Catherine wants to find out what her mom is hiding before it’s too late. This was a book with some good twists and I really liked it. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Gone Tonight is Sarah Pekkanen's best work yet! I was immediately absorbed into the world of Catherine and Ruth Sterling and stayed up until I finished the book!

Catherine and her mother, Ruth, have been on their own for all of Catherine's life. She doesn't know anything about her father other than he denied that Ruth's baby was his. She knows even less about her mother's family, or her mother, for that fact. What she does know is that in a few weeks, she will be leaving for Baltimore to start a new job and she is so excited to begin a life on her own,

Her plans are thwarted when her mother is diagnosed with the beginnings of dementia and a memory disorder. She can't leave Ruth now. As much as it it pains her, Catherine will have to decline the job offer and continue working at Sunrise Assisted Living in the memory unit. Fearing that Ruth may forget the details of her life before she reveals then to her, Catherine begins to try subtle ways of getting information from her mother.

As she gets closer to finding out who her mother really is, Catherine opens the door to dangers she did not know existed, Mother and daughter both create worlds of deception that put them in great peril. Told from the point of view of both Catherine and Ruth, Sarah Pekkanen immerses you in their quest with her palpable story telling, She continues to be one of the best thriller authors out there!

My thanks to St Martin's Press and Net Galley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Love, love, loved it! An intriguing tale of a mother and daughter. Told from alternating POV, the story of Ruth and her daughter Catherine is harrowing, heartbreaking and hopeful. Ruth ran away from a bad situation when she was just 16 years old. She discovers she’s pregnant and knows she must do whatever she can to protect her baby. Catherine has graduated from nursing school and at 24, will soon start a new career in geriatric nursing at a prestigious hospital, but her mother has been acting forgetful and is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Her mother has always been secretive about her past and Catherine starts digging, knowing she’ll need support.
Wonderfully complex string female characters and short chapters make this a quick read. This would make a great Netflix series! I love Sarah Pekkenan’s work!

Ruth and her adult daughter, Catherine, have a close relationship. Catherine is a nurse and has just accepted her dream job at a prestigious hospital. She is ready to spread her wings and move out on her own for the first time. These transitions can be hard on mothers, but this one is especially tricky. Nothing is as it seems and Ruth has powerful reasons for fearing Catherine’s departure.

This is a kaleidoscope of a story where as you read and discover new information, the entire picture changes! You’ll uncover secrets, fears, love, murder while the pattern keeps shifting and changing until the final page!

Catherine Sterling has been living alone with her mother, Ruth, her entire life. Her mother has always been a great supporter and Catherine and Ruth have had a very good relationship. It is finally time for Catherine to branch out and leave the nest, but Ruth is clearly not a fan of this decision. Even though Catherine has a new career and the timing seems appropriate for her to move out, Ruth will not allow this to happen and do everything possible to prevent it. Why is Ruth trying to prevent this? Catherine starts to question her and Ruth’s past and look for clues.

I'm a big fan of Sarah Pekkanen and I was so excited to be able to read her latest book. What a fantastic story, GONE TONIGHT is now my favorite book from this author! It is really a quite unique plot, which I always appreciate (as an avid reader). This is an excellent thriller that I highly recommend!

TW - Sexual Assault

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog @coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen
Just wow! This was a novel not to be put down. The story line, the twists and turns, the surprises! The story is very well done, the characters are well developed. Its like you are right there with them as you read.
The novel is told from two characters perspectives, Ruth (the mom) and Catherine ( the daughter). They live together in a small apartment, both working and just making ends meet. Ruth waitresses at a local restaurant and Catherine is working as a nurse in a care facility for the elderly. Catherine is preparing to move, but Ruth it seems has early stages of dementia, so Catherine has decided to change her plans to care for her mother. Then little things start to make Catherine wonder if her mother really is sick.

This is such a well written novel, Sarah Pekkanen has nailed this novel! Well done! Five plus stars! Every time you think you know where the story is headed, there is a twist! An amazingly addictive psychological thriller, a must read. Waiting on the edge of my seat for the next novel ❤️

Ruth Sterling will do whatever it takes to keep her daughter, Catherine, safe. Catherine loves her mother but is ready to venture out on her own and accept a job out of state. As Catherine's departure nears, Ruth starts showing signs of early-onset dementia. Catherine looks for ways to help her mother with her illness. Her research leads her to discoveries that don't seem to add up. Soon Catherine is questioning her mother's words and actions leading to an ultimate reveal that I did not see coming.

Great read! Thrilling to the last page! I expect nothing less from a Sarah Pekkanen novel. The twists and turns in this book are unreal. I want more. I want to know what happens next. I wonder if there will be a follow up perhaps, or maybe we are just meant to wonder how Catherine fares after everything that happened. Either way, this book is a must-read!


I received an e-arc from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an honest review.

Well written mystery/thriller with a fun plot and engaging characters

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61884937

Another page turner from Sarah Pekkanen! A fan of the author's twisty dual point thrillers, Gone Tonight didn't not disappoint and kept me up late into the night. This time, the dual points of view reflect a mother, Ruth Sterling with secrets she is shielding from everyone - especially her daughter. As Ruth's daughter, Catherine's POV evolves from a virtual bubble about her and her mom's identities to one where she is grown and searching for answers. Does her mom really have early onset Alzheimer's that has been passed down from Catherine's grandmother, a woman she has never met? In fact, Catherine has no family history or connections other than her mom. What i loved about this story is it is not only the story of mother-daughter bonds tested by the truth, but it is also a parallel story of mother and daughter each growing up in vastly different circumstances, and how Ruth's history as a young girl influences her own choices as a mother. As the layers are peeled back, those choices are ones that the reader can feel empathy and horror almost at the same time. This will rope you in from the first page -highly recommend! Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ruth and Catherine: mother and daughter. Both each other's whole world. But cracks appear when Catherine learns some sobering news: Ruth is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

But when she attempts to ensure her mother's safety and health, Catherine discovers that her mother has been keeping secrets from her, and those secrets have led something very deadly to their home.

Sarah Pekkanen's Gone Tonight is a satisfying slow burn game of cat and mouse that will leave you second guessing at every turn. Though I thought the pace was fairly slow during the first half, the second flies fairly quickly and though things tie up nicely, there's a lot of morally gray area to leave you thinking about this for awhile. A major point of frustration was that there's a strong need for the reader to put aside the fact that this book would not be a thing if either Ruth told Catherine the truth from the beginning or Catherine bothered to press Ruth for more answers more strongly than she did. But overall, I really liked the book and would definitely recommend it. Loved the writing and the dynamic between Ruth and Catherine.

Thanks very much to St. Martin's Press for inviting me to read this title through NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Thank you so much SMP for this ARC! I dropped everything I was doing to start this.

Sarah Pekkanen does NOT disappoint. I loved this dual POV narration told by mother (present and through journal entries reflecting on the past) and daughter (present).

Throughout the beginning of the story, my heart broke for Catherine as we learned of her mother's diagnosis, but those feelings sure did change and I was glued to this book from there on out.

I loved the elements of this story: runaway, hiding, moving on, mother/daughter, truth and discovery. This book will scare and shock you as well as bring a tear to your eye. Perfectly wild ride of emotions!

Read this if you loved Karin Slaughters, "Pieces of Her."

Thank you @stmartinspress for the ARC copy!

Gone Tonight is an amazing story told in the point of views Catherine and her mother Ruth in the present alongside journal entries to glimpse her past. Throughout their lives it’s always just been the two of them. Now Catherine is finishing up Nursing School and looking forward to moving away to her new job and new career at Johns Hopkins, until Ruth starts exhibiting symptoms of early Alzheimer’s, which means Catherine’s plans will have to wait and she just could not possibly leave her mom alone. But things just doesn’t quite fit into place and Catherine starts doing her own research to try to find out the truth, and that is when she discovers that her mother has not been honest with her.

As a nurse, I love reading about characters in the medical field. I was impressed with the way Sarah Pekkanen wrote about families dealing with illness, and also the role of caregivers and nurses in memory centers. I felt the research and the writing of the nursing character was spot on and really enjoyed reading those parts so much.

I could not put this book down as the story really propels forward especially with each of the three acts. Act one was literally setting up the scene, Act two and three propulsively pushed me at the edge of my seat and could not stop reading this book. I kept on guessing what could be happening and with a cinematic third act fit for a thriller blockbuster movie, I was blown away.

This book had everything I love in a domestic thriller read - addicting, immersive, fast paced, but also deals with a lot of important themes about families and the ties that bind.

I highly recommend Gone Tonight! Preorder this one now. I sure did!

GONE TONIGHT
BY: SARAH PEKKANEN

I was really excited to receive a widget from Sarah Pekkanen's publicist to read her latest slow burn of a novel called, "Gone Tonight." This seemed to me to be more of a character study than a racy, suspense driven plot. Which is perfectly okay, because on reflection everything does come together in the last 30 percent of this novel. The ending was very suspenseful which elevated this from a 3.5 stars to a solid 4 star reading experience. It made the novel rise to the extent of giving the payoff it needed from its somewhat slow pace.

Ruth and Catherine Sterling are the two main characters and they dominate the narrative throughout this well written character driven story. Ruth is the mother and Catherine is her only child. It has always been Ruth and Catherine against the world. Ruth is a forty-two year old waitress and Catherine is twenty-four years old.

Catherine has just graduated and is now planning on moving to Baltimore to pursue a career being a nurse at Johns Hopkins prestigious hospital in Geriatrics. Suddenly Ruth is exhibiting signs of early onset Alzheimer's Disease or is she faking it? Why would Ruth fake being forgetful, such as misplacing her keys and other concerning behaviors?

Caroline takes her mother to see a neurologist and when the doctor wants to order more tests, like an MRI or other diagnostics Ruth refuses them, citing that they have poor health insurance. When the doctor asks Ruth how long she has had the symptoms, Ruth says for about four months now. Why did Ruth tell her daughter, Caroline that she only noticed the symptoms for about a month? Caroline
wants to know more about her mother's life and Ruth studies Caroline's behavior. There is some
thing sinister at play that reaches a crescendo that comes crashing down on both of these two women by the end of the book. The Author is talented to have slowly added in breadcrumbs throughout like finely woven vibrant threads that create a beautiful tapestry of an erudite novel.

Publication Date: August 1, 2023

Thank you to Net Galley, Sarah Pekkanen and St. Martin's Press for generously providing me with my ARC of this slow burn of a novel in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#GoneTonight #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

Best structured, slow burn, tense, twisty story, unreliable but also connectable POVs, ultra smart, addictive chapters and jaw dropping, adroitly wrapped up conclusion!

I adored Sarah Pekkanen’s previous works she’s created with her brilliant co-writer Greer Hendricks! This time she’s flying solo and thankfully she has written something truly heart pounding, earth shattering, mind bending.

This is lately the most fascinating thriller I’ve read and I’m so sure it’s gonna be one of my favorite thriller readings of 2023 even though I didn’t read the entire early copies that will be released next year. I know it’s a little assertive assumption but if you’ve read this mind bending wild ride, you may agree with me without thinking any further.

The entire progression resolves in three acts. It perfectly questions the darkness inside a person, how far a mother can go to protect her child!

Catherine and her mother Ruth have a truly dysfunctional, extra attached, a little overwhelming and somewhat obsessed relationship. They become each other’s world which may be suffocating at some parts!

Catherine, a successful nurse at the age 24, is ready to start her new job, building a new life In Baltimore when she finds out her mother might be suffering from early stage of Alzheimer’s for 4 months. And she confesses Catherine’s grandmother has also died and suffers from the same disease.

Catherine urgently cancels her plans to move to another city for taking care of her mother but in the meantime she starts digging out more about their pasts. They don’t have relatives and she realizes there might be reason her mother hesitates to keep her in the dark.

What if everything she knows about her own mother is bunch of lies. What if her mother’s obsession about keeping her around might be related with something extremely dangerous about her past.

Ruth is exhausted to run away for nearly quarter century. She used three different names. She worked in 12 different jobs. They lived in 9 different apartments. What is she hiding?

As Catherine keeps digging out more, she realizes she has been living with a stranger at the same house for years. And she might be in more danger than she can deal with!

Overall: I couldn’t put it! This is pure addiction! Absolutely highly extremely recommended!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Okay this is AMAZING. I flew through it in less than 3 hours. I couldn’t put it down. The twists, turns, and relationship between mother/daughter was so good. I didn’t see the end coming.