Gone Tonight was a great story about a mother-daughter relationship, with a dark and twisty undertone. I really enjoyed the characters, finding out their motives, and following the story along. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would reccomend it to anyone who likes her other work!

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

Catherine, a successful 24-year-old nurse, is about to start on a new job in Baltimore when she learns that her mother, Ruth, might be in the early stages of Alzheimer's. This revelation shakes Catherine's world, especially as her grandmother also suffered from the same disease.

Ruth and Catherine have always been close, so Catherine's plans to move away are put on hold as she steps in to care for her mother. But as she suspects that something else is wrong with her mom, she uncovers dark secrets that Ruth has been hiding. With no other relatives, Catherine begins to suspect that her mother's desperation to keep her close is linked to a dangerous past.

Sarah Pekkanen explores the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, presenting their perspectives and motivations in a way that captivates readers. The alternating viewpoints between Catherine and Ruth offer insight into their inner thoughts and emotions, allowing us to understand both sides of the conflict.

"Gone Tonight" is a must-read for those who enjoy family dramas filled with tension and suspense. I enjoyed the audiobook, wonderfully narrated by actress Kate Mara.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Sarah Pekkanen for my gifted copy.

Psychological thriller about a mother and daughter who spend their whole life on the run. The daughter who is now 24 plans to move to Baltimore to take up a nursing career and suddenly realizes what lengths her mother will go to, to keep her home with her. The story is told from the mother's and daughter's POVs. The mother is writing a journal to give to her daughter explaining what happened in the past. Several twists, good plot, well narrated. Thank you to Netgalley for an audio of this book.

Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough in this one to stick it out for me.

This was especially hard decision considering my sister read it and loved it.

However, as an avid thriller reader, the ending was just so obvious from the very beginning (confirmed by my sister who finished it) and the domestic feud of mother and daughter was not for me.

I have nothing negative to say about the actual writing style, just that the plot and story was not moving in a direction of something I wanted to keep reading.

Maybe the next one will pan out better for me?

Short synopsis: When her mother Ruth starts to show signs of early dementia Catherine is determined to get her help. But Ruth will do anything to let that happen.

My thoughts.m: I went into this expecting a fast paced thriller. While the beginning was somewhat of a slow burn the middle to end had some completely unexpected twists and turns!

I really liked the past/present time jumps and the different perspectives as Ruth’s history unraveled and the reader gets to see why she made the choices she made. I was definitely kept on the edge of my seat and binged this one!

I read this on audio, and the narrator did such a phenomenal job at connecting the reader to the characters and telling the story.

Read if you love:
- Mother/daughter duo
- Alternating POV
- Family secrets and lies
- Solving puzzles

This book was very good. I wouldn't say it was very thrilling per say, BUT it was a good mystery/family drama. I liked the alternating POV's between Ruth and her daughter Catherine. Overall, a very good read. Great book by herself ! I also really enjoyed the narration of this audiobook!!

This was such a great read. Thank you NetGalley and Sarah Pekkanen for giving me an ARC. I really enjoyed it.

Trigger Warning: Alzheimer's, Memory Trouble

From the start, I was hooked. The story swaps point of view between, the mom - Ruth and the daughter - Catherine. Their relationship is extremely closeknit until things start unraveling. Ruth begins to tell the reader the truth from the start while Catherine is living naively in the dark. Until Ruth slips a tiny bit. Just enough for Catherine to catch on that things might not be as her mom lead on her whole life. We are then taken through Catherine's every move to try to unravel the lies that her mom told her. Are the lies meant to keep her safe or to manipulate and deceive her? One of them makes a catastrophic mistake that will change everything.

The change in povs was not confusing at all. And even though the reader found out what Ruth was hiding, that did not change the level of suspense <i>Gone Tonight</i> provided the reader. This was fast paced and well written. Definitely a psychological thriller I would be happy to recommend.

THEIR BOND RUNS DEEP. THEIR LIES RUN DARK.

GONE TONIGHT was really good, as I expected it to be. This mother daughter drama was intense, complex, heavily and deeply layered with secrets, lies, doubts, mistrust, and danger. Ruth has so many secrets and seems to be a master manipulator of her daughter and presumably everyone else. Catherine seems to be the good girl, trying to do right by her own standards and to grow her wings and find freedom from her mom. But like any good dramatic thriller, both of these characters have much more to them than the reader can at first comprehend.
Twisty, fun, well-paced, and a surprise at the end. Well done Sarah Pekkanen.

KATE MARA AS THE NARRATOR?! Sooooooo good.

a slow burn but I really enjoyed the unfolding. A mother/daughter duo alternated perspectives and timelines. I love an unreliable narrator and both of these characters proved to be a little sketchy. With no connections to their community and no extended family, all they have is each other. The twists and turns start flying as we discover why they are alone.

This title was archived before I had a chance to download it to be read so unfortunately I was not able to read it and give feedback.

This just missed the boat for me. I found myself wanting for more thrilling factors. The twist wasn't very surprising. I really prefer this writer with her counterpart.

Sarah Pekkanen delivered with this twisty thriller. I loved the audio. The mother/daughter relationship, dual timelines, and alternating POVs were well done. I'd recommend it to thriller lovers.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

Catherine had always lived by her mother's rules, but as an adult, she yearned to distance herself from her. Unfortunately, Ruth disagreed with her daughter's decision, and she had a good reason for it - a dark secret that she couldn't share with Catherine for fear of being judged. However, the day Ruth dreaded the most has finally arrived, and she must reveal the truth about her past to save her daughter.

But the apple does not fall far from the tree...

I found the ending of the book to be quite chilling and it made up for the fact that I had difficulty connecting with the story and lost interest at times. The book was structured around two plotlines, one set in the past and the other in the present. Unfortunately, the past storyline was slow and tedious, but thankfully the present part was more engaging and kept me interested.

Thank you, NetGalley, for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

Loved Kate Mara’s reading of the audiobook! A great thriller to listen to, but also just a great book — well-written, not too predictable, a twisty narrative, and multiple unreliable narrators. The makings of a thriller that’s worth your time!

I don’t do well with books that lean heavily on melodrama or implausibility, and this book has lots of both.

The story started strong. The premise intrigued me, and the writing was engaging.

But we readers learn most of the secrets early on, which eliminates suspense. The rest of the story follows a predictable path.

What absolutely did not work for me was the mother-daughter dynamic. We were told countless times by both characters that they had an incredibly tight bond. Yet we didn’t see it. The so-called bond relied on manipulation. Both women were absolutely clueless as to the other’s reality.

Ruth and Catherine danced around each other, and assumptions kept building, until we were in WTF territory. I can’t talk about all the things that bothered me without spoilers, so I’ll keep it simple. I didn’t believe any of it.

I listened to this on audio, and I really enjoyed Kate Mara’s narration.

This was a pretty interesting listen. I liked the narrator well enough but it wasn't a voice I would remember or seek out for other books. The story had an interesting premise and I liked it but the twists were not very surprising so that shock factor was missing. Overall I enjoyed it though.

This book held my attention from the beginning. I did not know who to trust or where this wild ride was headed! I liked the audiobook but I did wish that there were two narrators, one for each of the perspectives.

When I started this book, I had no idea what to expect. It did start slightly slower than I’d have wanted, but then it kept getting better as it progressed. At the beginning of the book, I was thinking this was a general/women’s fiction book with a hint of mystery. That’s true, but by the end, this was a full-blown thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book was full of twists and turns and I really enjoyed it! The suspense was top-notch and the book was well written. Chapters alternate between Catherine and Ruth's stories adding to the character development as the novel progresses. This was a great read, but I’m conflicted about the ending. Overall, I'd highly recommend it!