“I was never able to sit still when this thing was happening between them- my mother silently brooding and my father prancing around like a circus clown trying to cheer her up. It made me feel rage inside because he couldn’t see anything.”

The only thing I imagine that would be worse for a child with such a mother, would be if both parents were narcissists. Maybe their partners come off as ‘weaker’ or maybe they are just kinder beings that are used to wanting to please others, to make people happy and in such a spouse, they will never succeed. This novel is fictional, but it is a reality for some children to grow up with dysfunctional parents- some so used to the cruelty that they don’t know what normal looks like. If they’re lucky, they get away and are able to recover from their twisted upbringing. Just what does abuse look like when you don’t have bruises and all the violence is psychological warfare? Some children learn to move forward through the land mines that they know will set their parent off. Others can’t help but be themselves and are an easy target for punishment. Each child, however, is damaged in their own terrible way.

One night the Tanner sisters disappeared, years later only come comes back. Cass comes home without her sister with a crazy story of being taken and held captive on an island. She can’t quite say where it is, but she swears she must rescue her sister Emma. Dr. Winter must navigate the wild in her story and sort fact from fiction, solid order from the chaos in the tale Cass spins. Just what really happened to the Tanner sister the night they disappeared and the three years between? How much can she trust the story Cass tells, convoluted as it is? There is a baby, her sister’s and a couple who promised to help her. Dr. Winter knows something isn’t right, just as she intuitively feels something is sour with their mother, Judy Martin. She felt it for a long time, it was all there- something toxic in that home. With Cass back, she thinks she will finally have the truth, but the truth is slippery at best and we all have our reasons for lies.

Cass has a story to tell, one full of holes, half-truths, outright lies, swearing she is the only chance they have of finding Emma. She learned about the power of lies, subterfuge at her mother’s cold knee. The Tanner sister’s mother was between them always, poisoning the bond the two should have held fast to in order to survive their twisted mother. One learned to please, the other was punished for not knowing how. This was one of the most solid creations in the story. With narcissists, when children are involved, they know how to snub out one child and praise another. It is damaging and sickening, it is a power, a way to play God. People often wonder how in families one child can be tortured and others treated ‘normally’ but do the others truly escape the same abuse? Isn’t there cruelty in seeing a sibling humiliated, demeaned be it physically or psychologically? Some do what they have to do to dodge being victimized themselves, it’s so much harder for children to be brave, it’s why bullies on the school yard can get nice kids to go along with tormenting other children (at least it’s not me). Parents are the example, we learn how to treat not just the world but our siblings through their own actions. If a parent is a master manipulator, God help the children, because if they begin to become aware of the wrongness of their parent, no one would believe them anyway. If by some miracle someone does, these master’s of deception wear a beautiful face in public that other’s chose to see, rather than the darkness that lurks beneath. This is more real they we admit, this is why your next door neighbor can be a pillar of society and be beating their children behind closed doors. They know how to blend in, we are happy with the costumes people wear, it’s more comfortable than looking past the smiles. Cass just might be able to use this very blindness in people to survive.

Is Cass good? Is she bad? Something in between? Rage can be useful, a driving force- but is it something more she has to protect? What has she done to survive? Can the reader trust her? Can Dr. Winter? Will she be able to help them find her sister, one whom she longed to be and resented for her perfection and mother’s attention? You’ll have to read. This is a twisted, psychological tale.

Publication Date: August 8, 2017

St. Martin’s Press

Cass and her sister Emma go missing one night three years ago, but only one sister returns. Cass weaves a story about what happened to them, how they were held captive and how Cass was able to escape. Talking with her therapist, and an investigator, Cass reveals the truth about her narcissistic mother. The author Wendy Walker wove an intriguing tale with unexpected twists and turns. Great read. Thank you NetGalley for this advance reader copy.

I absolutely loved this thriller about two missing sisters, one of whom returns home after three years with a harrowing story of kidnapping and imprisonment for the two. But with a dysfunctional family at home including a narcissistic mother, stepfather, and stepbrother, nothing is easy getting to the truth as Cass weaves the story of her and her sister, Emma's abduction at the hands of a sociopathic couple. Told from alternating points of view, both present and past, we are slowly able to unravel the secrets and lies as the troubled psychologist and a special agent delve into the family's unusual dynamic to unearth the tenuous bond between sisters and family. Sacrifice, love, grief, and denial all play out in this fascinating look at a family in peril. A must-read if you love psychological thrillers!

Twist and Turns and Unreliable Narrator, OH MY!!

My brain hurts. I am not even sure how to write this review. I thought this was one thing and even with all of Cass's hints of a hidden truth, I was not expecting what happened. I am normally able to figure out books like this but it was so well written that I was shocked.

If you like mystery/thrillers you will love this book. I didn't want to put it down and read it in one afternoon.

So good! It has been a while since I've read a good mystery book (most of them end up being super predictable). The ending really took me by surprise, although it seemed a little unrealistic that Cass's plan would work THAT well. I suppose it is possible, if she had so much time to plan it, but it still seemed a little too weird to be true.

Other than that little detail, the book was very good and I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for a mystery book that doesn't give away the secret in the first chapter.

Emma in the Night is even more captivating than the authors debut novel, All is not Forgotten, and that's saying a lot because that book was really GOOD! Lately, I have been disinterested in this genre because they all follow the same type of mystery with similar characters and similar endings. But this one has changed my mind and I now want to dive back into the genre at full force. This is a spectacular novel, told in a fantastic way (alternating POV's are the way to go in these types of books) with a gripping storyline and an even better ending. I can't wait for others to read this one. I would highly recommend it to many!

** full review to be posted online during release week**

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher. What a great book with a great twist about 2 missing sisters and a very twisted family

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of Emma in the Night.
Emma in the Night is a fast-paced mystery about the disappearance of Emma and Cass Tanner and the return of Cass three years later. The story alternates between the perspective of Cass (told in first person) and Dr. Abby Winter, FBI forensic psychologist (told in third person) after Cass shows up alone at her mother's house three years after disappearing with her sister. {I was intrigued that the author chose to use different types of narration for the two characters who were telling the story.}
In the chapters told by Cass, the events of the last three years slowly unfold over the course of a week. However, readers should never trust a first-person narrator. By the end of the novel, I felt as if I was reading a totally different story, and the first-person narration for Cass made complete sense.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin Press for an early release of this book for an honest review.

Families and relationships are such a delicate thing. Trust, love, respect, fear, loathing, lying. What type of family environment do you come from?

Emma, 17 and Cass, 15 went missing two years prior, not to be seen again, until one day Cass shows up at her mother’s door where her mother doesn’t even recognize her but welcomes her in with open arms. From there Cass tells her story of her and her sisters disappearance two years prior. The original forensics investigator, Abby Winters from when she went missing is back on the case and wants to know desperately what happen, where has she been, where is her sister???

This is a very well written, fast moving novel that will keep you engaged from page one. Do you like reading about narcissistic personalities? If you don’t then stop reading because this book is full of them. Do you appreciate your mother? Do you appreciate growing up in a normal home? Do you love your birth siblings, your adopted and half siblings, or do you despise them? Do you want to control them and make them love you at any cost?

The author, Wendy Walker also wrote, “All is Not Forgotten,” which is a must read about the option of being given a drug to not allow you to remember the events of a horrible crime, but unfortunately just because you can’t remember specifics your brain remembers the trauma and struggles greatly to come to terms with what it can’t remember but still knows and feel it did in fact happen!!

This book is an absolute MUST READ!!! When I was only one chapter in, I knew I needed to buckle up because I had a feeling I was about to take a crazy ride. I was 100% correct with that prediction, Emma In the Night was fantastic!!!

Three years ago Cassandra and Emma Tanner mysteriously went missing. Being that Cass was 15 years old and Emma was 17 the case was highly publicized, but no one knew the case better than Dr. Abigail Winter. Abby is a forensic psychologist with the FBI and she dedicated several years to the Tanner sisters' case without any concrete answers. Then the unexpected happens, Cass returns home...alone!! Abby is called back on the case and this time she's determined to find out what happened to Cass and Emma-- and more importantly where is Emma and why didn't she return home with her sister!!! Certain circumstances that surrounded the case never sat right with Abby, but she couldn't prove her theories back then, now she's hellbent to see justice prevail!!

What a twisty and turny masterpiece this novel is!! If you love psychological thriller like I do, than this is the book for you!!! Wendy Walker created a storyline that is completely original and extremely well thought out. Beach read, mountain read, weekend read--heck anytime read, this book will consume you until the very last page! I cannot believe I haven't read Wendy Walker prior to reading Emma In the Night, but I can guarantee you I will remedy that ASAP! Emma In the Night is a 5+++ star novel that I can't recommend enough--go check it out!!

I loved All is Not Forgotten and wasn't disappointed by Emma in the Night. The psychological insights into a dysfunctional family are fascinating and the plot shocked and surprised me, keeping me guessing until the end. Looking forward to more from Wendy Walker.

When Cass returns home after disappearing without a trace 3 years ago, along with her sister Emma, there are far more questions than answers. She begs her mother, father, and stepfather to find Emma, claiming she escaped from an island off the coast of Maine where they had been held captive. The tale she tells is horrifying and incredibly detailed, yet she can't seem to provide clues that would allow the police and FBI to find her sister.

Abby Winter is the FBI agent assigned to the case 3 years ago who felt a strange kinship to the sisters because they too had a narcissist for a mother. She never gave up hope that she would someday find the girls and now, with the return of Cass alone, she thinks she can give the family a happy ending.

And yet...she just can't shake the sense that there is something wrong with Cass' story.

I was hooked from the beginning. The voice of Cass in particular is quite compelling and draws a reader in with tremendous sympathy. Growing up with a narcissistic mother who saw her eldest daughter as a threat to her sense of self, her marriage, her sexuality and with an older sister who tried to control everything she did, Cass is confused about what love and motherhood are really all about. What does it mean to love unconditionally? It's not clear that she ever knew that kind of love from her mother.

It's a definite page-turner! I couldn't wait to read it each night and I think I finished it in 4 days which is unusual for me because I don't have a lot of time to read. The ending felt a bit explanatory, with a lot of things spelled out that I wish we could have discovered with Abby but overall it was a great story.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

”We believe what we want to believe. We believe what we need to believe.”

”Emma in the Night” begins with these words, words that reach gently in and pull you into this story, never really letting go, delaying the inevitable until the final pages.

Last year I read Wendy Walker’s ”All is Not Forgotten,” which I also enjoyed up until the very end. Mysteries, Thrillers, Psychological Suspense are not my typical genre, but every once in a while, I can enjoy the ones which are light enough that I can still manage to sleep at night, if they don’t tie my stomach in knots in the meantime.

Sisters. Two years apart, teenagers Emma and Cassandra – Cass. Emma the older at seventeen, Cass is fifteen as this story really begins, when Emma and Cass both disappear one night. The FBI investigation. The media circus that follows. The years that follow.

And then as suddenly and slowly, time has passed, the way time does when one is lost in a fog and one thing, one day blends into the next. Three years pass and one day Cass returns, but not Emma. Questions follow. The same FBI investigators become involved, including Abby Winters, a Forensic Psychiatrist, and the media circus returns.

When Cass returns, she is no longer the naïve, young girl she was the night she and Emma disappeared. She returns to her hometown, eighteen years old now, showing up at the home of her mother and step-father, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, instead of the home of her father. Abby Winters and Special Agent Leo Strauss are promptly re-assigned to this case once again, in the hopes of finding Emma. Before it’s too late. Until Emma is found, she is still be in danger.

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Cass and Abby - Dr. Winters, the details of that night when the sisters went missing are followed, slowly unravelling the many truths behind this wild and crazy, completely captivating story.

”What I do know is that the truth can evade us, hiding behind our blind spots, our preconceptions, our hungry hearts that long for quiet.”



Pub Date: 08 Aug 2017


Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2012547573?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Thanks to NetGalley and Jordan Hanley of St. Martin’s Press for a free, electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review
“Emma in the Night” is the newest novel by Wendy Walker, author of “All is Not Forgotten”. In “Emma” two teenaged sisters disappear in the middle of the night without a trace. Three years later, one of them (Cass) returns alone. When Dr. Abby Winter joins the investigation and search for the elder sister (Emma), she begins to question what really happened. Cass claims that they were taken to an island and held captive there, and she escaped with a promise to return for her sister. Through the investigation, Dr. Winter begins to uncover secrets about Cass and her family that make her desperate to uncover the truth about what happened to the Tanner sisters.
This novel pulled me in from the beginning. Full of family drama, suspense and mystery, “Emma in the Night” had me questioning every character, trying to speculate as to how the novel would end, and making assumptions about who the guilty parties were. The novel was told from the perspective of both Cass and Dr. Winter, so the reader was able to see things from two sides- which only added to the mystery and intrigue.
A well-written novel with a creative plot, this novel was an unpredictable, roller coaster ride that I could not put down. Addictive in every sense of the word, this novel told one hell of a story of a dysfunctional family, all leading to a shocking, yet satisfying, ending.
Fans of “All is Not Forgotten” will definitely devour Ms. Walker’s new work. The characters are well developed and deeply flawed, especially Mrs. Martin and Cass (the fact that Cass calls her mother “Mrs. Martin speaks for itself as to the intensely bizarre Tanner family relationship) but they are human enough that they are able to generate pity, sympathy and support from the reader. Definitely a novel for those who enjoy page-turning, family suspense novels. “Emma in the Night” is just as good as “All is Not Forgotten” if not better, and I highly recommend it!

4 stars! This story weaves between Cass and Abby's points of view! Cass the daughter who went missing and Abby, the psychiatrist investigating her disappearance.
This book centers on narcissism, family dysfunction and secrets. We know from Cass that her story is a bit off, and she is a bit of an unreliable narrator and do not know how much of her story about her and Emma's disappearance is true. The narcissistic disorder was interesting. Shows things that happen in childhood may affect you through your adult life. One downfall I had with this book was a lot of events are told through Cass AFTER the fact and not acted out during the story.
As the book gets closer to the end it really picks up in pace and I really started to enjoy it, but it lacked suspense through the story for me. A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Cass and Emma, close teenage sisters, disappear from their safe suburban town. Three years later Cass knocks on her mother's front door, frantic for help rescuing her sister. Cass recounts a grotesque tale of imprisonment. The original team assigned to her case, an older FBI agent and his doctor (psychiatrist) compatriot, descend on Cass to try to find her sister and give this tragedy a happy ending. But nothing can prepare those around Cass for the secrets she will divulge, both from during and before the kidnapping. Cass' return seems at first an end to the horror but it is merely the beginning.

Full disclosure: I did not like Wendy Walker's previous novel, "All is Not Forgotten." I disliked it so much, in fact, that I felt guilty picking up the ARC of "Emma in the Night" for an unbiased review. This novel is worlds apart from her previous. Sensitivity toward different personality disorders, particularly that of a borderline and a narcissist, allowed the characters to be so much more than their handicaps. The story reveals the impact these disorders have on those around them which is quite the difficult task to realistically convey. My only complaint was that the novel truly "showed it's research" which is to say that sometimes the exposition on psychiatric illness felt textbook-y and pasted in rather than natural. Walker was able to make this work by having the more clinical analysis delivered by the psychiatrist but she became (slightly) repetitive in her case diagnostics. The tale switches perspectives between Cass and her psychiatrist, both with their own unreliabilities and both very sympathetic. Beginning as a straightforward kidnapping tale this story develops into a full throttle psychological thriller. Hard to put down. Recommended.

Both sisters disappeared the same day. The FBI couldn't rule it a kidnapping, or a run-away, or any specific thing; evidence just didn't support much of a theory and left pretty much every possibility open.

Three years later, and now one sister is home, and has quite the story. She's so tired, she can only give chunks before she is overwhelmed. The FBI agents assigned to the case in the beginning are back, listening. They are also watching the entire family for any bigger pictures and any larger truths.

3.5 stars. This was a mysteriously suspenseful novel with an intriguing storyline and excellent narration.

After reading and LOVING Wendy Walker’s previous novel, All Is Not Forgotten, I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of her latest book. Once again, Walker does a fantastic job with narration! (The way AINF was narrated was brilliant and one of my favourite aspects of the book!) This story is told from multiple perspectives, focusing mainly on 18-year-old Cass who returns home after disappearing three years prior. I felt completely captivated by Cass’ story and for most of the book my curiosity had me flipping pages as quickly as possible.

Perhaps I had set my expectations a little too high (AINF was a 5 star for me!), but I finished this book feeling slightly disappointed. The novel started off strong with a unique and captivating plot, however, by 50% of the way in, I felt that it started to drag and get a bit repetitive. The household drama became monotonous and my interest began to wane. Regardless of this feeling of repetition, I still really enjoyed the way it was narrated – Walker’s talent is undeniable in that regard!

There is some extremely disturbing mental abuse and manipulation throughout this story. I felt terrible for many of the characters and what they had to endure. There is a strong focus on narcissism which I found very interesting to learn about. Walker must have done a ton of research to present such a well-constructed portrait of narcissism and the damaging trail it leaves.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and I look forward to reading more from Wendy Walker!

A big thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Wendy Walker for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

GREAT book! I did not see the end coming,I wanted to rescue those poor girls and was so angry that those around them did nothing to help them. It is altogether too much near the real world around us.