This is a book that I was “always meaning to get to” I’m sure many of you relate?

It’s about a psychological disturbed family. There is so much going on in this house it’s unreal.

Having a pathological Mother, a narcissist would maybe when you get to be an adult and/or have children of your own….make you wonder about yourself and your own motives?

Emma in the Night had me strung along right at the beginning and I was more than willing to get tied up into its distorted views, it was like ivy clinging to me, tying me up and not allowing me to move, winding it’s way into my day. I just needed to keep on reading, I couldn’t break out of its spell.

The characters in here were so vividly real to me.
I could “watch” this in Technicolor in my mind.

Wendy Walker is an auto buy for me now. I’ve read a couple of her books and really enjoy my time with her characters, good, bad or indifferent.

I’m very late to the table with this one. So if it’s passed you by or reminded you that you wanted to read it, let me know how and what you felt about Emma in the Night.

Emma in the night by Wendy Walker.
Two sisters go missing.
Only one returns.
Getting people to believe you is easy.If you tell them what they want to hear.
When my sister and I disappeared three years ago,
they found Emma’s car at the beach. Some people believed she had gone there to find a party or meet a friend who
never showed. They believed that she’d gone for a swim.They believed that she’d drowned. Maybe by accident. Maybe a suicide.Everyone believed Emma was dead.As for me, well – now I’m back to tell our story.You’ll have to see if you believe it.
Omg what a read. Brilliant. I was guessing what happened but I was wrong. 5*.

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

Emma in the Night is a chilling psychological thriller about the stories people create in order to survive. A seeping, sinister tale drawn out in increments to keep readers furiously tearing through the pages. You'll be drawn in, lured in, and won't see the ending coming!

I really enjoyed this, my first book by Wendy Walker. A great mystery/thriller where the more you know the more questions you have. The pacing was perfect, the development of the mystery was excellent. It's a no-brainer for all mystery fans. Go pick it up now!

This is one of those truly weird books, that is beyond believable, but so well written that it doesn't really matter. Well worth the read, but losing a star for being totally unrealistic.

Emma in the Night is Wendy Walkers second psychological thirller which is told from alternating points of view centering around the disappearance of two sisters.

The book was gripping for most of the beginning and did kind of lose it during the middle, but I'm so glad I persevered because this book ending up being absolutely mind-blowing and a pleasure to read. Like any mystery/thriller, I knew there was going to be a catch. Nothing was to be believed and nobody was to be trusted. I was very suspicious of the sister who had returned and knew immediately that there was something she wasn't say and she portrayed the victim flawlessly - as much as she turned out not to be a victim in the end.

The characters definitely weren't likeable at all, but that did not stop me from carrying on with the book, as I was too far mesmerised with what was going on in everybody's minds. I wasn't overly keen on reading the Detective's POV of everything and found myself reading those parts quicker, to get to Emma's, but overall, I would definitely recommend this and will be reading Wendy's other work in the future.

This book had me gripped from the very beginning and I was waiting for twist that I expected to happen but when they did they were totally unexpected in ways I hadn’t predicted which made the story all the more enjoyable.

DNF at around 100 pages

I really couldn't get into this. I had no interest in the characters or the story. I felt the writing was a bit juvenile and I couldn't keep my focus on it one bit. Maybe it was the wrong time to read it, but I couldn't get lost in the story and it was making me fall into a slump.

I thought it best to put it down so I didn't lose my reading mojo!

I liked this book to start with, then lost interest a little in the middle. I am so glad I stuck with it as the last few chapters were really gripping and I could not put down until I reached the climax.

2 sisters disappear and 3 years later one just turns up at her mothers home. The story unravels with astonishing revelations.

This is the story of Emma and Cass. Two sisters. Emma is the popular sister, good at everything, her mother’s biggest competitor. Cass is the shy one - always watching, always learning. One night both girls seem to disappear only for Cass to return three years later, with a tale about what happened to them both. It’s clear that Cass is hiding the truth. What really happened to Emma?

The story is told through a series of tales from the point of view of Cass and Dr Winter, in a mixture of tenses. Cass in particular has a certain way of telling her story, which comes across as very monotonous and dull and this often makes the reader feel detached from the situation. As such I struggled with really getting into the story. The writing style made it feel very flat and one dimensional. As a result, I didn’t feel any emotional attachment for any of the characters, and I didn’t really care about what happened.

Apart from this detachment to the characters, I also found all of them unlikeable. The book plays around with the concept of narcissism, and as such we get a lot of information about narcissistic personalities and how they can be applied to different characters. We see how the personality can directly affect those around them, and how they can manipulate others. However, there’s no deeper layer to this, with little to no character development and no redeeming qualities to be found.

The pacing is also slow, with not very many developments which also makes it a struggle to read. There’s no tension and this reads less like a thriller and more like a family drama - which is really not my kind of genre. There’s definitely less of a focus on building an atmosphere and more on trying to deconstruct a dysfunctional family life based on psychology.

Not for me, unfortunately.

Emma in the Night is a cleverly written psychological suspense story about two sisters who disappeared from their family's life and the mystery surrounding why only one came back - three years later.

The opening sentence explaining what a narcissist is had me hooked right from the very beginning and as I continued to read it became quickly apparent the girls came from a dysfunction family with several problems of their own to contend with.

I found the pace a little slow at the beginning, however, it was Cass' voice (the unreliable narrator) who kept me reading, and I am so glad I did! Does Cass know more than she is letting on? Are her actions justifiable? What would you do in the same position? These are just many questions I asked myself as I read along.

The story unravels via two points of views; Cass, the sister of the missing Emma, and the FBI forensic psychologist, Detective Abby Winters. Bit by bit Cass reveals her side of the story, whilst Abby tried to piece together every little bit of evidence and information there is in an effort to discover Emma's whereabouts. Is she still alive? Can she be saved?

Overall, Wendy Walker weaves an entertaining mystery about two vulnerable and impressionable young girls, with well researched flair and panache.

Delve into the darker side of human experience in this thought-provoking tale of messed up childhoods, mental illness and the effect it has on family members dealing with their own demons.

The following is my review as posted.

This review is actually a difficult review to write.

The story is based on the Tanner sisters, Emma and Cass. Both go missing on the same night but only one comes back in the form of Cass three years later. Back to her mother's doorstep, alone, dirty and saying very little. When the girls disappeared Emma's car was found abandoned on the beach with her personal effects inside and her shoes laying nearby. Conclusions were drawn about Emma but Cass's disappearance remained a mystery.

On her return, Cass is saying very little and Dr Winter, a psychological therapist working alongside the FBI works with Cass in trying to uncover what happened on that eventful night and indeed where has she been for three years.

What follows is a fairly slow placed story told from Cass's viewpoint and Dr Winter's. It was interesting look into narcissism (the mother) and how her actions impacted on both sisters. I can understand why the book is not for everyone. It did veer off into slightly ridiculous territory and I had kind of worked out the end before it came. Nevertheless the book as a whole kept me fairly well gripped, enough to warrant the four star rating so would have no hesitation in recommending this one. Just be prepared for some disturbing psychological behaviour from the mother. What a character!

Thank you to those for my ARC.

This thriller was ok., it wasn't 'unputadownable' and for that I was a bit disappointed.
I like a thriller to have me reading until the small hours, but I fell asleep. I liked Dr. Winter's character but that was all.
Thanks to NetGalley, Wendy Walker and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Emma in the night is a hard book to review for me as I soooo wanted to like this one like I did with Wendy Walkers previous novel but unfortunately I couldn't get into this thriller. I couldn't get into this book at all and when the ending came there were a couple of revelations I wasn't expecting but nothing that made me glad I'd ploughed on and finished the book.
The book is based around two sisters who just disappeared three years ago one night, Emma Tanner the eldest daughters car was found at the beach along with her personal belongings and her pair of shoes on the sand.There was nothing of Casses that suggested she had even been with her sister except a bit of hair in the car.
Out of the blue Cass returns home after three long years and psychologist Dr Abbey Winter who was there when they went missing is going to do anything to work out where Cass has been along with Leo Strauss from the police department.
This book was too slow going for me and I didn't connect to any characters making it so I didn't care enough what happened to them which is unfortunate and rare for me not to really enjoy a book. The mother was as the book described her a narcissist and I couldn't stand her from page one or her second husband and his son.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Emma in the night by Wendy Walker for me was a 2.5 star read.
I really wanted to like this book but I struggled terribly with it, it was difficult in some places when we were finding out about the girls family life, it took a long time for me to get into it and at points I wanted to just give up but the reader in me had to know how it ended. Just because this book wasn’t for me doesn’t mean someone won’t enjoy it so for this I do recommend you try it for yourself.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley.

I really wanted to love Emma in the Night. The author has tried something new and to a certain extent it does work. However I found the book quite long winded and seemed to take an age to get the grand finale. I didn’t dislike this book but it didn’t blow me away as I expected. Still a covert respectable three stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and the author for the chance to review.

Cass and Emma went missing one night three years ago, now Cass is back desperate to find her sister. She tells of their imprisonment on a mysterious island and Emma is still trapped there. Dr Abby Winter and the FBI face a race against time to try and find her but is Cass telling the truth or is there more to the story?

Okay so this book has been languishing on my tbr pile for a while, I’ve read so many conflicting reviews I finally decided to read it for myself and see what happened.

I have to be honest I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book. It’s very well written and quite clever but I feel it fell a bit short, for me anyway.

It’s told from two viewpoints, Cass’s and Dr Abby Winter’s. The start very slow going, I kind of kept waiting for something to happen, which unfortunately not much did, until about half way through the book, but that sense of ‘where is Emma?’ made me read until the end.

The characters, I found apart from Abby and sometimes Cass, were very unlikeable, especially Cass’s mother who suffers from something called Narcissistic Personality Disorder which made her constantly seek attention and neglect her children. Even Emma, from Cass’s stories wasn’t all that nice either.

It was also very heavy on the psychological aspect of Psychological Thriller, which although I found a bit interesting, I would have liked a bit more action or suspense.

Overall interesting in places but lacks real action or suspense.

A Great Psychological Thriller:
The novel starts with the return of a child, Cass, to her parent's home 3 years after she and her sister Emma were kidnapped. Years of investigation led nowhere.
Cass's return sparks a search by the police to find her sister and catch the kidnappers. But behind closed doors all is not what this family would like the outside world to believe but rather a deeply psychologically disturbed family whose secrets are gradually revealed almost like the layers of an onion.
Agent Leo and Dr Abby Winter have their part to play in getting to the truth of what motivated the kidnappers and the events leading up to the night of the kidnap.
The novel is narrated alternately by Dr Winter and Cass. Cass's story is predominantly of events leading up to the night of her sister's disappearance whilst Dr Winter's narrative is set in the present.
This is a great thriller and would I think be suited to the big screen. A recommended read.

Will post and publish review on twitter and goodreads closer to publication.

I very much had a love/hate relationship with this book. I always love and enjoy a psychological thriller, it has always been a favourite genre. After finishing this book, I was left wondering what it was that just did not grab my attention enough. Partly due to the characters and their relationships with each other. Especially the narcissist mother and I really struggled to get my head around her personality, and the book seems to really home in on her personality and steps into what feels like, at times, a psychology book. The mothers relationship with her daughters, discarded husband, new husband and half son was too much for me..

This book lost it's spark, that "I need to keep reading" very early on. It is slow paced, The book was far more psychology than psychological thriller. This one wasn't for me, but may suit others.

Thank you to the author and St.Martins Press for the advanced copy.