This was a long drawn out story. It was very confusing going from one person to the other, sometimes I had to go back a few pages to find who I was reading about at that time. At times a I didn't know if events were a dream or real. It was just a tangled up story.

When the Lights Go Out by Mary Kubica is an engrossing and suspenseful mystery that also explores obsession and the effects of grief.

Jessie Sloane is bereft when her beloved mother and only relative passes away after years of battling cancer. Attempting to honor her mother’s last wishes, Jessie enrolls in college only to discover her social security number is flagged for a shocking reason that leaves her questioning everything she thinks she knows about herself and her mom. Suffering from debilitating insomnia, Jessie begins seeing and hearing things that threaten her sanity.  She eventually becomes obsessed with finding her father but does the hidden picture Jessie discovers hold the key to uncovering the truth?

Interspersed with events playing out in the present are diary entries from a woman named Eden.  When Eden first begins her journal, she and her husband Aaron are blissfully happy and celebrating their recent move into a lakeside cottage. The couple decide it is time to become parents, but as the months pass without conceiving, Jessie becomes more and more obsessed with motherhood.  With her marriage teetering on the brink, exactly how far is Jessie willing to go to become a mother?

When the Lights Go Out is a riveting mystery that will keep readers guessing what is going to happen next. Jessie’s plight is easy to empathize with but her behavior and decisions become increasingly bizarre.  Eden’s desperate attempts to become pregnant are understandable but she eventually becomes quite irrational the more desperate she becomes. Mary Kubica brings the novel to an unexpected conclusion with a major plot twist that is impossible to predict.  Although the ending is bit of letdown, I truly enjoyed this suspense-filled and entertaining read.

I’ve quickly become a Kubica fan as I’ve read more and more of her books. With that said, I didn’t feel like this one suited me.

The book opens with Jessie’s mom, who has been battling cancer, dying. Jessie has been unable to sleep, and the one time she did, her mom died without her. From there, Jessie has to try to pick up the pieces of her grief and move on. When she gets a call from her college letting her know that her social security number is tied to someone on the death registry, Jessie sets out to try to learn more about the person she is.

Interspersed with Jessie’s story are passages about her mom, Eden, from before Jessie was born. They tell a story of a woman who is so desperate to have a baby that she goes into debt, sabotages her marriage, and even entertains the idea of kidnapping someone else’s child. Slowly, her story reveals the truth of Jessie’s origins.

The novel has Kubica’s trademark twist ending, but it wasn’t one that I loved. Jessie’s insomnia makes her a narrator who becomes increasingly unreliable, to the point where some of her passages were almost impossible to read. I recognize that this is down to Kubica illustrating the effects of insomnia, but it was a style that didn’t work for me. Those passages didn’t hold my attention as much as the Eden passages, and even Eden stars to deteriorate mentally as her baby obsession grows.

Lots of Eden’s tales made me sad, and Jessie’s made me crazy. The book was ok, but it’s not my favorite by this author and not one I see myself reading again.

It's just Jessie and her mom before her mom passes away from cancer and she is left alone. She never knew her dad and she has no other siblings or friends. Her mom's last words are to "go find yourself" so Jessie applies to college but a registration official calls and says her social security number belongs to a dead 3 year old girl, who died 17 years ago. There are 2 timelines in this book, current day with Jessie's POV, and another set in the 90s with Eden. Eden's only goal in life is to get pregnant. The two timelines seem like two completely different stories but as the novel progresses, you'll see the thread that ties them together. In all honesty, I read some of the spoilers online and contemplated aborting the book early on because of the ending. I agreed with a lot of the other reviewers who felt the author took the easy way out in wrapping up the plot. Obviously I'm not going to spoil it for you by detailing it here. I'm glad I continued till the end and was able to make my own judgment though (definitely not a perfect book but still enjoyable). I'm not sure I'd place this book in the psychological thriller genre though which was a bit disappointing since that's my favorite type of novel but it was still a readable choice.

Not what I expected...it was tough enough to get through the wild psychological ride with one of the main characters and then have it turn into that ending?  I'm all for a good twist but this was not really for me.  This was my first Mary Kubica and still want to read her other works, I just hope the twists aren't laid out like this.  2.5/3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin/Hanover Square Press for the ARC.

I've read all of Mary Kubica's books, so when I was approved for an ARC of When the Lights Go Out, I was pumped!

I wasn't a huge fan of Every Last Lie, but I thought her first three books were phenomenal, and the blurb made this one sound great.

And there were great parts about it. Kubica's writing is always very good, but I did question some of the word choices when Jessie was narrating. As a 17 year old, I would expect her to say whites of her eyes, as opposed to sclera, for example.

The biggest success of the book is the portion told from Eden's point of view. She is easy to empathize with as she transitions from a newlywed with a perfect life to a woman who really struggles through adversity she never saw coming, and then matures for the sake of her daughter.

I thought that using sleep deprivation as a vehicle for an unreliable narrator was unique. I was looking forward to the challenge of sifting through the clues to find out what was reality and what was blurred by sleeplessness. 

The story is fast moving and I was desperate to race through to the end and figure out what was going on. I could not wait to find out how it ended--until I found out how it ended.

To say that I was angry is to understate how I felt. I'm writing this review two full days after I read this book because when I woke up yesterday, I was still truly pissed. Like, I want to give this book zero stars kind of pissed. 

The ending is just disrespectful to the reader. These thriller wait for the twist kind of books should aim to be difficult to figure out, but the reader should be able to at least look back and think, 'Ah, so that was what was going on!'

There was none of that here, given the ending.  

I consider myself a pretty lenient reviewer; I wouldn't actually give a book zero stars. There were good things about the book, so I will give it two stars, but begrudgingly.

When the Lights Go Out is expected to be published September 4, 2018.

Thank you to Park Row for providing an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a fan of Mary Kubica since The Good Girl. This new psychological thriller is no disappointment, I enjoyed it. The story is slow-paced but keeps you on edge.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for this ARC.

Jessie Sloan''s mother dies of cancer, and her dying wish was for Jessie to "find herself".  So Jessie sells the house she grew up in, signs up to go to college and finds a new place to live where there are no ghosts from the past.  Then she receives a call from the college saying her social security number belongs to someone who has been dead for 17 years.  This prompts Jessie to go on a quest to get answers to who she really is, and everything spirals out of control.
I really enjoyed this author's previous book, but this one fell short for me.  There were twists at the end, but it just left me more confused and dissatisfied than anything.  That said, give it a try and see if you come to a different opinion.

What a great book this was! I enjoyed the dark and twisty story line. It kept me guessing and I never did quite get all the ins and outs figured out. This story of Jessie is everyone’s worst nightmare - being left alone in the world and then not quite knowing who you are. I would highly recommend this book!

This book is a slow burn with not a lot happening for most of the book. The majority of the story is about Jessie's grief following her mother's death, her insomnia, and trying to find out who she really is. The story is told in the viewpoints of Eden, Jessie's mother, and Jessie. Both were well done and intriguing. I really identified with Jessie's grief and the crazy symptoms of sleep deprivation. But a little past 90% there is a plot twist. For me, the twist was very disappointing. I'd still recommend this book because there's a lot of good in there but I had to take a star off for that ending!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.  I have read several books by Mary Kubica and this book did not disappoint.  In this story, Jessie is mourning the loss of her mother.  One of the last things her mom tells her is to "find herself".  Without ever knowing her father, Jessie embarks on the heartbreaking journey of determining who she is and where she came from.  With many twists and turns, Jessie finally comes to realize what her mother's words meant and accomplishes this.

Just like her other books, Mary Kubica successfully navigates the multi-person narration; this time between mother and daughter.   The book shifts seamlessly between present day daughter Jessie, and mother Eden before Jessie was born.  I thought I had the entire story figured out from an early point, but I was wrong -- there is a great plot twist!  Mary Kubica never disappoints with her interesting plot lines and surprises.  A must read for the fall!

Jessie Sloane is on the path to rebuilding her life after years of caring for her ailing mother. She rents a new apartment and applies for college. But when the college informs her that her social security number has raised a red flag, Jessie discovers a shocking detail that causes her to doubt everything she’s ever known.

    Finding herself suddenly at the center of a bizarre mystery, Jessie tumbles down a rabbit hole, which is only exacerbated by grief and a relentless lack of sleep. As days pass and the insomnia worsens, it plays with Jessie’s mind. Her judgment is blurred, her thoughts are hampered by fatigue. Jessie begins to see things until she can no longer tell the difference between what’s real and what she’s only imagined.

    Meanwhile, twenty years earlier and two hundred and fifty miles away, another woman’s split-second decision may hold the key to Jessie’s secret past. Has Jessie’s whole life been a lie or have her delusions gotten the best of her?

My Thoughts: From the first page of When the Lights Go Out, I thought that I had a good grip on where this story was going. Narrated by two characters, twenty years apart, we slowly learn the story of a mother and a daughter. But the bizarre twists and turns lead us to scratch our heads and ponder everything we thought we knew.

Who is Jessica Sloane? What secrets did her mother, Eden, keep from her, and why? How did Jessica’s grief lead her down some very uncertain pathways? Has Jessica been living with a stolen identity? Was her life a lie…or a strange dream?

As I read, I couldn’t help thinking of movies I’ve seen in which the conclusion shows that the whole story has been a fabrication…or a Twilight Zone of some kind. So I felt stunned. And as if I, too, had been led into a kind of alternate reality, which I then had to interpret and sort through. Until the last sections, I was headed toward a 5 star rating…instead, 4 stars from me.

***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thanks to Mary Kubica, and NetGalley for the chance to read this book before it hits shelves later next month. This book was good, nothing like I had thought it would be. I liked how the author goes back and forth from past and present. I had so many questions as I was reading it, and then when I got to the end, I had even more. I didn't really like the twist at the end, like I said I still wanted to know some things. I really didn't like her friend Miranda and I felt like she was just parading around her fertility in front of Eden, knowing that they were having trouble. I think I want to read some more books by Kubica, seeing as this was my first one. Twisty ending for sure!

I usually like Mary Kubica books but I was very frustrated with this  one. The story was like a slow burn, not much happening, but I held on feeling it would all pay off in the end. However, I was disappointed with the twist at the end.

Spoiler alert!

Flashback to 1986. I was 18 years old; sitting in my dorm room eagerly awaiting the Dallas season finale with my roommate. Way back when entire seasons didn’t drop on the same day. Back before binge watching whole seasons in a weekend was a thing. Back when you talked about the season finale all summer long. 

And ding dang it… Bobby Ewing steps out of that shower. What the heck? How can that be? We all saw him die! Really? The entire last season nothing but a freakin’ dream. You could hear the shock and dismay up and down the hallway as we watched with our doors open.

Fast forward 32 years. I feel almost as cheated. Even if you are under 40 and did not watch with the rest of the world, you are probably familiar with the way that producers tried to bring back an actor that had quit the show and subsequently been killed off and buried.

The title should have been a huge clue. What happens “when the lights go out”? I thought it would be a bit more interesting than going to sleep and having a scary dream. Read the book synopsis (I won't regurgitate it here); it is so intriguing.
The book was great until the twist reveal. It was well-written and engaging moving between 1996/1997 and 18 years later, to tell this story of mother and daughter. 
In the end, I gave it three stars. I mean, it was a surprise and diversion from her other books. And after all, she gave Jessie what everyone eventually craves at some point in their lives: a few more minutes with someone they love. Something even Pamela Ewing got!
#WhenTheLightsGoOut #NetGalley

Publication Date: September 4, 2018
Genre:  Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
Cover: OK
Rating: 3 stars
Source:  I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

I thought this book was a disappointment and I feel like the ending taken was a bit of a cheat. The beginning and middle of the book went smoothly and quickly for me, but then something changed. I will never be like Eden, wanting a child no matter the price paid on her finances and marriage. I will not go into debt just to have a baby. That mindset is ludicrous and foolish to me. So I didn't sympathize with Eden very much. I've loved all of Mary Kubica's earlier works but this one fell really flat for me. I hope I like her next book better.

It's hard to rate a book when you really thoroughly enjoyed it up until a point and then found the remainder frustrating. (hide behind spoiler) If you tend to find dream sequences in movies and television annoying, as I do, perhaps this won't be the book for you. It almost seemed like a lazy way to wrap up the story, and as the events that Jessie dreamed were pretty intense and intriguing, I'd have loved to see the follow through on these instead.

3 stars because I did sincerely enjoy the majority of this book.

Jessie is on her own after her mother's death. As she grieves the loss of her mother, Jessie moves into her own place and adjusts to life on her own. Unfortunately, Jessie soon learns something that makes her question everything. To complicate matters, Jessie has suffered from insomnia since her mother was dying in the hospital. Due to her lack of sleep, she starts having difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction. 

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Jessie and Eden. Jessie is a young woman who suffers a great loss when her mother dies. Eden is her mother. Jessie's story takes place after her mother's death. Eden's story takes place twenty years earlier, before Jessie.

Both stories are interesting. Eden's story is about her desire to have a child, and the trouble she and her husband have with conceiving. Jessie's story is about her starting out on her own, moving to a new place, applying to college, but also grieving the loss of her mother. When she learns something that makes her question everything, an intriguing mystery follows. 

I'm not a big fan of alternate points of view, especially when they involve alternate timelines. It is nice to see how the pieces come together in the end, but the ending isn't spectacular enough to make this a great read for me. I've seen a few reviews that complain of the ending for this one, but I felt it fit with the story being told. 

A slow burn psychological thriller. Dark, tragic, and suspenseful.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading the latest from Mary Kubica, but I can’t say that I liked this one very much.  It’s not a bad book--it kept my interest--but what a downer!

The deeper I got into the story, the more I wanted to find out Jessie Sloane’s true identity.  Problem was, the story was bogged down in Jessie’s grief over her mother’s terminal cancer.  Kubica is a master at tuning in to the feelings of loss.  

It may sound like a real stretch, but the story ended up reminding me of an episode of Dallas, the prime time soap opera that was on in the 1980’s.   I’ll let readers decide if that is a good thing or not.

I haven’t given up on Kubica and I still have some of her back list on my to-be-read list.  This one is just not a favorite.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin-Hanover Square Press/Park Row for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.