To begin with and certainly to end with Ms Walker's latest novel is a roller coaster. The reader will be pulled into the book, and certainly will not be let go until it is finished. It has everything that a psychologically oriented story should have. Murders, of course, three of them. A woman traumatized by an event in her childhood and unable to come to grips with reality. A possibly cheating husband. And a great friend looking to find sunlight for all his friends.

Laura is staying with her sister Rosie temporarily as she attempts to break out of a down mood that has haunted her for many years. While staying there she is persuaded to go out on a date obtained via a dating site after a bad episode with one man. Laura goes, and apparently disappears - yes out of sight with no contact and the man she dated is apparently a professional Casanova. Rosie and Jim her husband, begin looking for Laura even getting the police involved.

While Ms Walker guides us through the search and utilizes thoughts and actions of the individual characters she also provides plenty of ammunition for the reader to constantly change theories about what is happening and what will happen. The guiding of the reader's opinion is very well handled making the finale almost a relief to reach. The ending is logical and completely in sync with the actions of all protagonists in the story. A book to sit back and thoroughly enjoy in one sitting.

OMG this story was sooooo good!! I loved the flashbacks, the back and forth between the sisters, the twist and turns.
Great beginning and even greater ending.
Highly recommend!!

This book was a wild series of twists, every time I thought I had it figured out it went in another direction! I found it compelling and fast-paced and clever. A great read for anyone who enjoys suspense.

Ingenious, enthralling, & brisk!

When Brenda and I got the opportunity to do an early group read for Wendy Walker’s new book with our Traveling Sisters we were absolutely thrilled. Wendy Walker has quite a few fans in our Traveling Sisters group including myself.

If I were to give you one piece of advice while reading this book would be to put all your other books aside so you can totally be immersed in this tale. This book needs to be read without any interruptions and quickly because the intensity level is all in the execution here and to even let it go for a few hours loses that appeal of needing to know what the heck is going on. Now I wouldn’t necessarily say that you actually need to do that but boy do I ever wish that life didn’t get in the way of this book!

THE NIGHT BEFORE by WENDY WALKER is an intense, thrilling, suspenseful and compulsive psychological thriller novel that was quite the entertaining and enjoyable read for me. I was actually quite stunned and very impressed in the end with how well a seemingly straightforward story turned into something that was so much more complex and felt nothing but new and original.

WENDY WALKER delivers an intriguing, clever and engaging read here with quite a few surprising twists and turns. The story is told in multiple timelines with alternating points of view between two sisters, Laura and Rosie and therapy sessions between Laura and her therapist. The intensity level of the story increases slowly as the story progresses and had me guessing and questioning almost everything that was happening in this book. I absolutely love that feeling of not knowing where a story is headed and when the reveal brings everything together in the end it is just so satisfying to me.

What really made this novel for me was Laura’s character and the ending. She was a complicated, relatable, believable and realistic character. I did have a suspicion early on about one of the reveals, but having guessed that did not take away any of the shocking reveals in the end. I was genuinely impressed with how emotionally attached I got to Laura’s character and the ending for me was absolutely beautiful and very touching.

Expected Publication Date: May 14th, 2019

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: I just noticed the cover for this book and it immediately grabbed my attention! My first thought was WOW what an absolutely gorgeous and striking cover, very eye-catching and an impactful design! What a GREAT cover!
Title: Intriguing, suspenseful, and a simple, but yet an impactful title which represented the story very well.
Writing/Prose: Well-written, mysterious, gripping, stirring and effective.
Plot: Complex, suspenseful, twisty, action-packed, compelling, fast-paced, held my attention and entertaining.
Ending: Shocking, pleasing, impressive, and I was completely satisfied.
Overall: Even though I lost a little of the momentum to the story with having to put it aside it definitely did not take away how appealing and brilliant this story was. I devoured every single word! Would highly recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Wendy Walker and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read a free, electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for a review.

Thank you Wendy Walker and Netgalley for a copy of this title.
I'm not sure if this is one of the most "riveting thrillers" that I've read, as the publisher has said. But I sure was taken along for the twisty turny story. This book has a lot of "warning" moments that the main character is going though, as a female I was having those thoughts and doubts along with her. Just because your alarm goes off is it something you should notice more or are we just conditioned in our youth to look for these or past them.
This is my third Wendy Walker book and I have to say tat I will return x

Besides the great characters, for me, this worked so well because of the pacing of the book. I was absolutely hooked until the end. It kept me guessing and interested and had believable dialogue. Loved the ending! :)

Twisty, turny...this was back and forth but very well structured in the writing so that you never lost your place. Kept me guessing right up to the end, which I loved! Great plot, great characters.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

5 stars!!!! I read this over two nights! It was THAT good!!!!! I will say this will be a favorite read for me of 2018. I greatly enjoyed the other two books I read by Wendy Walker, All is Not Forgotten, and Emma in the Night. She just gets better and better with each book. Now one of my favorite authors for suspense and psychological thrillers. This book captivated me from the very first pages. A must read for lovers of this genre. I do wanna say I feel this book is best read over one or two sittings. I am someone who may read 3 books at the same time...switching back and forth. But this one, I couldn't put it aside for much of anything. It wanted all of my attention.

The story is told primarily by two sisters, Laura and Rosie. Laura is recently single, broken up from her boyfriend. She moves back to the town where she grew up and moves in with her sister and brother in law to get back on her feet and heal. Laura decides to try online dating. That does not turn out so well. In fact, her family becomes horrified when she does not return home from her blind date. Rosie, her sister and protector (we later learn why she takes on this role) is obsessed with finding Laura. We also learn of some terrible events that occurred in Laura's past when they were children, that may or may not make her seem unstable. I don't want to add any more of the plot here. This book will not be available until 2019. I highly recommend it. The page turning suspense doesn't get much better than this.

I read this along with some friends in the Traveling Sisters GR group and the discussion made it all the more intense. This brought me hours of pleasure.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Wendy Walker, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read a free, electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for a review.

I felt there was too much rehashing of the same event from multiple characters which made the pacing crawl at times. The ending felt like it came from a different book or that when it came to end it all creative ideas had tied and it was quickly rushed to finish it up. I almost wonder if this is being released so early to have time to change things before the actual publication.

Read this book in a day. Fast paced, great story and twists the actually surprised me! I feel like I can guess almost all the twists these days. Characters were interesting and it again made Wendy Walker a favorite in this genre.

The Night Before is a book you won't put down. There are twists and turns you may not see coming. This is a thriller that everyone should read. Wendy Walker is a fabulous author.

The book is compelling and entertaining. I found myself quickly taken in by the mystery, and I particularly appreciated the rotating point of view between sisters. However, I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters, including Laura and Rosie. Everyone felt like cutouts of a real person, and I had a hard time understanding their motivations.

I was given an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

The first 75% of this book was five star, but the last quarter fell apart. The twit(s) did not add to the story and I was just disappointed that a book I had been so enthralled with had become so tedious and tropish. Still worth reading if you’re a die-hard for the genre, but not the barn-stormer it could have been.

The Night Before by Wendy Walker was a really fun suspense novel. I did something I don’t normally do and kind of went in blind for this one. I knew the genre, but nothing more. The beginning of the book caught my attention right away, but I found myself hoping for more around the middle point. I thought this to be like so many books I’ve read before. While I was enjoying it, in my head, I’d already figured out the ending. I kept reading anyway and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was wrong. So very wrong! There was a twist or two that I didn’t see coming and it made the book so much more exciting for me!

I really enjoyed that this book was broken down into two time frames: The night before and present day. This made it really easy to follow and made for a fun, fast-paced read. It wasn’t confusing and flowed so nicely.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book! Wendy Walker has definitely made her mark with this thriller. This is the third thriller I've read by Walker, and it wasn't until this novel that I can say I am a definite fan of hers. Wow.

Split between the night before and the day after, between Laura and her sister Rosie. This story doesn't only twist and turn, but causes a reader to question what they thought they knew. I found myself flipping back and forth in who I thought was to blame and even when I thought I had it figured out, another twist threw me.

For fans of suspense, this is a must.

Ooh, this was good! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I wanted the book to just end already because I couldn't stand not knowing what happened to Laura. This is told from Laura's point of view and also from Rosie's point of view while she's worrying and looking for her sister. Both sisters' stories are weaved together so well that you don't miss a beat. This book is full of suspense and twists and ugh, did I mention how good it was?! I was pleasantly surprised at a few things.. I thought I had it all figured out but I was wrong. Loved the characters and the depth of this whole book.

I didn't love or hate the book. I really looked forward to reading it because I LOVED Emma in the Night. I enjoyed the story and twists and turns. I didn't guess many of the things that happened, so the book definitely kept me in suspense. I never really loved the characters. Rosie and Joe were fine, my problem was more with Laura. The book alternates between the characters, which I didn't mind.

Throughout the book I had doubts in my head about what was really going on and who was involved with everything. I didn't know if I could believe Jonathan. Plus Laura wasn't that reliable of a person and didn't make good decisions. Actually, Laura made AWFUL decisions. Ones that could lead to being kidnapped, locked in basements or being murdered. Doesn't she watch the ID Channel, Dateline or even the news? I kept shouting in my head-- Just go home! Don't take drinks from him! He's probably drugging you! (Yes, I read too many creepy books and watch too many shows on the ID Channel) Then I changed my mind and thought maybe Jonathan should be scared of Laura. She definitely seems crazy.

Laura goes out on a date with a man she met online and doesn't come home the next day. Her sister, Rosie, is immediately worried that something went horribly wrong. Laura doesn't have the best track record with men or make great decisions. She recently moved into Rosie's house after a breakup with a boyfriend. That's not the worst part. When Laura was in high school she suffered a traumatic event involving a boyfriend, bat and a ton of blood. Not everyone thought she was innocent.

I enjoyed the story and the writing style. I just didn't love any of the characters. I would probably give the book 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the twists and the secrets that were revealed. Was I surprised by the ending? No, not really. I had a suspicion that there had to be more to the event in high school. I was more surprised about what Joe revealed.

Definitely recommend the book. It's a good mystery/ suspense. I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author, Wendy Walker, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

This book is about the complications between sisters and how far we will go for the ones we love. There are many times throughout when I thought I had everything all figured out. To my delight, I was wrong. I don't want to ruin this for anyone. I would advise going into this book blind and trusting that Wendy Walker knows what she's doing. An actual thriller that is well written and well characterized. I enjoyed the style of telling the book from the night of and also the night before.

Twelve hours earlier, she was...
Hopeful.
Excited.
Safe.
Now she's gone.

We've all heard the saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover", this is one book that is a prime example of this saying! Very exciting and thrilling book with alternating points of view, which I liked. The writing is excellent. Wendy Walker uses such beautifully descriptive words that just pulls you in to the story. An absolute must read!

Thank you # NetGalley for this ARC of #TheNightBefore by Wendy Walker!
Pub Date: 14 May 2019

An outstanding book! It hooked me within the first few pages! I continued my quest for answers, right alongside the other characters. Right up until the last pages I was kept guessing!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this advanced copy!