I have to admit, the title of "Don't Look for Me" didn't exactly scream "must-read thriller" to me, but man, was I wrong! This book was a engaging from start to finish, and I couldn't put it down.

First of all, the alternating perspectives in the narrative were executed flawlessly. The story never lost its momentum, constantly revealing new information that kept me hooked. I blasted through this book in just two days, and if I hadn't had prior plans, I'm pretty sure I would've devoured it in one sitting.

One of the things I appreciated the most was how it kept me guessing. Some thrillers drop hints too early, but not this one. I had my theories, and just as I thought I had it all figured out, the story would throw me for a loop, making me question everything all over again.

What really stood out for me were the two strong, flawed women at the center of the story. It's refreshing to see well-drawn, complex female characters in a thriller. They felt real, and I could relate to their struggles and strengths.

I do wish there was a bit more time spent on the conclusion to wrap everything up and provide a bit more detail. But honestly, that's a minor thing in an otherwise fantastic read.

This was my first Wendy Walker book, and I’ll definitely be checking out more of her work. If you're a thriller fan, "Don't Look for Me" should be on your to-read list.

Molly Clarke’s family fell apart the very moment their youngest daughter dies. Molly forever blames herself and her husband seems to have fallen out of love with her. ⁣
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Molly then goes missing and everyone believes she’d abandoned her family- she couldn’t handle the guilt anymore. Her oldest daughter, Nicole, doesn’t believe that though. She doesn’t think her mother would just walk away from her family like that. ⁣
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Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker is a perfectly plotted psychological thriller. It’s creepy, suspenseful, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Walker had my heart pounding! ⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

This was a five star read for me and influenced me to read more of Wendy Walkers books! This page turner ended up being my favorite.

Sadly, this thriller did not work for me. I enjoyed all the parts about the grief; however, I did feel that they were edging dangerously close to being "trauma porn". All the mystery parts were a miss for me. The beginning kept me entertained, but the ending was a complete disaster IMO. SPOILERS AHEAD. Was the abductor a psychopath? I am guessing, no? But then why was he acting so weird? He certainly exhibited SOME anti-social traits, and it appeared like he had some fantasies that he wanted to reenact...But at the end SHE is the one who was "evil". No. Just no. Psychopaths cannot be easily "played" like that by "evil women". I could not buy into this whole thing of the woman being the evil one in the end AT ALL. This was a pure and simple manipulation of the reader for the sake of achieving the "wow" factor in the very end. You did not expect that, did you?!?!? No, I did not. Because it was completely unbelievable, and ridiculous.

I cannot believe it took me so long to read this book! I originally received this ARC in July 2020 via @netgalley, but life got crazy (as it did for many of us during the pandemic) and I forgot about it until #thrillabookstaclub picked it as our monthly read earlier this year.

This was the perfect excuse to finally read this, and my initial reaction is: WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG!?

I absolutely loved it. It was the perfect balance of twists and intrigue, where the signs are all there and I felt like I was figuring out what happened, but still didn’t actually have a clue. I was floored by the ending (which scores major points in my book)!

I previously read All Is Not Forgotten, and really enjoyed it. So far, she is 2 for 2 in my book and I've already fallen behind on the latest release of What Remains, but I'm determined to not wait another year before getting to it!

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮:
🌧️ love domestic thrillers
🌧️ like disappearances during storms
🌧️ enjoy solving cold cases

This was addictive. Full of suspense, twists, and psychological manipulation. With complex characters and a mind-bending plot line, it will keep you on the edge of your seat, questioning everything. Get ready for a thrilling journey into the depths of the human mind.

Everyone thinks Molly has left her family. She leaves a note behind and her car is found. But Molly had run out of gas and accepted a ride from a man and a little girl. A little creepy and suspenseful, this story will leave you fearing what will happen next.

This is my first time reading this author but won’t be the last! This was a fast paced thriller that I couldn’t put down. It kept my interest and I didn’t want to put it down. I highly recommend this to thriller lovers.

Fun read. The story is captivating so it is hard to stop. This is a solid entry onto the list of her books.

I always seem to be on the opposite side of the popular train. This had such geat reviews and it just read like one of those bad 80s movies that never became a cult classic. A major miss for me.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This might sound like a funny reason to choose a title. But I keep seeing Wendy Walker’s name referred to by other suspense authors I follow such as Deborah Goodrich Royce and I thought, ok I need to begin reading this author. So glad I did! Don’t Look For Me kept me guessing the entire time and provided characters you couldn’t trust but still wanted to. I will be looking for more books this very day as I am heading straight to the bookstore!

Don’t Look for Me was told from the “missing” mother’s perspective and the daughter she left behind and the reader is left with a mission of figuring out how all of this is connecting and discovering secrets along with our characters. It’s a fast paced popcorn thriller that provided some great entertainment.

What a thriller. What a book. Psychological thriller. Reading it had me on the edge of my dear until I finally put it down because I was done reading it.

I have loved every Wendy Walker book I have read and Don’t Look for Me did not disappoint. Her writing style always grabs my attention from the first chapter and her character development is amazing. The twists and turns in this one surprised me just as they have with her other books. Highly recommend and can’t wait to see what she writes in the future. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

3.5 stars

This was a super suspenseful book. One that had me hooked fairly early on. I loved the two different narratives - first person with Molly and third person with Nicole. Kept the plot intriguing.

Molly is depressed after not only losing her youngest child but also being responsible for her death. Molly is a shell of her former self, going through the motions, with thoughts of just ending her own life or running away. Her husband and two other children, now grown up, are disconnected from her, blaming her for the loss. One evening, after driving to her son’s college to watch his football game, she runs out of gas. When offered a ride to get help, she figures she has nothing to lose and gets in. This is the beginning of Nicole’s desperate need to know what happened to her mother after police find her abandoned car.

What led to the star loss was the ending. I didn’t like the resolution. It seemed completely far fetched and didn’t make sense. However as a whole, this psychological thriller is worth the read. As with all of this author’s books, the writing is strong and the characters are vibrant, even if they aren’t all that likeable.


Thank you Netgalley for a reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

As always, Wendy Walker knows how to build suspense and unreliable narrative into an absolute masterpiece. This one wasn't my favorite of here but I still absolutely loved it, and everything I've read. She has a sure style that instantly and continuously grips readers.

I don't remember much of this story. It never really grabbed me, but I kept listening as I was in the car. (2.5/5)

Don't Look for Me, by Wendy Walker, is a chilling kidnapping story told from the points of view of Molly Clarke, who has been kidnapped, and her daughter Nicole, who's desperate to find her. The police have told Nicole and her family that Molly has simply run away - but Nicole isn't convinced. She's researching every clue and following up on every lead. Molly on the other hand is locked away in a house with a young girl as her prison guard, with a man who comes and goes. After trying to get away once, she's locked in a room and the door is only opened for a meal tray to be given to her. She asks the young girl lots of questions, trying to figure out a way to escape and get away before she is killed like the little girls "first mommy." Slowly but surely, secrets are unraveled until we find out who is really keeping Molly Clarke captive and what led to her kidnapping. A creepy, thrilling, psychological mystery!

I have had Don’t Look for Me on my TBR for a long time. I originally had gotten it as an ARC before the pandemic started. I ended up not reading it because I got overwhelmed with being stuck inside and teaching three heartbroken kids. I didn’t read anything for almost a year (until I sent my youngest back to school). So why review Don’t Look for Me now? It was two things. The first one: I decided to try and clean up any/all of my NetGalley reviews from that period (and earlier this year, yikes). If I had to pay for the book, it was all good; I’ll pay for it (which ties in with the second thing). The second: I decided to get Kindle Unlimited. The first thing I did was go through all sixty-something books and download what was on KU. And that brought me to reading and reviewing Don’t Look for Me. I absolutely couldn’t put this book down!! It was that good!!

Don’t Look for Me had two exciting storylines. One storyline follows Nicole and her quest to find her missing mother, Molly. As she digs into Molly’s disappearance, she sees similarities to another woman who went missing ten years previously. What is the connection between the disappearances?

The second storyline follows Molly, the events leading up to her kidnapping, and what happened to her afterward. Molly is drowning in guilt over her nine-year-old daughter’s accidental death four years ago. That death shattered her family, who all blamed her. The night she is kidnapped, Molly accepts a ride from a stranger with a daughter the same age her daughter was when Molly accidentally killed her. That ride leads to her imprisonment. As Molly plans to escape, she is forced to deal with her daughter’s death. Will Molly escape?

Don’t Look for Me is a fast-paced book set in the fictional town of Hastings, Connecticut. This book starts a little slow. That allowed the author to explain Molly’s backstory. Once the author explained, the book picked up the pace and didn’t slow until the explosive end.

The characters in Don’t Look for Me were not likable. I cannot stress this enough. Except for Molly, I was not too fond of any of the main characters. Each character had complex issues the author could go into without taking away from the storylines.

Molly—My heart broke for her. I want to clarify; she was the only character in this book I liked. She didn’t deserve the scorn and hatred of her husband and children over what happened. It. Was. An. Accident. I cannot stress this enough. I loved seeing her gradually come to terms with her child’s death and her role in it. I also liked that she resolved not to leave Alice behind when she finally escaped. Of course, she used her resources as a chemistry teacher to do something I had no idea could be done. Honestly, I wanted to google it but was afraid I would get put on some watch list….lol.
Nicole—I didn’t like her. Scratch that; I couldn’t stand her. The things she said to Molly during their last confrontation were horrible. She self-medicated with alcohol and sex. I figured out why she was doing that early in the book. But, as much as I didn’t like her, I did like her resolve to find Molly. Nicole had seen something in Molly’s notes that changed everything, and she was determined to bring her home. But, she was like a bull in a china shop with her investigation.
Jared Reyes—-He was shady AF. Right from the get-go, I didn’t like him. He was almost too helpful to Nicole. It made me wonder what he was hiding. I did think his backstory was awful. It made his dedication to his job and Chief Watkins understandable. Still, I thought something was off with him.
Alice—She annoyed me. No nine-year-old talked the way she did. I have a nine-year-old, and I know she doesn’t have the vocabulary that Alice did. I also thought she was very messed up. She kept bringing up Molly’s dead daughter and telling Molly how bad Molly was for causing her death. I had a WTF moment while reading that. What typical nine-year-old would say that?
The secondary characters in Don’t Look for Me added the extra oomph that the book needed. The author did a great job of having them cast red herrings all over the place.

Don’t Look for Me fit perfectly into the psychological thriller genre. I also thought it fit into the mystery genre (Molly’s disappearance).

The author amazingly wrote the storyline with Molly, her kidnapping, her family, and her youngest daughter’s death. I did not figure out who kidnapped Molly. So, when it was revealed at the end of the book, I was shocked. As for her youngest daughter’s death, I was heartbroken by how much pain Molly was in. And I was disgusted by how her husband and surviving children treated her. DISGUSTED!!! There was a point in this plotline that I wondered if Molly would have been better off staying with the kidnapper and Alice.

The storyline with Nicole, Molly’s kidnapping, and her detective work was also as well written as Molly’s. I didn’t like Nicole, but I understood she was hurting. I also understood that she felt guilt over Molly disappearing and blamed herself. I enjoyed reading about her working through her emotions and realizing that she might need help. She was a good detective. I didn’t see the twist in her plotline coming, either. That also took me by surprise.

The storyline with Molly, Alice, and the kidnapper was exciting but less interesting than the other two main storylines. Again, another twist in this book took me by surprise. I didn’t expect what happened to happen.

The end of Don’t Look for Me was chaotic. The author brought together and then closed everything storyline in the book. She did it in such a way that I was left satisfied as a reader. I loved the epilogue but didn’t like what Molly felt she had to or wanted to do. But it was a closure I didn’t know I needed until I read it.

I recommend Don’t Look for Me to anyone over 21. There is language, mild to moderate violence, and sexual situations.

I want to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wendy Walker for allowing me to read and review this book. I got this book first as an ARC and then downloaded it on KU to read.

Unfortunately, I got a new kindle device and no longer have the download to this novel. I will not be reviewing this title.