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.

This was probably one of the better mystery/thrillers I've read in a while. I kept being pulled back to read more which hasn't happened for me for quite a bit now. I saw a couple of things coming, but not too soon in the plot, and there were several things I didn't see coming at all. I always like when a mystery can surprise me. The writing was good and I felt like we really got a look into the characters' mindset...especially that of Nic and Molly. I will definitely look into other work from Wendy Walker.

Troubled mother goes missing. A note is found.
But her daughter is not satisfied. Because in the depths of her soul she knows the truth about her mother.

This is a very interesting take on guilt, motherhood and bravery. The novel explores these subjects deeply and not from the shallow angles and I was quite captivated by its wisdom. Yes, we are who we are precisely because of what has happened to us on the road to here and now. What we perceive as a wrongdoing we done or experienced might have equipped us exactly for the situations in the future.

This is also a bona fide mystery, quite cleverly written and with many believable motifs (even if the last chapters are going a bit wild with the relevations, but most of the novel is very, very solid - a rare sight these days).

The POV is strictly female, which I generally do not like as I find it one-sided, but here it works surprisingly well - maybe because the topics the novel deals with are female-oriented (like mother-daughter bond) and the authoress builds her environment around them knowingly.

I will follow the authoress from now on.

Don't Look for Me was such an interesting book. It really was such a different take on the "missing women" type of trope. For a family surviving tragedy and living with the guilt associated with said tragedy, there are tensions, people to blame. So mom considers leaving her family behind - they don't care about her anymore, right? But when she goes missing in the midst of the storm, the big question is - did she get abducted, or did she leave of her own accord?

I thought I had the story figured out. I really did. And to an extent, I was right. Then I got to a point where I literally said (out loud), "Wait, what?"

So, while the book was predictable in many ways, I was fully surprised by the ending.

Mark my words this book is going to be a huge hit for Wendy Walker. This is an exceptional thriller. A true stand out among so many.

I really don't want to discuss the plot because I want everyone to discover this story on their own terms. It's intricate. It's breathtaking. It's heart-pumping. It's shiver inducing. It's everything I could ever ask for in this genre. I started this book yesterday morning and tore through 75% without even realizing it. I was completely riveted to the pages.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

This is my second book from this author. This is the second one given an average rating. I found the writing to be mediocre and it just left me cold.

4.5 stars
Well, this was a page turner for sure!
Main character, Molly has gone missing. Now, the police and everyone searching has chalked it up to someone who doesn’t want to be found as a planned disappearance, but her oldest child, Nicole doesn’t believe anything she’s told and continues the search after the case has gone cold.
I love the writing style with dual POVs. Every other chapter was Molly’s POV or her daughter Nicole’s. iThere are twists and turns I didn’t see coming. This book was hard to put down. If you are looking for a small town thriller where everyone seems to be connected in some twisted way this is the book for you. Highly recommend!

OMG i don’t what to say about this book! It was just fantastic and I can’t stop reading it. So happy that it was a weekend and I have time to read. I was surprised all along and was not able to guess all the twists on this book.it was intriguing and riveting! Just loved and now I don’t know what to read.

Another FANTASTIC Wendy Walker story! I really enjoy her writing style and how addicting her stories are. This was another 5-star read for me!

Wendy Walker once again proves she a master of suspense/thrillers with this book “Don’t Look for Me.” Here, we meet Molly Clarke, who is distraught after the accidental death of her daughter. Five years post-accident, she is a shell of herself, so it’s not a big surprise when she goes missing one night. Her other daughter, Nicole, doesn’t believe she would just leave the rest of her family behind.

It’s hard to discuss this book without spoilers, and it’s best to go in with as little information as possible so you are along for the ride. The story alternates between Molly and Nicole, making it a compulsory read. You’re going to want to set aside an afternoon to read this, because it will be near impossible to put down. I kept saying “just one more chapter” and after four or five times I just gave in, so wrapped up in the story, so wanting to find out how it would all end; it was near impossible to put down.

“𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚. 𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒅𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚, 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.”

Wendy Walker’s Dont Look For Me has been on my radar for quite a while after seeing it raved about Dennis’ (@scaredstraightreads) page. I picked it up as soon as it was published… and then it sat looking beautiful on my shelf. This summer was the time to open the pages, and I am certainly glad I did.

Walker weaves an intricate story with two timelines and two perspectives: Molly Clarke, who has gone missing, and her daughter, Nicole. Both women are stricken with grief, over the death of Molly’s daughter and Nic’s sister, Annie, in which both blame themselves. This study of grief and how each member of the Clarke family has processed it (with lots of shades of grey) gives this suspense story a gripping edge. Walker’s writing is sharp and nuanced, and her descriptions of the small town, along with the people of Hastings Pass, feel stifiling. You understand Nic’s apprehension for trusting people there and know there are some sinister secrets to be uncovered. The characters are well fleshed out and interesting, and the reveals are well paced. Although one of the reveals was a little disappointing (I wanted it to take a different direction), another one had me gasping with surprise.

Don’t Look For Me is a page-turning mystery about grief, guilt, obsession, and forgiveness. Wendy Walker has created a story that would adapt well for the screen and is perfect for a beach day or late night during a thunderstorm read!

A very entertaining fast paced thriller. This is the first book I've read by this author and I'm sure to pick up more. The writing was great and really kept you intrigued! The plot twist was amazing.

While I'm generally a fan for a good psychological thriller, this one just didn't do it for me in the end. I was sucked in during the beginning but near the middle-75% it lost steam for me. One thing I did like a lot was the use of flipping back and forth between the narrators. Thank you for the ARC and the opportunity to review the book!

For the most part, I found this an engaging thriller. Told from both Molly and her daughter Nicole’s POVs, I thought both characters were interesting perspectives to read from and I really enjoyed reading about their relationship; complicated as it was. I also thought the author did a great job of building tension and setting a very creepy tone that carried throughout the story.

What let me down a little was how repetitive I found some parts of the book, with the same points being rehashed over and over again which made the story feel like it was dragging at times.

Where it did make up points however was with the ending; while I didn’t entirely buy it, I did appreciate it for the entertainment factor!

This was a very suspenseful read that I really enjoyed. Like her other novels, this book was very fast-paced and had a big twist at the end.

A daughter is killed, a distraught mother walks away from her life. Molly is completely crushed when her daughter is dead and despite her husband, children and responsibilities she abandons her life….. or does she? Nicole her daughter doesn’t believe it. We follow the story told by both Molly and Nicole to find out just what happened here. This book is going to leave you in the chair with your mouth wide open saying “WHAT?!?” so many times. You’ll be up way into the night reading this one because you won’t be able to stop! You’ll need all the answers. Put this on your TBR today!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. When tragedy hits a family and it feels like they are falling apart, Molly thinks no one will miss her if she just leaves. Until something actually happens to Molly. What doesn't kill us can make us stronger. I was surprised by this book at least a couple of times and once I actually quit reading for a few minutes because I didn't see it coming. I got through this book within two days. Highly recommend.