IN WENDY WALKER'S THRILLING NOVEL 'DON'T LOOK FOR ME'. THE GREATEST RISK ISN'T RUNNING AWAY. IT'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

I was drawn in right from the get go and it was an emotional book as a mother. I just couldn't imagine the pain and sorrow that she went through after the accident five years ago. It also showed that no matter what a mothers love survives it all.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
Release date is 9-15-2020.

Thank you for the opportunity to read! I couldn’t get through this book fast enough. The characters were engaging and the plot was intriguing. I was on the edge of my seat!! Can not wait to recommend this to friends!!

Solid thriller with heart wrenching sadness. A family’s grief mixed into a twisted tale of searching for a list family member in a creepy little town.

Really enjoyed this book. I really felt Molly & her families pain . Lots of twists and didn’t expect the ending. Very well written! Looking into more titles by Wendy Walker!!

Thriller with alternating POV.  Hella surprises that were not what this reader expected. 

One of my favorite lines:  "The moment they realize we are liars is the moment they lose their childhood."

Very light editing issues, but my biggest problem with this book is the title makes no sense.  Why not "She Walked Away"? It was said multiple times and makes some sense.

"DON'T LOOK FOR ME" by Wendy Walker
3.5 out of 5 ⭐s

Part of me wants to simply play into the "Whew! What a twisty thriller!!" narrative instead of vomiting my muddled thoughts on this book into a comprehensive review. But... obligations, ya know?

I don't think I've read a single negative review for this book yet. Every mention of it by ARC readers have all but DEMANDED that we must read it and love it. I totally understand the Wendy Walker love! But I have to be honest: I was underwhelmed by "Don't Look For Me".

The good: I thought the writing was strong and atmospheric. It is written in alternating points of view between the mother (Molly) and the daughter (Nicole) and both voices kept my attention, even if I felt that they could have had more distinction at the beginning of each chapter. The story flowed well, the dots all connected and I didn't find myself bored while reading.

The bad: It proved to be thoroughly predictable to me. And far too many of the ingredients for this story to work out the way it did felt unbelievable and unrealistic. I was disappointed to find out that I correctly guessed the ending before reaching the halfway mark (minus a couple of small details) and I would be lying by omission if I didn't admit that the ending felt drawn out and the reveal felt anticlimactic.

I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy this book. It was absolutely a well written thriller. I just can't rave about it being "The best thriller of 2020!" because it really didn't leave it's mark on me. But I acknowledge that I am a minority on this front and that you will probably love it as much as the other readers that have been raving about how amazing it is!

**Thank you, Netgalley, for the digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review

Few books grip my attention like this one did. It hooked me from the first chapter and did not let go until the last. Highly recommend this for suspense and thriller fans!

This world definitely needs more writers like Wendy Walker. This is the third book of hers that I have read, and in her true fashion this book had me hooked from the beginning.

Our main character Molly Clarke is on the verge of giving up, she lost her youngest daughter in a terrible tragedy and her oldest daughter blames her, she blames herself and now she believes her husband is having an affair. 
What if she just walked away? Would her family’s lives be better if she disappeared?But what happens when she actually does disappear. Molly’s oldest daughter Nicole is grieved with guilt from the last conversation she had with her mother, Nicole is determined to find out what really happened to her mother. There’s just no way she could have walked away and left her family.  On her search to find her mother, Nicole’s path crosses with an insane cast of characters.
But can she trust any of them?

I highly recommend adding this to your to be read list and checking out Wendy Walker’s Emma In The Night and The Night Before until this book is published on September 15th.

Molly had problems with her husband, John. Was he having an affair?
Molly drove for 4 hours to see her son, Evan, play football - he avoids her.
Molly's daughter - Nicole- is constantly at Molly's throat - Is Molly that bad?
Molly had run over and killed her youngest child, Annie (by accident) - Molly knows she is a bad wife and mother.

One day, in the midst of a hurricane, Molly decides to leave her family. Maybe it is for the best... However, Molly sees reason and decides that would be an awful mistake. She decides to go home. Her car runs out of gas. A man and his daughter, Alice, offer to drive Molly in order to get out of the torrid rain and help her get gas.

Since the weather is SO bad, they have Molly stay with them for the night. It's only one night - right...

An absolute delight of a book ! Read it in one sitting! Suspense and twists in every page!

A definite MUST READ!!!!!

Many Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a superb read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This story is told from Molly’s viewpoint, as well as that of Nic, her older daughter. We start with Molly driving home from her son Evan’s school a few hours away. Along the drive, Molly relates her story. Her husband, John, is estranged, her oldest daughter hates her, and her son doesn’t like her either. And the reason is because five years ago Molly accidentally ran over her youngest child, Annie, resulting in Annie’s death. Everyone blames her, she blames herself, and when a storm threatens and Molly runs out of gas in the tiny town of Hastings that is boarded up because of the storm, she thinks perhaps walking away from her life is the answer. She doesn’t get far when a truck stops to help her, and her real nightmare begins.

When her car is found abandoned, Molly’s family begins searching for her. Search and rescue teams don’t find a trace. The search is called off when her credit card shows charges at the local casino, along with a note that tells her family, “don’t look for me.” But Nic doesn’t stop. Since Annie’s death, she has stopped living. She dropped out of school, drinks to excess and picks up strange men in bars to take home for the evening. Nic said hateful things to her mother the morning Molly left for Evan’s game, and now she needs to find her to make amends.

Nic returns to Hastings, a town that has a lot of secrets as well as some creepy residents. There is a suspense, drama and a lot of twists which will keep you guessing. Nic’s investigation uncovers secrets and she no longer knows who to trust. The book has great character development and a keep-me-guessing plot, right up until the end. At which point it went from believable creepy right off the rails to unbelievable. It was a good book, and if you can look past the ending, it’s worth a read.

Driving home one stormy night, Molly Clarke begins to realize her family may not love her anymore. She has become a burden on them after the tragic death of her youngest child. She decides she could just walk away from her life starting over and giving them what they want. The next day Molly's car is found abandoned on the side of the road along with her cell phone. Later a note is recovered from a hotel saying she doesn't want to be found. The police have closed the investigation classifying it as a "walk away"...it happens all the time. Nicole, Molly's daughter is the only one who thinks something isn't right. She vows she won't stop searching until she finds the truth...until she finds her mother.

Don't Look for Me is a suspenseful mystery novel surrounding the disappearance of Molly. Molly disappears one stormy night while driving home. Her car and cell phone are found the next day in the small rural town of Hastings. Although evidence suggests she left of her own accord, her daughter Nicole continues the search for her mother when everyone else has given up. Nicole soon uncovers more than she bargained for as the small town begins to reveal its secrets. Lots of twists and turns throughout the story keep you guessing until the end. Although some of the inner dialogue was a bit repetitive, this was still a very entertaining and suspenseful read. There were a few twists I figured out and several surprises I didn't see coming. This is a "new to me author" but I look forward to reading more of her novels.

Oooooooh, this is a book that sucked me right in! Molly is an unappreciated, emotionally tortured mother and wife. The story opens with her driving in a torrential downpour of dangerous weather... and then she runs out of gas. This poor woman, already distraught on the lack of love and respect shown from her husband and adult children, she's relieved when a man and young daughter rescue her in the rainstorm.
Of course, she isn't "rescued" at all. It's Day One of more than two weeks that play out in this fast-moving suspense story told from both Molly's POV and also her young adult daughter, Nic (Nicole) who is feeling the guilt at how she's treated her mother over the years, her mother who is now missing.
"Mick," the name Molly has given her captor, can be one of several men in the story and with each page turned, my guess changed! The author did an impressive job of portraying the multi-layers of 9yo, Alice, the girl living with Mick, who at times is endearing to Molly, and other times cruel to her, a girl suffering emotional abuse herself.
It's a great read and I need to go back and read more Wendy Walker novels!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book.

The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family that couldn’t be put back together. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over. But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?

Molly can't forgive herself for the accident that took her daughter's life, so when she disappears during a storm on her way home, her family is devastated. After two weeks, she is deeemed a walk away, someone who intentionly disapears.

This was about 3 1/2 stars.
The novel is told from two points of view. Molly's and her oldest daughter Nicole, who continues to search for her.
The storyline is intriguing and the pace of the book strong throughout. The person who has Molly is guessable to me, but that could be from all the thrillers I read. To me, the story was more of a focus on family, grief and the struggle to move on.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Don't Look for Me.

I could not put this book down! Be prepared when you start this book, you week have a sleepless night or two. 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 rounded up to five for goodreads. Thank you to St Martin’s Press, Netgalley, and Wendy Walker for the book in exchange for an honest review!

If you even remotely like suspense, mystery or thriller novels, you are going to DEVOUR this book by Wendy Walker! From the beginning to the very end, you are on an emotional rollercoaster as she develops her characters beautifully. The shocking twists leave you hanging on every word.

It has your evil, sick and demented characters naturally, but it also shows the love and strength of what a mother daughter bond can really be...even, when they didn’t have that bond before evil entered the picture.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for an ARC in return for my honest review.

I don’t normally read books in the genre but I am so glad I did. The story begins with Molly and her life has been changed forever after the death of her youngest child. She leaves home one day and never returns. Her daughter Nicole sets out to find her and encounters many dangers along the way. The story has so many twists and turns that I could not put it down. You need to read it for yourself and find out what happens to Molly. Did she walk away asking for no one to find her or does something more sinister happen to her???

This was an un-putdownable book! I thought I'd read a few chapters here and there between working, and I ended up staying late and getting up early because I needed to see what happened next. Especially since I couldn't guess what was going on. I *thought* I'd guessed it, but I was totally wrong. I love misdirection like that. I am quickly becoming a solid Wendy Walker fan. Not only is the mystery in this book really well done, but Walker's character explorations and motivations are spot on, and this book is her best yet in this regard. She writes fully-formed characters with backstories that inform their decisions and make everything feel very three-dimensional. Additionally, I loved the dual perspectives of Molly and Nic.

Wendy Walker supplies her readers with another taut thriller: Don’t Look for Me. This standalone novel centers around the sudden disappearance of a woman, Molly Clarke, as she was returning home during a storm. It is assumed that she has purposefully run away from her family, ravaged with guilt over her role in the accidental death of her youngest child. Her oldest daughter, Nicole (Nic), refuses to give up the search for her mother even though everyone else seems to be quickly resuming their lives. Nic returns to Hastings, the small, run down New England town where her mother’s car was found abandoned. She had been contacted by a woman who claims to have seen Molly that night. Although her description and details are convincing, Nic and the authorities in town are suspicious that this new witness is motivated to collect the offered reward. Still, Nic wants to know how this woman came to know things that were not released to the public. The novel pivots back and forth between Molly and Nicole’s points-of-view, back and forth over the course of several days following Molly’s absence. Nic is tormented by her own memories and deeply conflicting feelings about her mother as a result of her sister’s death. Her struggles with alcoholism and compulsive promiscuity interfere with her judgement, but the men of Hastings she encounters all seem to be deceiving her in some way. It is the type of town that traps those who lack the wits to escape, and it becomes apparent that Molly is not the first woman who has inexplicably vanished from its boundaries. Walker skillfully interweaves timelines to a satisfying end, with some unexpected twists and a complex but credible conclusion. Although the inner monologues of the two women are at times repetitive, the characters are well-rendered and their emotional depth is impressively depicted. Don’t Look for Me would be a good pick for those looking for some solid suspense this Fall and fans of Wendy Walker will be sated by her latest effort.

Thanks to the author, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a pre-release copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

As with Wendy Walker’s previous novels, this one is impossible to put down. Molly’s life is at rock bottom. One of her daughters died and her other two kids hate her. Her husband doesn’t love her anymore. She could just walk away and nobody would care. But could she just disappear? Months later, her daughter Nic is still looking for her, in the town she was last seen. As is the case with small villages, everybody knows each other and they’re all hiding secrets. The story is told from alternating points of view. We hear what’s happening with Molly and follow Nic’s efforts to find her. I saw a few twists coming, but others were completely unexpected, so I kept reading to try to find out what was going to happen. But it’s the characters that make the plot work. Molly and Nic are not your typical dumb heroines, but strong, smart and resilient women. Their plans may not always work but they try their best. The final chapters are very suspenseful and I loved the conclusion.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/St. Martin's Press!

I'd never heard of this author but the description was intriguing so I gave it a shot. I'm so glad I did! What an amazing read! I finished this book in one day, it was impossible to put down. I couldn't wait to get to the end. Great characters, great story line, a surprise I ending I didn't see coming. I'll definitely check out this author again. Highly recommend!