Don't Look for Me is a psychological thriller that will have you guessing until the end!

After a tragic accident, Molly has not recovered from the loss of her nine-year-old daughter. Consumed with guilt, she feels like a terrible mother to the daughter she lost and her other two children. Years later, Molly is on the way back home from her son's football game when she gets stranded in a terrible storm. A stranger appears and rescues her from the storm. Molly goes missing after this night, and her daughter struggles to figure out if her mom left them for good or if something happened to her.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller. It is dark and full of twists and turns.

4.5 ⭐ Well, she did it again. I thought I had this one figured out and my mouth hit the floor when I realized how wrong I was. It got a little confusing at the end, but I did like the alternating narrative because both Nic and Molly both explain and clear it all up. Classic Wendy Walker and classic psychological thriller that will have you turning the pages as fast as you can. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love the cover. This is an author, for me, that I already know the book is going to be good before I even crack the cover. I wasn't disappointed. I loved everything about this one - the characters are three-dimensional, the setting is a little eerie, the situations are heartbreaking. The writing is great and the whole story flows well. I couldn't wait to find out what was going on! It was twisty and I didn't see anything coming. A page-turner that kept me reading until early morning.

Don’t Look for Me by Wendy Walker was told from two perspectives. Molly, a mother of 3, is grieving the loss of one of her children and is convinced that her family no longer loves her. The other perspective is Nic (short for Nicole), Molly’s oldest daughter whose sister’s death also took a horrible toll on her.

On a particularly bad night, which also happens to be the anniversary of her daughter’s death, Molly runs out of gas on a rural highway in a storm. As she considers her options and reflects on the day, she thinks maybe her family won’t miss her if she just chooses to walk away.

Fast forward a couple of days and the story picks up with Nic. Feeling guilty about the last words she spoke to her mother, Nic sets out to determine what actually happened to her mother. She is still not convinced her mother walked away, which is what the police and her father believe. And she will not stop until she gets answers. Did Molly run away? Or did something else happen to her?

What I liked: You know pretty early in the book what happened to Molly that night. However, there is still suspense as Nic returns to the scene of Molly’s disappearance and starts asking questions. It was a pretty quick read overall and I honestly didn’t know how it would end. The alternating perspectives helped with the suspense. I did figure out the “real” identities of some of the characters fairly quickly, but there were still some surprises at the end.

What I didn’t like: I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. No spoilers here...but I felt like it was rushed. The introduction of the surprise character at the end seemed to come from nowhere and was wrapped up very quickly. I felt like there was more to that story. I did appreciate the jump into the future at the end for a little bit of closure.

Overall, it was a good read. Maybe a little predictable with a couple of things and a little too drawn out in some places. But it still had enough suspense to keep me reading. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book!

"Don't Look for Me" is a thoroughly creepy story. Five years ago, in a tragic accident, Molly Clarke hit her youngest daughter, Annie, with her car, killing her. Annie's death has torn the family apart. Driving home in a storm after watching her son play football at the boarding school he attends, Molly is thinking about just walking away -- walking away from the husband who no longer loves her, the daughter whose life has spiraled downhill and who tells her mom she hates her, the son who is embarrassed to see his mother at the games and refused to acknowledge her presence tonight, and from her own self-hatred and belief that she is a bad mother. She runs out of gas not far from the gas station in the small town of Hastings that she passes by on her drives to and from her son's school. As she is walking to the gas station on this dark rainy night, a truck pulls up and the man in the vehicle, with his young daughter beside him, offers her a ride into town. Molly Clarke is not seen again. Her abandoned car is found and there is a massive search for her, with her husband and daughter, Nicole, participating in the search. However, on the fourth day, a note is found in a hotel room indicating that Molly has abandoned her family, so the search is called off. Yet, Nicole does not believe her mother has abandoned the family and so when she gets a call about two weeks later from someone claiming to have seen her mother that night, she returns to Hastings to meet the caller and try to uncover the truth. The story alternates between Molly's situation after the night of the storm and Nicole's return to Hastings, where she finds the town has a lot of secrets and she is not sure whom she can trust.

The situation Molly finds herself in is rather creepy and twisted, but I do not want to say more to avoid spoiling things for other readers. The author does a great job of weaving in clues about Molly's captor and her situation, the town's history, the relationships among various town residents, and what Nicole learns on her return to Hastings, keeping the reader guessing as to what is really going on, who may or may not know the location of Molly, and who can be trusted. Near the end of the story is a major plot twist I never saw coming. If you like mysteries with a strong "creepy" factor and lots of twists, turns, and surprises, then "Don't Look for Me" might be the book for you.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I did enjoy this book. It was very different and had me scared at times, and heart broken at times. It kept me guessing and I thought I had figured out Mick many times to be proven very wrong. Well written and enjoyed very much!

This book had me hooked from the very beginning! I loved the way it alternated view points but even though you kind of knew what was going on, there were tons of twists that kept you guessing. Highly recommend!

A good mystery keeps me guessing and this book did just that! I felt like I had it all figured out early on, and I kept reading because I wasn't 100% sure and really needed to know! To me that is what makes a mystery book enjoyable. Turns out I didn't have anything figured out and was left surprised. If you want to read a fun, inventive and surprising novel, this one is for you.

Wendy Walker is a very talented writer with her special creative way of making a story into one helluva ride! She will bring you to dark places and then pull you back, give you hope, then send you back blindfolded again!
Don't Look for Me is a twisty dark and claustrophobic story. My heart was beating with anxiety more than several times in this book.
Highly recommend!!
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing for this advanced copy.

If you’re a fan of thrillers and domestic suspense novels then this book is for you. Wendy Walker does a wonderful job to spinning a tale of twists and turns while still pulling you into the lives of the characters and invested in their outcome. This is my first Wendy Walker book but will definitely not be my last! I can’t wait for everyone to check it out when this book is released on September 15, 2020! #DontLookForMe

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. I've read Wendy's books in the past, and I've enjoyed them. This is no exception. The book is fast-paced, with plenty of twists to keep me interested and reading just one more chapter....(actually many more.) Molly blames herself and lives with the shame of an accident that took her daughter's life. Molly then disappears and the family is left wondering...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I received a copy of this book to read through Net Galley. I would give it 3.5 stars. It was a little hard for me to get through. Very suspenseful and lots of actions at the end which made it worth it. But overall, it seemed like the story went on for a little too long. This review is also posted on Goodreads.

This author always has the most crazy twists. Read this book pretty quickly; once I got into it, it was hard to put down. I feel like the twist at the end was a little far-fetched but still really enjoyed it. Great, suspenseful read.

Whew! What a suspenseful book.

Molly Clarke isn't feeling like much of a mother or wife when she is picked up by a man and what appears to be his daughter on a dark and rainy night after running out of gas. So her resourcefulness as she learns that she's a "good mommy", and an excellent teacher, give her the strength to fight her way out of her situation, if only she can.

In the meantime, her daughter Nicole, who is searching for her after having uttered some hateful words on the day of her disappearance, learns just how much she loves her mom, and how their dual guilt over a fateful incident years before is intertwined.

Walker had me flip-flopping between suspects and holding my breath as Molly and Nicole try to find their way back to each other.

Molly goes missing 5 years to the day of the death of her youngest child. Clues are found that suggest she wanted to leave the past behind. But when her oldest child, daughter Nicole, goes back to the town she disappeared from 2 weeks later, things don’t add up. Another girl went missing 10 years ago. Someone knows something. Several people know something. Who can Nicole trust to find out the truth of what happened to her mother?
This is the first book I’ve read by Wendy Walked and WHOA. I can’t wait to read more. The writing was great. Amazing plot. Interesting characters. Clear concise storyline. It was overall just a really really good book.

Creeptastic!

Don’t Look for Me is a suspenseful psychological thriller about a woman who seems to have abandoned her family during a dark and stormy night.

Molly Clarke's family was destroyed by a terrible accident. Years have passed, and her children can’t forgive her. Her husband is distant and no longer seems to love her. While driving home one night during a terrible storm, Molly contemplates running away from her family. Shortly after, she goes missing. The police believe Molly abandoned her family, but her daughter Nicole won't give up hope that her mother didn't simply walk away and continues to investigate her mother's disappearance in the small and strange town of Hastings.

The narrative is split between Molly and Nicole. Both characters hold their own and develop throughout. Both are dealing with the trauma of loss in different ways, and the events of this book highlight their emotions. The transitions between Molly and Nicole were smooth and I was equally interested in both of their stories.

This book sucked me in from the very beginning and kept me distracted, which is much needed right now! It’s packed with tension, suspense, drama, and some sick and twisted characters. It also kept me guessing and had me suspicious of almost every character. There are some unexpected twists and turns, but none are over-the-top. Parts are a little unbelievable, but not ridiculously so. A couple of moments had my heart jumping out of my chest, and the final scene gave me the chills--little Alice is one creepy child!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I've had a solid run with mother/daughter thrillers, and this book caught my attention as soon as I saw it. This was my first Walker read, but it definitely won't be my last.

Molly's life hasn't been the same since the accident. Filled with grief and guilt following the death of her youngest daughter, an accident for which holds herself responsible, she disappears on the tragic anniversary, seeming to leave nothing behind except a note. However, Molly's been abducted by a nameless man and forced into playing the role of second mommy to a strange little girl. Nic, her oldest daughter, launches her own guilt-ridden investigation into the disappearance two weeks later, startling details come to light, and things she thought were true turn out to be lies. Where is her mother? Why is everyone lying to her? What really happened that night on the highway?

Don't Look for Me is a twisty masterpiece, full of manipulation, lies, and secrets. I found myself drawn to Molly, a good mother who's having a difficult time processing her role in her daughter's death. Grief ebbs and flows, and Molly is the embodiment of that tide, at times finding acceptance of her state, and others consumed by depression and sorrow. The captive situation in which she finds herself pokes at that grief, bleeds it out, and with outside stimulus removed, she's left with her own thoughts and works through her issues to find a middle ground. Her decisions might not be perfect, but they are based in her will to survive for her two remaining children, in spite of the enormous weight she carries.

I particularly loved the parallel relationships: of Molly and her daughters and the (essentially) surrogate daughter, of Molly and Daisy, of the reverberations of people's actions over the course of a decade. Molly's pain is never really physical, but the emotional toll that her character endures is one that left me gut-punched and breathless. Tiny tortures, as I started calling them, in something as seemingly innocuous as a cup of milk, were metaphorical puncture wounds, and I couldn't help but to root for Molly's will to live and ingenuity.

Her daughter, Nic, was also wonderfully-developed. By far from perfect, Nic struggles with alcohol, her own bad choices, and the grief over her sister's death (again, that parallel that worked so well). It is through her ferocious determination and faith in her mother that she is able to pick up the pieces of not only her broken heart, but of the mystery of her mother's disappearance, that ends in a tumultuous, tense climax. While I wasn't surprised by the big reveal, the final pages were filled with complex emotions and the not-so-perfect fallout from a tragedy.

This is the kind of book that will hit all the feels if you're a mother. Walker did an excellent job of layering the emotions surrounding motherhood and loss, and in Molly's struggle, I found myself wondering what I would do in a similar situation. Sometimes, there is no one to blame. Fate, accident--whatever it may be, circumstances don't always go as we planned, and as careful as you can be--as many safeguards and checks you put in place--things will still happen. This overarching theme resonated with me, and I think I won't be the only one who finds this to be true.

Taut, well-paced, and beautifully written, Don't Look for Me is a 2020 must-read. Walker is a wonderful writer with a haunting story, one you won't want to miss.

A dual narrator psychological thriller for the ages, what an amazing read! A mother disappears into a hurricane one night, leaving a note at a local motel behind saying that she can't take the guilt of having killed her youngest child anymore, and all the blame that comes with it. But her oldest daughter just isn't buying this pat explanation of the complete vanishing of her mother, and she'll go to any ends to find her again. It was fast paced, expertly written, tense, and filled with manipulation from multiple characters, with a twisty ending that I didn't see coming, great story!

A fast-paced psychological thriller, Don't Look for Me most certainly pulled a twist or two I didn't see coming.

All of my friends who've read this book, with the exception of one, gave it 5 stars. My expectations were high. This was my second Wendy Walker novel, and though I enjoyed it more than All Is Not Forgotten, it definitely was not a 5-star read for me.

While the characters were beautifully fleshed out, 9-year old Alice's voice was nearly indistinguishable from the multitude of other adults in the story. That's always an off-putting challenge for me to overcome when reading.

Told from dual narratives, those of Molly and Nicole--mother and daughter, this novel really is a quick, gripping read. There were a couple things, however, which rankled. (If you're interested in seeing these minor annoyances, please see my Goodreads review, and click on 'view spoilers..')

The red herrings were admirably done, but I was still able to figure out a large portion of the story by about the halfway mark.

Despite my minor criticisms, based on the reviews I'm seeing so far, this is clearly going to be a well-loved, huge hit for Wendy Walker...and I'm glad.

3.5 stars

Available September 15th in the United States.

**A huge thanks to the publisher for my review copy.