In the current state of the world, this is the first novel I’ve read that has pulled me from my stupor. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve started many wonderful books. Unfortunately my lack of concentration doesn’t allow me to get past the third page. But this one is a perfect blend of compassionate while being rather creepy. Suggest it for all who need a jumpstart back into our favorite pastime. Books!,

This is the second ARC this week that I have devoured. It grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. A tragedy years ago has left a family broken and so when the matriarch goes missing everyone thinks she left. But did she? There are some good twists and I gasped audibly-always a sign of an awesome twist. Another one I strongly recommend adding to your TBR. 🖤
Thanks to #NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

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

I loved this one. Very fast paced, had me turning pages as I tore through it – I had to see how it would end. The characters were well rounded and the narrative felt believable. Gave me chills. Solid five

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I very rarely give a book 5 stars, but this one definitely earned it!The story starts off with Molly, her husband and 3 children.. During one evening, she was driving home alone from visiting her son at his college, but ended up stopping at a town called Hastings when a terrible storm rolled through and she was never to be seen again.. What progresses from there is a hotel charge, hand written note, and an investigation into whether she truly walked away from her family. What happened to Molly is the big question and why would she just leave her family? She wasn’t happily married but was it really that bad? What ensues is a suspense filled journey into what happened and all the individuals involved. I loved that the chapters were short so it kept the story moving along, and it was told from different points of view. It was so well written that it was not confusing to follow at all. And there is a definite plot twist at the end that I did not see coming! This one is going to be a must read when it comes out, and I highly recommend it!

Molly killed her 9 year old daughter in a tragic accident years ago and even though she’s trying her best, she still can’t seem to live with the pain and it seems that her other two children and her husband can’t either. Her husband is probably having an affair, her 21 year old reckless, alcoholic daughter tells her she hates her, and when she drives four hours to see her son play football, he acts like he doesn’t even know her.

So when she runs out of gas on the way home, and she gets into a random truck, the consensus seems to be that she disappeared on her own. But is that really what happened?

Don’t Look For Me is in the true Wendy Walker style that makes her one of my favorite authors. This book starts off with a bang and then keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time! It is fast-paced, emotional, nail-biting, and impossible to put down. I don’t re-read books, but I would read this one again!

Thank you to NetGalley, Wendy Walker and St. Martin’s Press!!

#Don't Look for Me #Wendy Walker #NetGalley

This book and author captured by attention after I was given an ARC copy via NetGalley. This is my honest opinion of this book. Don't Look for Me is a captivating story with lots of mystery, twists and turns. Characters are realistic, raw and well developed. The general premise is that a mother ends up accidentally taking the life of her youngest child, Anne, and ends up being a shell of her previous self. Her self-loathing spills over the rest of her family, who are each dealing with their pain in their own way. As the story unfolds, the mother, Molly, feels responsible for and deserving of, the horrible way her husband, son and other daughter treat her. After an argument with daughter, Nichole, she takes off to see her son, Evan, who is away at school. Molly gets stuck in a storm close to a small town where she runs out of gas. She has thoughts of leaving her family to their own devises and possibly running away. Next thing you know, a note is found at a hotel implying Molly may have left for good.. When it is discovered she hasn't returned from her trip, the family and local agencies begin a search. When the search brings up limited clues everyone returns to life as usual except for Nichole who knows that her mother wouldn't just walk away. Additionally, her father hires a PI to follow up on the few clues they have. Where is Molly? What has happened to her? Nichole goes to the town to find out and runs into a cast of characters, each with his own story. Who is telling the truth and what are the lies? This story pulls you in, keeps you guessing and has a wild conclusion.. The story is mostly told, alternatively between Molly and Nichole. It has a surprising conclusion and some interesting answers. An awesome book and author. I look forward to reading more of her novels!

Molly Clarke's husband John is increasingly distant. Is he having an affair?
Molly's son Evan is embarrassed by her and ignores her.
Molly's daughter Nicole screams, "I hate you!"
Molly's daughter Annie is dead. Hit by the car driven by Molly. She killed her daughter. She can't get past it, and neither can her family.

It was an accident, but Molly can't handle the pain and guilt, and her family is falling apart. She knows they all blame her, so maybe they'll just be better off without her. She decides to disappear. And before she knows it, she has. But not the way she expected.

Author Wendy Walker has written a psychological thriller so fascinating that I could barely put it down. With enough suspense to keep you wondering what's going to happen, she also captures the pain and self-torture that family members go through when a child dies accidentally and unexpectedly. There are plenty of heartbreaking as well as heart-pounding moments in Don't Look for Me. There are also depictions of loss in many forms, and how those losses manifest within the hearts and souls of those who bear them.

A spellbinder of a novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story was compulsively readable and I couldn't wait to finish it to find out what happens. The ending was a bit of a let down but other than that, it was enjoyable!

One of the best creepy thrillers I've read! I will be recommending this to my followers when it's published. The story keeps you guessing throughout, yet gives enough clues to make you feel like you could solve it on your own (answer: you can't).

It's rare for an author to throw a twist in a psychological thriller that I don't see coming. So I just want to start this review off by saying props to Wendy Walker for that. Molly Clarke is coming home from her son's football game at boarding school when her car runs out of gas. But Molly never makes it home. After accidentally killing her youngest daughter, her disappearance on the fifth anniversary of Annie's death makes her family wonder if she just decided to leave. But her oldest child Nicole has her doubts. The thing is, Molly is still alive, and she becomes increasingly concerned that her abduction wasn't the endgame for her kidnapper, and that taking Nicole too is the next step. The story is told in alternating chapters by Molly and Nicole, and everyone in the town where Molly disappeared is keeping a secret, many of which involve another young woman that looks like Nicole. The question is, can Molly and Nicole work their ends of the mystery before anything happens to either of them? While this wasn't the most suspenseful thriller I've ever read, it definitely makes things interested, and as mentioned above, throws in something most readers won't see coming at all.

This book grabs you from page one and never lets you go!
It was a twisted kind of story! I enjoyed it! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

I’m always in for a provocative fast paced thriller! Don’t Look for Me by Wendy Walker was just that. However, this story, although had great flow lacked credibility. The story seemed very far fetched. Nicole the elder child of a family that experienced a horrible tragedy goes looking for her mother who under circumstances was “believed” to have walked away. Nicole in doing so solves the crime. Nicole articulately knows more than the Chief of . Police.of the town and puts it all the pieces together and ultimately solves the crime. As the ending unfolds the capture after being drugged on homemade cyanide, makes a temporary recovery, and another missing character appears. It was ridiculous!

Have you ever read a book and felt hungover after finishing it? Or felt like you want to pick up another book but you’re just not quite ready or done processing what emotional distress the previous book put you through?

Well, this one did it for me. “Don’t Look For Me” by Wendy Walker has left me speechless.

I’m giving this one a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5. From the very beginning I was hooked. With every chapter and every event/detail, it left me with a “wtf just happened” feeling. The ending is one you never see coming and I absolutely LOVE that about a book. Call me crazy but I’m all about a book that leaves me guessing the WHOLE time and then surprises me with the ending. This book is so chilling, twisted, and original. A nail-biter, emotional, heart-pounder kidnapping story that reels you in from the very beginning.

This is my first Wendy Walker book and I highly suggest picking a copy up of this when it’s released in September 2020 because she did not disappoint.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC and opportunity to give a review.

Synopsis: The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family that couldn’t be put back together. They called it a “walk away.” It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over. But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?

Put on your parachute, jump off the plane, but make sure you have on your safety gear because the winds are going to propel you side to side. This unsettling page turner is an easy read and the pages will fly by with a whiplash inducing final ending. Molly Clarke accidentally kills her 9 year old child with her car and can never forgive herself, nor can her family forgive her. When she vanishes after leaving her son's game at a private school, a suspicious note materializes . Did she run away or is some other macabre forces at work? Her daughter, refusing to believe that she is gone, travels to the town where she disappeared, and begins to unravel the story as a new lead appears.I must admit that there were some discrepancies and issues of plausibility that bothered me but that did not affect my overall enjoyment of the book. Wendy Walker has a chart-buster with this novel.

We meet Molly Clarke when she's on the verge of a breakdown. She's responsible for her youngest daughter's death, her two older children want no part of her and her husband is probably having an affair. But what happens when she really does disappear? Another page-turning thriller from Wendy Walker that will make it impossible to put the book down.

This novel was enthralling from the first page. It read like an episode of Criminal Minds that could not be put down. The situations were realistic and the characters were relatable. The pieces fit together slowly but surely and the final twist was unexpected and satisfying. A great read!

Fast paced and thrilling. First time I've read a book by Wendy Walker and it will not be my last. Pick this up if you're looking for a great thriller novel.

Don't Look for Me has two things that make it an above average thriller. First, the creepy small town where most of the action takes place is not in the South. (Do you know how rare that is? It seems to be an unwritten thriller rule: small town creepiness needed? Pick a state south of the Mason Dixon line to put it in!) So, huge kudos to Wendy Walker for making me terrified of Connecticut (no, seriously)

Second, and most importantly, huge kudos to Wendy Walker for creating the creepiest, scariest, most murderous (if not now, soon) child I've read about in ages. Alice is hella scary and only gets more so as the book goes on. If the ending doesn't give you chills, I don't know what will.

The plot hinges on a lot of things that make no sense if you think too much about them, but Don't Look for Me is well written and totally sucks you in with its story of a disappearance and the small town that has many, many secrets. So come for the mystery, stay for the most frightening child, Alice, and enjoy! I sure did!

I was already a Wendy Walker fan, but this book was amazing! I devoured it so quickly and enjoyed every minute. Highly recommend this book and her other books.

Sometimes when I read a book I have notes or highlighted passages - things I want to talk about or remember to bring up in my review. This time around, I was so engrossed in the book, I honestly remember taking one mental note, and this was towards the beginning of the book. That’s it.

Don’t Look For Me was everything you could ask for in a thriller. It had the creepy atmosphere, the sleepy town full of secrets, interesting characters, and little pieces of information scattered throughout. It literally starts in the middle of a raging storm. Honestly, we’re thrown right into the story and I loved it.

Molly Clarke is driving home in the middle of a storm thinking of the cold house she’s driving back to and different her family has become since tragedy hit them. The guilt of that tragedy is nearly unbearable and has weighed down on each member differently, especially Molly, to the point where they’re nearly unrecognizable. A once-warm home full of love and laughter is now cold and quiet. Her husband pretends he’s asleep to avoid her. Her daughter rarely makes it home at night. Their last conversation had been awful, the hurtful words still ringing loudly in her head. And that’s when she runs out of gas. In the middle of a storm, miles away from a home she’s not sure she wants to go back to.

That’s the last anyone sees or hears from Molly Clarke. They find her car on the side of the road, her phone inside it, and a letter telling her family she’s gone. One more tragedy for the Clarke family. Except Nicole, Molly’s eldest daughter, can’t accept it. She can’t. She knows her mom would never do something like this. Everyone insists this happens, that Molly just doesn’t want to be found.

“But Nic knew things they didn’t, things she’d said to drive her mother away.
This was her fault and now she had to make it right. She had to find her mother.”

The story alternates between Molly and Nicole’s points of view and each side is just as engaging and compelling. I couldn’t put the book down. At one point, I thought I knew what was going on. I was actually pretty bummed I had figured it out so quickly.

Except I hadn’t. I remember shutting my book at the twist.

This book had me doubting everyone. Everyone is lying. Everyone is hiding something in this small town where everyone seems to know everyone else. The book was creepy and engaging, suspenseful and wonderfully paced. Even the parts that were supposed to drag on didn’t really.

One thing I really loved was how wonderfully real the characters were. No one is perfect and the relationships between these imperfect individuals (especially the familial ones - Nic’s little interactions with her brother were some of my favorite bits to read) were genuine. Which made it all the more terrifying. Yet, as much as I loved the characters, I also really wanted more of them. I understand how keeping us in the dark was necessary but some characters weren’t as fleshed out as others and I really wanted that.

So why four stars? I felt that the last final twist was just a bit too contrived. It felt more like a dramatic telenovela sort of twist than a plausible book one. I think the book tried to be too twisty in its back and forth and I wasn’t a big fan.

My other issue, if you can call it that, is that I probably won’t reread the book. There are some thrillers or books I can read and reread and pick up new things I missed or enjoy characterizations and stories outside of the main story. Without the twists and turns, it’s not as engaging a read. I still highly highly recommend it. I was engrossed from start to finish and I know most others will be too.

Please note that I received an advance review copy for free in exchange for my honest opinion.