GONE TONIGHT is an up-all-night mother-daughter thriller that asks the reader how well do we really know those closest to us?

Centering around single mum Ruth and her daughter Catherine, Pekkanen takes us on a chilling journey of what lengths a mother will go to, to protect her child. Ruth and Catherine have always been close as its been just the two of them for all of Catherine's life, When Catherine accepts a new position at The John Hoskins Hospital in Baltimore, ready to start her own life, she notices a steady decline in her mothers health.

Chock full of tension and twisty secrets, I read this in one sitting. Brilliant, suspenseful, emotional and utterly entertaining.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the EArc in return for an honest review.

Mother and daugher duo Catherine and Ruth have always been close. Ruth, being a single mom, protests Catherine fiercely.

Ruth starts to forget things: her keys, missing money, her sense of direction. The doctor thinks she's showing signs of early dementia.

Naturally, Catherine is worried and starts digging into her mom's life. What she discovers will change her life forever.

Told in dual povs and past and present timelines, we delve into the life of the close-knit mother/daughter. We see how lies and past decisions can change the trajectory of a relationship once those things come to the surface. I love this author's books. I will continue to read her work.

This one kept me up all night! I could not put it down!! Fast-paced and an unforgettable twist!!!

Pekkanen knows how to write a beautifully crafted family drama! I thoroughly enjoyed the multiple point of views that were presented, giving us all sides of the story.

This was an interesting storyline with mom and daughter. It would've made everything simpler/easier if mom confided in her adult daughter about her secrets but then there'd be no story lol. Still 4-stars as the story kept me entertained.

The storytelling here was next level! This one hooked me from the start and took me on a wild ride of suspense. I loved how the story was told from both POVs but then also the journal entries of the earlier time. Definitely up there for favorite thriller of the year!

I love Sarah Pekkanen's books and Gone Tonight is another fabulous read that will keep you turning the pages until the very end.

This book is truly what a psychological thriller is all about. It's multi-layered, it's fast-paced, and each with chapter comes another element of the story that will surprise. While it's a bit of a slow burn in the beginning, it's not necessarily paced slow. She takes her time setting up the story and making the reader question everything. The last half of the book moved so incredibly fast that I couldn't even believe I when I came up on the ending. And the end was definitely awesome.

Another win in my book from Pekkanen!

4.5/5 stars!
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

Ruth and Catherine, mother and daughter, have been inseparable for Catherine’s entire life. The only thing Catherine really knows about Ruth’s past is that Ruth cut ties with everyone and ran away when she found out she was pregnant.

When Ruth starts to become forgetful and then is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Catherine feels the urgency to learn everything she possibly can. But the more Catherine digs, the more questions he has - how much of what her mom has told her is even the truth?

Great read! I really got sucked in and couldn’t put it down. The way that Ruth’s past came to light bit by bit kept me guessing which way it would all go.

Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Gone Tonight
By: Sarah Pekkanen
Publish Date: August 1, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author Sarah Pekkanen, for the advanced copy of Gone Tonight.

You are 16, on the Poms squad at school and overall enjoying life until your classmate decides to throw a wrench into it. But wait, one night, you meet him.....the handsome, older guy, James, who you fall instantly for......
Pom coach calls you into his office after a rough practice and you leave, never the same again. You tell James, who takes matters into his own hands and brings you along with him......meet him in the back of the Pizza shop and you can get away.
Hold on tight while we go for a wild ride learning Ruth's life story she never told her daughter Catherine.

This book was so gripping and captivating! I loved the alternating points of view, the pace of the story and the shorter chapters. Once I started, I could not wait to discover the pieces of Ruth's life and follow on her journey! You will believe the story ends one way, but instead may be another. I highly recommend this book!

Sarah Pekkanen writes a great suspenseful thriller, whether writing with the incredible Greer Hendricks or solo. I find that the books written with Hendricks are more twist-y psychological thrillers with true devious characters and plots. Pekkanen’s solo works tend to be more domestic suspense in tone and character-driven.

In her latest novel Gone Tonight, Sarah Pekkanen tells the story of a mother and daughter duo who begin to crack when the mother’s past threatens to come back.

I hate when I have to make this choice (because it means I can’t gush about all of the things I want to about a book), but I want to preface my review by saying if you are a reader comfortable going into a book blind, this is a great book to take that strategy with. However, I do feel like there are some things I can discuss without entering spoiler territory.

Gone Tonight is a slow burn, character-driven thriller that is not light on twists and turns. Ruth got pregnant with her daughter Catherine as a teenager, and was turned away by her religious family. At least, that’s what Catherine was told. Catherine has grown up her whole life surrounded by her mother’s love, and experiencing the closeness of a mother-daughter relationship that occurs in those special circumstances where it is just the two of them.

Just as Catherine is preparing to leave home for a new career, Ruth starts to experience symptoms of a degenerative memory condition that trouble Catherine, who works in a memory unit assisting patients as her career. Catherine is worried about her mother, and delays her plans to move away so she can care for her mother. But soon it becomes clear to Catherine that her mother may be faking the condition.

As Catherine struggles to understand what is really going on with her mother, she begins to piece together clues from their past as to who her father may be. Her mother has done a good job protecting them both, but with the veil lifted Catherine begins to see pieces of the puzzle that she hadn’t connected before. Who is her mother really, and who is she running from? Catherine races to put the pieces together, but she doesn’t know that someone else from her mother’s past may find them first.

Told in alternating POV, Gone Tonight is gripping from start to finish. This is a novel about secrets, deception, and deeply buried trauma that you can never truly outrun. While Catherine seeks to understand the lies her mother has told her and parse out the truth among them, Ruth’s story comes out through diary entries written to one day explain to her daughter who she really is and why they are so isolated.

Ruth’s story captivated me, as did Catherine’s search for answers. I was impressed by the skill and intellect both women show—one to cover her tracks and the other to uncover them. Who will be faster and what will the consequences be? That is the question that looms over the book.

As the story progresses, the tension increases at such a slow and steady pace that I felt like the frog in a pot of water, not realizing it was set to boil. By the time the book reaches the big reveal and fall out, I was in a chokehold by this story. Nothing about the story of these two women is simple or straight forward. Twists and turns kept me engaged as each new breadcrumb led to more insight into what was truly going on.

An absolutely gripping novel of psychological suspense!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.

I am such a HUGE fan of this author and every time I think I've figured her out, she hits me with a massive plot twist! This book was such a fast paced craze fest and I read it in two sittings because I couldn't put it down. As someone who is incredibly close to my own mom, the mother daughter relationship was so interesting to me and so relatable at times. The ending was so wild and not what I'd expected at all. I loved it!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was an enjoyable read. The multiple POVs and unreliable narrator kept the story moving quickly. This book surprised me several times. Would recommend

I was hoping I would love this as much as I loved the works where Sarah was a co-author, but unfortunately I found it to be a bit derivative and just not that interesting. The writing quality is strong, so potential for enjoying later solo books is high.

I really enjoyed the multiple POV in this book. The unreliable narrators kept me guessing!

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it's been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

A very interesting premise with unique elements. Overall it was an entertaining read with some good twists but I had to kind of suspend my disbelief related to parts of it.

This is a book about a mother's love and what she'll so to protect her child. Ruth had never been forthcoming with the details of her past. Even when her father Catherine is doing the asking. There's a reason for that but with mother and daughter not communicating, it gets missed. Sarah Pekkanen does a great job bringing this story to life. There's at twists and turns. Even at the end, you find yourself questioning what is really going on. If you lie books that make you question what you're being told, then this book is for you. It's an easy read that keeps you interested from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pekkanen and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝔾𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕋𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥
𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵 𝗣𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗻
Domestic Thriller
352 pages

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs

After a horrible event, Ruth runs from her boyfriend and the consequences of their actions.

Soon after, she discovers she is pregnant. From that point on, her daughter is her world. She keeps a tight reign on her to keep her safe.

Then, the day comes when her daughter starts to figure out her mom is hiding things. Will she learn the truth?

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs

The characters in Gone Tonight are more than meet the eye. They surprised me as the story progressed. I did wonder why the daughter didn’t start wondering about her mom’s actions sooner, but maybe she just trusted her unconditionally. Both had their issues.

I found Ruth’s story intriguing as it slowly came out as the story bounced from the past to the present. It clues you into her odd behavior in the present time.

The dual timelines were easy to follow and kept me in suspense. If you love a good thriller, give this a read.

💕Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

This felt like an average thriller, nothing special to me. The didn’t love the dual POV - this is starting to feel really cliche in thrillers. Some parts were thrilling and disturbing, but overall it was a little slow. Just okay.

I thought that this book was entertaining and had good twists that I didn't really see coming. That being said, I don't feel like I connected with the characters enough to care too much about what happened to them. Also, I kept getting pulled out of the story when it came to them living in Target. I just can't see how that would happen, especially long term. I felt the author tried to explain it but I still didn't really feel like it was possible. All in all, it was a fine book. I just think I prefer the books that Sarah Pekkanen has written with Greer Hendricks. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

This book was just ok for me. It started off slow but did pick up by the end. I disliked both of the main characters and really wasn't a fan of the alternating points of view.

Disturbing at times, especially with the child abuse. The dual timelines were well done. Characters were sympathetic and interesting. I enjoyed the fast pace and twists and turns.