What an absolute joy of a thriller. This one was simply incredible, it's twisty and a slow burn but totally keeps you on your toes, anxious to find out what was going to happen next. This is definitely going to be one of my top thrillers of the year.

There was so much depth to this story, a wild relationship between a mother and daughter with their twisted tales of deception, lies, secrets and the close knit bond. The whole plot felt original, refreshing and mind blowing all in one. I loved the past and present point of views, giving us insight to the relationships and how things unfolded.

Overall - HIGHLY recommend. Definitely check it out.

I enjoyed this suspenseful drama from Sarah Pekkanen about a unique mother/daughter relationship.

Ruth Sterling was a teen mom who raised her daughter Catherine all alone. Her only goal in life has been to keep her daughter safe, and she is willing to do ANYTHING to make sure Catherine stays safe. When Catherine learns that her mother has been keeping some secrets, it leads her on a journey to find out the truth, not knowing the danger that lies ahead.

I listened to this on audiobook, and it was a super fast listen! I was surprised by how quickly I finished and how I stay engaged with the story from start to finish. The narrator is Kate Mara, and I thought the narration was fine but her tone is fairly monotone and not super engaging. But I thought it worked with the tone of the story and was not bothered by it.

This book is a great option if you want to read something entertaining and easy but also engaging and suspenseful!

All of Catherine life it’s just been her and her mother against the world. But Catherine is finally free to spread her wings. Years of watching her hard working mother has helped her to want to do the same, but Ruth doesn’t want that. But keeping Catherine by Ruth’s side starts to crack the very foundation of who her mother truly is.

Deception and lies.. do you think you really know who your mother is?! If you think about it, everyone hides something. And at the core of this book is that and the mother/daughter relationship we all think is perfect.

This book was a wild thriller that I didn’t want to put down. It had that build up that I love in a good book. I love stories that are set on secrets because then it shows a true human nature. Also the survival of independence comes to play. Like you love your mother but you want to be your own person.

This book is definitely like other have mentioned, addictive! So if you’re a thriller lover who doesn’t like predictable climaxes, this book is for you because I didn’t predict anything that was coming.

Also Sarah Pekkanen is for sure an auto buy author!!

Told in two alternating points of view, secrets and lies infiltrate this mother and daughter story. This book reminds me of the quintessential thriller with its underlying thread of darkness, and then the danger at every turn. The stress! I probably wouldn't remember it long term, but was entertained while reading it.
~Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher

Incredibly engaging story and very hard to put down! I thought I knew what was happening, but there were some twists that I did not see coming. There were some "coincidences" that were a bit of a stretch, and the final scene was not very believable, but overall a great summer read!

This mother daughter duo had me shooketh. Ruth and her daughter Catherine are both adults now, but have been through some traumas as they spend their life on the run. Ruth has done everything g she can to protect Catherine from evil and secrets from her past, but Catherine has started digging up who Ruth really is, causing chaos within their relationship.

I listened to this book thanks to Macmillan audio and I was hooked from start to finish. I was on the edge of my seat and felt anxious throughout the story. I wanted to find out the secrets Ruth had, and the author did a great job pulling together the past and present storylines to create mystery and suspense. I loved the dual POV also, and I felt I connected to both mother and daughter. My one complaint about the audio is that the narrator didn’t change her voice between Ruth and Catherine’s chapters, so I had to make sure I knew who’s POV I was reading.

Highly recommend for a bingeable read!

This started out really strong and the mother daughter dynamic was interesting and the relationship believable. The flashbacks the mother writes in a notebook to her daughter capture a young live destined for a fall. As the story continues, it loses its edge and becomes something else. I would have been more satisfied with a different trajectory. That is, still focusing on the mother daughter relationship absent other influences.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

This story is told in first person alternating points of view from Catherine and her mother Ruth in three clearly labeled acts. The relationship between this mother/daughter duo is central to the story. Catherine has graduated from college and has a clear career path with her sites on finally having a life full of her own decisions until Ruth tells her that she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and will need her help, once again impeding her quest for independence.

I had some serious issues with Ruth’s view of her daughter throughout the book. She clearly believed that her daughter was clever and capable, yet she continuously underestimated Catherine while believing for some reason that she had complete control over her adult daughter’s decisions. I found Ruth’s backstory to be interesting enough to keep reading, but her attitude towards Catherine to be frustrating. Ruth’s decisions during the story from being a teenager to the mother of an adult were wildly erratic, outright oppressive and sometimes non-sensical. I couldn’t help thinking why don’t you just tell the truth.

For the most part, I found Catherine to be brave and full of curiosity. Going off on her own to investigate her mother’s past to figure out what was driving Ruth to make these decisions. If anything, I’m surprised she waited so long to show this initiative. I do wish that there had been more exploration of a possible darker side to Catherine. In the end, some of her decisions were clearly influenced by Ruth’s bad choices.

Recommended for the complicated mother/daughter dynamic.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy provided for an honest review.

Sarah Pekkanen proves yet again why she is an automatic YES for me. Gone Tonight is one of my top 5 reads this summer; I could not put it down. The story alternates between mom Ruth and daughter Catherine and the POV from each woman was equally compelling- a hard task to accomplish! If you are looking for a fast paced thriller… this is it!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gone Tonight is a fantastic mother-daughter story with amazing twists. Sarah Pekkanen has created two fascinating characters with twenty four year old Catherine and her mother Ruth. The two have always been extremely close and moving often has made it difficult for Catherine to establish any close friends. Ruthb is the center of Catherine's world. Ruth has always struggled to support them financially, but works as hard as possible to keep them afloat. Any Pekkanen reader knows that there will be a big catch and it comes when Ruth is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Catherine, a nurse in an Alzheimer's unit, wonders about her mother's textbook symptoms. The two character story unfolds quickly and the plot is mesmerizing. Buckle your seat belt-navigating the twists and turns will be bumpy-but wildly entertaining.

Catherine Sterling has worked incredibly hard for her nurse’s training, and when her dream job comes through, she is beyond thrilled to accept, but it’s in Baltimore, and she doesn’t know if she can leave her mom. Ruth Sterling is showing some disturbing signs of memory loss and confusion, and Catherine’s experience working on an Alzheimer’s ward makes her even more aware of Ruth’s strange behaviors. Unsure of the best course, Catherine must decide if she can fulfill her dream of Baltimore or sacrifice everything to care for her mother at home. Discovering that Ruth’s mother had passed away at an early age from Alzheimer’s shocks Catherine, and she becomes almost obsessed with learning about Ruth’s past, a past that has been kept very well hidden.

Told through alternating viewpoints, Ruth’s and Catherine’s, and in different time periods, Gone Tonight offers an interesting perspective on mothers, daughters, and the lengths we will go to in order to protect our loved ones. I liked Catherine’s determination to learn everything she could about her mother in the hope of helping Ruth manage the disease, and I was quite surprised at the outcome. This was an exciting story, with many twists, and I was engaged throughout.

Wow wow wow! Intensity hummed in this book from beginning to end, I ended up pacing while reading. Loved it so much!

3.5 stars...

The pacing ended up being a little slower than I expected, and overall a little predictable.

I loved The Catherine chapters, and what she was up to trying to uncover her mother's past, however The Ruth chapters, when she flashes back to her life in high school were boring, and I kept dreading reading the long journal entries.

I love the author's previous work with Greer Hendricks, and I went into this thinking it would be an automatic 5 star read, but it fell a little flat for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for me e-arc.

I enjoyed this, the way the author broke down the story from the mother and daughter's perspectives, and the unravelling of the past, and the growing suspicion of Catherine about her mom. It was like pulling at a thread. And I like the way it ended, it was a good read.

▪️REVIEW▪️

Gone Tonight ~ Sarah Pekkanen

🙏🏼 Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC copy, out August 1, 2023.

Secrets between mother and daughter bring dark to light…

Catherine’s future as a nurse is in her grasp but as she starts to plan a big move to pursue her career, she starts to notice that her mom, Ruth seems off. A potential diagnosis of early on-set Alzheimer’s has Catherine considering a delay in her plans - until she starts to realize that her mom has secrets that bring her identity into question.

Sarah Pekkanen is 1/2 of the duo that wrote some of my most recommended domestic thrillers - The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl so I was excited to get into this one. I thought it was good - just ok. But I think that’s my fault. I was expecting that husband/wife domestic suspense that I so loved in her other books and this isn’t that. Which isn’t a bad thing - but sometimes expectations are! Not sure I gave this a fair shake.

Perspectives alternate between mother and daughter but are connected so you can see how the lies and truths bend. I did appreciate the fact that the plot was fairly realistic and an endearing testament to the lengths that mother and daughter will go for one another. Reviews for this one are great and it hits the shelves August 1st so check it out!

I've enjoyed this author's previous books and this one was no exception. It kept my interest and had lots of twists and turns I didn't see coming. I look forward to more from this author!

This was a slow start but I found it intriguing. Then came the twists and the pace picked up. Ruth’s carefully constructed life is slowly beginning to unravel and she must do whatever she can to keep that from happening. While there was some predictability, there were still plenty of surprises.

4.5/5 stars (rounded up to 5 on here)

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

If you haven’t read this book or at least picked it up since publication day, go pick it up now!! This book was so good and kept me turning the pages and not wanting to put it down! I loved the twists and turns that Pekkanen incorporated throughout the book. This book was told in a dual timeline and I felt like that was perfect for the storyline because it allowed the readers to slowly figure out what happened in the past and how all of that is connected to the present day! Definitely one I would recommend if you are looking for a suspenseful and gripping novel!

I really enjoyed reading The Golden Couple (by this author and Greer Hendricks) last year so I was super excited to pick up this book! It took me a bit to get into it but once it started picking up I couldn’t put it down. I loved these unique characters and tore through the second half of the book trying to figure out what happened!

Catherine Sterling is about to begin her new life as a nurse in Baltimore, until her mother experiences a devastating diagnosis. It's always been just the two of them--Ruth a single mom, disowned by her parents when she told them she was pregnant. So Catherine has no choice but to stay with her mom. But she begins to suspect all is not as it seems and becomes determined to learn the truth about where her mom was from.

At the same time, Ruth is keeping secrets from Catherine. But as she suspects Catherine is close to learning more about her past, Ruth is desperate to keep Catherine safe.

This is vintage Sarah Pekkanen, full of twists and turns that will keep your head spinning. Trigger warning: early onset alzheimer's diagnosis at the beginning might be difficult for some, as it was for me. But an excellent book. #GoneTonight #NetGalley