Bring on all the feelings - heartbroken, shattered, stunned, disbelief, confusion and more - all before I had listened to the first third of the book. Oh my! This story is told in alternating POV between Ruth and her daughter Catherine. The plot twist is quite creative and I did not see it coming. After this revelation both characters behave and move in surprising ways, which kept me on my toes and I was unable to predict how the story would progress. At times I was team Catherine, other times I was team Ruth, while simultaneously wanting them to work as a team and be strong together. The ending of the book left me with questions to ponder, which in this case worked. I have a feeling I will be thinking about this book for a while.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a review. Having read all of Greer Hendricks and Pekkanen's earlier co-written novels, I was anxious to read this new thriller written solely by Pekkanen, as I knew it would be a twisty ride. And it did not disappoint!

Catherine is coping with a recent diagnosis of her mother Ruth, but strange clues slowly begin to reveal there may be something else going on with her mother rather than this diagnosis. When I first began this novel, I was a little confused as I thought it was more of a domestic drama dealing with an aging mother and her headstrong daughter. But as it continued, it turned out to be anything but. The book started a little bit slow but once Catherine begins to pick up on the clues, the story really gets going.

I really enjoyed the 2 POVs between Ruth and Catherine and especially enjoyed the parts showing Ruth's back story and how she got to where she is in the present. As typical with many thrillers, the ending did end up a bit over the top and left me scratching my head a little bit. There were some elements of the story that really depended on not questioning them too much as they were just a bit too coincidental, but all in all, this is a well-crafted story and sure to please readers of Pekkanen's earlier works.

While I appreciated the development of the characters in the storyline, it was really had to fathom the skill set required for the 17 year old pregnant girl depicted here. There were numerous gaps that I wanted filled to explain the progress of her life.
The story is delivered by two voices: a mother and daughter with flashbacks that provides the reader with how their two lives have unraveled.
A mother’s love is the emotion that this book evolves around, and what she will do to keep her daughter safe and invisible. As in real life, the past is ultimately revealed and in this case with events that worry both parties and their future relationship.
If the reader hadn’t announced who the main speaker was in each chapter I would not have known, as I didn’t hear an audible alteration of her voice.
The reader will appreciate the continued theme of the story even though there’s a new beginning for both parties that should set their orbits in different directions.

The book was an overall entertaining thriller. I loved the idea of this focusing on a mother and daughter trying to work with and against each other. Both povs are distinct and well done.

I was a bit bored through the majority of this but there were some some very intense moments that I enjoyed. I do feel that some of the plot was a bit to convenient to be believable and the twists predictable.

This was still an interesting if a bit underwhelming read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Gone Tonight by @sarahpekkanen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧.“

I’d like to thank both @stmartinspress & Sarah for giving me an ARC of this new thriller in exchange for my honest review🖤

Catherine is her mom’s person- they have a bond that surpasses most mother/daughter relationships. But when a tragic diagnosis threatens to rock her world she begins to wonder why- in all of her 24 years-has her mom never quite let her in? How much does she really know about her mother, Ruth?

This was a wild ride! This book reminded me of a mix between the novel Pieces of Her & the movie Where The Heart Is (which was actually mentioned in the book right after I had that thought lol). I ate this story up! The final twist is pretty awesome too & now I want a sequel that follows Catherine more closely apart from mama Ruth.

All in all a really solid thriller that will most definitely pull you in!

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

It has only been Catherine and her mother, Ruth, for Catherine’s entire life. It seemed like anytime Catherine got close to someone else, her mother would announce that they had to move. They moved a lot during Catherine’s childhood, but now that Catherine has graduated from college and secured her dream job at Johns Hopkins, she’s ready to establish roots in Baltimore. But, Ruth will do anything to keep Catherine close, and as Catherine’s suspicions about Ruth’s past grow, danger lurks in the distance.

This story is told in alternating POVs between Catherine and Ruth. I enjoyed reading the story from each of their perspectives. It really gave good insight into their characters and motives. As all the secrets and lies start to come out, it gets pretty intense, but the second half fell a little flat for me. I still liked it and definitely recommend it, but it could have been great.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sarah Pekkanen for an ARC of this book!**

"How far would you go to protect the person you love most in the world? I have gone to a place so dark and bleak I barely recognize myself. But I know one thing for certain: I did it out of love."

Mother knows best...or DOES she?

Catherine and Ruth think they know each other better than anyone else: Mama Bear Ruth has always put her daughter first...but now it's time for Catherine to return the favor. Ruth is entering the early stages of Alzheimer's and is showing all of the signs. Though Catherine was poised to leave home and begin her career in the medical field, she just can't bear to leave mom at this critical juncture. However....there's something that's just a bit off. And Catherine's not about to stop until she finds out EXACTLY what her mom has been hiding...

Ruth has been running for a long time...but not just from town to town. In the past, she's used financial strains and a life separate from Catherine's father as a justification for frequent moves and a bevvy of secrets. But with her daughter growing suspicious and her hidden past rushing back to meet her...can Ruth make one last escape before a certain someone---and some THING---she's been desperate to keep hidden makes one final, deadly appearance?

I've had mixed luck with Sarah Pekkanen's brand of psychological thrillers (co-penned with Greer Hendricks): The Wife Between Us was a catastrophic miss, while last year's The Golden Couple was one of my favorite reads of 2022. I was very curious to see how I'd fare with a solo Pekkanen book....and I'm 'thrilled' to report this experiment was a STUNNING success! Without a partner, I'd even go as far as to say that Pekkanen might have gone a bit further, been a bit more focused, AND had two dynamic POVs that were the perfect yin and yang to keep the mystery humming!

This might not have started off as a page turning read...but it QUICKLY turned into one! Though I was more than a bit wary of plot devices like Ruth's diary....before long, I was got a rush of excitement each time more of her backstory was revealed. There is NOTHING, and I mean nothing, that sells me faster on a plot like this than nice, JUICY backstory...and this one has it in spades. I felt Pekkanen gave her characters room to breathe, change, and evolve, and while the plot wasn't anything new, it was JUST twisty and unexpected enough to give me pause and make me think more often than not. I think what gave it that extra oomph was the way Pekkanen kept her chapters short, the action punchy, AND also colored the narrative with the complex dynamics of mother-daughter relationships.

This sort of emotional gravitas can be so difficult to capture and balance with the thrill-a-minute action found so often in the genre, but Pekkanen utilized this duo effortlessly to explore these questions of right and wrong. Again, this message isn't new, but something about the pace and the blend of old and new, now and then, felt visceral and real, as though it could have been ripped from the headlines of today's newspapers. Without spoilers, it's hard to discuss, but there are many moments from Ruth's childhood that will GRAB you...and a few that even had me choking up a bit. There are also plenty of nail-biter chapter endings...prepare to clear your schedule and keep those snacks handy! It's so rare that I would willfully forego sleep to read a book these days (with a two year old running around) but this is one book that made it MORE than worth it!

This novel centers around the concept of being here and being gone, and what it means to be both: physically, mentally, AND emotionally. And while I won't give anything away, I'll leave you with just a taste of the intrigue you'll find in this one: "She never even noticed me, which was my intention. I'm used to traveling through life as a ghost. I'm very good at disappearing."

"Women do it all time."

😉

4.5 stars

Thank you @stmartinspress for my copy of Gone Tonight! This is all about mother- daughter duo Ruth and Catherine. They have a very close relationship but Catherine realizes she doesn’t know her mother as well as she thought and sets out to figure out who her mother is. Ruth will do anything to keep Catherine close to her and Catherine begins to question what exact is Ruth hiding?

This started off a bit slower for me but really built up the back story as we get both Catherine and Ruth’s POV. It was different than most thrillers I have read but I didn’t have that edge of my seat gripping pages feeling until the end of the book. I liked the characters and some overall topics in this book which could lead to a bigger conversation 💫

I am so excited to share Gone Tonight with you. It is a psychological thriller about a mother and daughter. The mother has been hiding her tragic past from her daughter until the daughter starts to unravel the truth and chaos ensues in their lives. It is twisted, creepy, suspenseful but also so sad when the mother’s life story is revealed. And let’s say, there is a stint of homelessness so she hid out in Target and made me think of the aforementioned movie. This mom and daughter duo is intelligent, resilient and resourceful and their dedication to each other is inspiring. This is definitely a thriller to add to your list.

Catherine and Ruth Sterling are as close as a mother and daughter can be. With no family to speak of, it’s always been them against the world.

But Catherine never really knew the weight of those words until her mother started forgetting things here or there. Unofficially diagnosed with early onset dementia, Catherine can’t help but to worry about all the ways this will impact their lives. Another big upheaval? Catherine’s planned move away from home to start a new career, now thwarted by the devastating news.

As we see Catherine coming to terms with her mother’s future and increasing forgetfulness, we also see things from the perspective of her mother, Ruth. Just like her daughter, Ruth is worried about their future. However, it’s not for the reasons Catherine believes. As these two women stories unfold, so do the lines between truth and deceit, a reminder that all it takes is one night to change everything.

Gone Tonight is a hard book to review without giving too much away. Author, @sarahpekkanen has done a good job of painting a picture where nothing is as it seems. A page turning thriller always leans toward the dramatic, but at its core, this is a relatable story when you look at it through the lense of how far you’d go to protect the ones you love.

"My mother seems to have materialized at 18 when she had me. It's as if we were both born at the same time."

Whew! Gone Tonight by psychological thriller author Sarah Pekkanen is at times an exhausting mother daughter trauma...I mean drama fueled dual first person POV where no one is telling the truth to each other.

Luckily Ruth, the mother, and Catherine, her daughter, tell us what is really going on, at least in their own minds. To Catherine her mom is a hardworking single mom who only wants the best for her. To Ruth her daughter is a good girl who would never leave her...right? She can't leave! There's real danger out there; in fact it's getting close to them everyday!

Just as Catherine is leaving the state to advance her career Ruth shows signs of dementia and reveals that her own mother died from early on set Alzheimer's Disease. Catherine can't leave now.

You think you know what's going on and you're probably right BUT the reasons are very different than you might think; at least for me. I had a different scenario of where things were heading and was surprised by the turn it took and how much it changed my feelings about the very complicated Ruth.

Another pleasant surprise was the incomparable actress Kate Mara narrating with such gravitas that it forces you to pay serious attention to Ruth's motives. After all, anyone who plays Springsteen's Thunder Road to relax and says, "What kind of monster doesn't like Springsteen?" can't be all bad.

There's also an important message about how easy it is for girls to disappear. We learn quickly to make ourselves small to avoid sexual and familial abusers but sadly it's usually after the abuse that we are not seen and can be gone tonight.

I received a free copy of this book/ audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Really good!!! I love how the mystery slowly unfolded and throughout the book you learned more of the truth. The ending was great as well.

Ruth is a single mother living in an apartment with her twenty-four year old daughter, Catherine. Catherine is set to move out to begin her career at John Hopkins Hospital, but Ruth can’t fathom the thought of being separated from her daughter because of the danger that lurks from her past. Ruth will do anything to keep her daughter close, but little does she know, Catherine is unraveling the truth about Ruth’s former life. If she figures out the truth, it could put their lives in extreme danger and prompt Ruth to run away, and change her name…again.

I was so entranced in this book that I forgot I was reading until I looked away from my kindle and at the world around me. I felt a bountiful amount of emotions while reading from the perspectives of both Ruth and Catherine, and the ending broke my heart into a million pieces.

Read if you like:
🔸Family Secrets
🔸Cat & Mouse Game
🔸Mother/Daughter drama

Catherine Sterling has always felt like she knew her mom but she soon learns just how wrong she is. It has always been must the two of them but Catherine thinks its time for her to leave the nest. She has a wonderful job opportunity although its in another state. Her mom didn't complain when she learned her daughter would be moving but Catherine soon learns things aren't what they seem. Its a week before she is suppose to leave when she takes her mom to a doctors appointment and all signs point to her having Alzheimer's. Catherine has decided to turn down her new position and stay where she is so she can take care of her mother during this trying time. She soon begins to get hints that shat she thought was true might not be. Follow along and see if Catherine can learn the truth about her mom and if what she has always believed is true or has her mom spent.her whole life lying to her?

This is my favorite by this author(s) so far. I loved the way the story was presented, slowly doling out clues as it went on and building tension in the process. The book kept me guessing the whole time and I could not put it down. It also had my mouth watering for lasagna pizza. Highly recommended for those who enjoy books that make you question who to trust, even family, and those who want to stay up all night reading.

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up Gone Tonight…but it certainly wasn’t what I got. And that’s a good thing.

The book describes the relationship of mom Ruth and daughter Catherine. Ruth has just been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease at forty-two. Unfortunately, recent nursing graduate Catherine works in a dementia ward and knows what is coming soon in both of their lives. She is desperate to find out about her mother’s past, which Ruth has kept secret during Catherine’s entire life, before Ruth no longer remembers it. But sometimes the truth is buried for a good reason.

One morning, I woke up early and thought I would read Gone Tonight for about an hour before arising. Bad mistake! I read the book straight through for the next four hours. Good thing it was the weekend.

The book is a compelling and entertaining look into one secretive family. But it is not your usual domestic thriller. I was entranced trying to discover who was lying to themselves (and us) in their alternating first-person chapters and especially when the next jaw dropping twist would occur.

Overall, Gone Tonight is highly recommended to both mystery and thriller fans, especially to those that think that all the best plots have already been written. This book proves how incorrect that assumption is with its stunningly original plot. 5 stars and a favorite!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

“There is no bond like that of a mother and daughter… but the tighter Ruth holds on, the more Catherine questions the reason why.

This book kept me up way past my bedtime! I wanted to keep reading to find out the conclusion. Very tense and mysterious at times.
Both Ruth and her daughter Catherine are holding secrets from each other. The story is told in alternating chapters between the mother and daughter. Just as you are learning a little bit more about Ruth, the chapters switch over to Catherine. You will find yourself saying… just one more chapter. There is a dual time line with Ruth’s story, filling the reader in with her backstory.
Catherine is worried that her mother is developing Alzheimer’s. She is planning to move away from her mom, the only relation she has ever had. She has to make a decision as to whether to go or to stay. As Catherine discovers more about her mother, the plot thickens.
Sarah’s writing flows so easily. I loved the journal entry’s that Ruth writes to her daughter. Her emotions and feelings just pour out, something she has been keeping in for a lifetime. It is a very compelling plot and the ending wraps up all the puzzle pieces to fit nicely together.
I have previously read books by this author (along with her co-writer Greer Hendricks), and I am looking forward to see what she writes next.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an ARC of Gone Tonight in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I’ve really enjoyed Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks' domestic thrillers, so I was curious to see what Pekkanen’s solo thriller had to offer.

It’s a pretty unique premise that straddles the line between domestic suspense and action thriller. Catherine, one of the protagonists, starts to suspect that her mother, Ruth, hasn’t been entirely honest with her and sets out to uncover what secrets her mother has been hiding. The story incorporates both Catherine and Ruth’s perspectives and includes flashbacks that show how the present timeline came to be. The story moves really quickly and does a great job of balancing the action with the emotional beats of the story.

While I would say I liked this book, there was one major thing that kept me from loving it. Without giving anything away, I really didn’t care for the way Alzheimer’s and dementia were used in this book. As someone who has unfortunately seen the impact that can have on individuals and their families, the way the disease was incorporated into the plot just didn’t sit well with me. I don’t think Pekkanen meant any harm by this choice, but it personally wasn’t something I felt comfortable with. Feel free to message me if you want more information on this!

Gone Tonight is out August 1. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read an advance copy of Gone tonight by Sarah Pekkanen. While I admit I hesitated reading Gone tonight, (and I don't know why) I am so glad I did! Wow, what a thriller!!! Do you know your Mother? Are you sure? Catherine thought she knew her Mother, but her Mother isn't who Catherine thought. When Catherine get suspicious, and starts to try to find out about her Mother's past, Ruth's secrets start to unravel. Told through both Catherine's and Ruth's POV, this book will keep you reading until the very end. Totally recommend!!!

Single mom, Ruth, and her daughter, Catherine, are very close, best friends even. Catherine is ready to spread her wings until a horrifying diagnosis has her rethinking her decision. Little by little, red flags appear and Ruth’s past comes to light which has Catherine questioning everything she’s ever known about her Mom, until the deception brings them together in a dark way.

I usually enjoy domestic drama, but for some reason, this fell a little flat, and totally unrealistic to me. I enjoyed that the chapters alternated between mother and daughter, bringing both their situations to light. It added to the suspense and developed a rapport between reader, Ruth, Catherine. Parts were drawn out, thus making the story move slowly for me. Ending was predictable.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.