Pekkanen knocks it out of the park with this thriller. The story is told from dual POVs, mother, Ruth and daughter, Catherine. Throughout Catherine's life, she and her mother have been tightknit but Catherine has started to realize that her mother seems to be keeping secrets. Ruth was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and seemingly because of this she is writing down her life story for her daughter to explain the details of her life once her ability to do so is gone. Catherine relies on her nursing degree and clinical knowledge to try to understand what they might face in the coming months.
Once this story gets the groundwork laid and starts clicking it is a roller-coaster until the final pages. This is a fun summer read with compelling writing.
Definitely recommend.
#GoneTonight #NetGalley #StMartinsPress

Thank you @MacMillan.Audio and @StMartinsPress for the #gifted ALC/eARC of GONE TONIGHT.

I seem to be in the minority when it comes to Sarah Pekkanen’s first solo thriller. I enjoyed the fact that this was a thriller centered on a mother-daughter relationship and that it had a bit a of a cat and mouse aspect where you never really knew who was outplaying the other.

But the author used something as a plot device that I found personally disgusting and I just can’t get over it. I guessed the twist early on and it left me with a bad taste for the rest of the book. The character who did it later admits that it’s a despicable thing to do but I just think that there could have been better ways to shock the reader than the way that this was done.

After that big twist that I guessed, I found the rest of the book fairly predictable and underwhelming. It could just be that the twist put me off of the book. And it doesn’t seem like it’s bothered many of the other early reviewers I’ve seen so if the synopsis still interests you then give it a try.

And if you’ve read this and are also bothered by the twist, drop me a DM.

GONE TONIGHT comes out on August 1.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5719533301
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvNLT4WrJyC/

I have read several of Sarah Pekkanen's books written with Greer Hendricks but this was her first solo book I've read. "Gone Tonight" is an interesting story about the lengths a mother will go to, to protect her daughter.

The book is broken into 3 acts, which really does work well with how she has laid out the story. Act 1 is very slow, almost to the extent that I DNF. But right at the end of Act 1 the book takes a turn which sets the following two acts into motion. However in the end I still found the book to be a bit boring and slow, even once the "exciting parts" picked up. If you are looking for more of a drama with some mystery this is a good book but (as is the case with many books I've read lately) this is not a thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

If you enjoy books with unreliable narrators then Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is just what you need to read. Catherine and her mom, Ruth have been a team from day one. They are rarely separated from each other but now Catherine is ready to move to Baltimore to start her career. She has completed her nursing degree and is excited to get the ball rolling in her new life. However, she's begun to notice something might be up with her mom. This leads her to make some life-changing decisions and to delve a little more deeply into her mom's life than she ever has before. Plenty of secrets are about to be revealed. Read and enjoy!

I really enjoyed this suspense novel from beginning to end. It captured my attention immediately and held it until the last page. I would definitely recommend to a friend.

This book is everything I love in a thriller!!! Fast paced, addictive, twists and turns - I absolutely flew through this book!! Nothing is as it seems and as the layers of the past slowly get peeled back, the anxiety for the current situation starts to build.

A few things I loved::
•The complicated mother/daughter relationship. What seems like a seriously overprotective mother desperate to keep her daughter from leaving her is actually SO much more!
•Catherine works on an Alzheimer’s unit and I appreciated the focus on the reality of the disease.
•The duel timelines. Finding out tid bits of the past at a time definitely kept me guessing and kept the pace moving so fast!
•Duel POV. Hearing both women’s POV definitely kept the mystery going on longer. I was super invested in Catherine’s sleuthing!

Well, that didn’t end the way I expected! I have enjoyed numerous books written by Sarah Pekkanen, but this one hit a little different with the complicated mother/daughter relationship. I generally don’t request books with this trope because I find it triggering and kind of depressing but that is a problem with me NOT this story. Like her other books, this one is smartly written and tightly plotted revealing characters with depth. I did find it to be a bit of a slow burn in the beginning but when I got to Act 2 things got really interesting! The story unfolds with alternating viewpoints of mother, Ruth, and daughter, Catherine, who have a strange but sweet relationship. Revealed in their individual points of view, Ruth remembers all of her past secrets while Catherine is frantically trying to uncover truths before time runs out. There is plenty of tension and twists to shock, everything we are looking for in a thriller. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on August 1, 2023

Wow! I knew when I started it that it was going to be good but I had no idea how good! This is my first solo Pekkanen read. I've read most of her Greer collabs, and they're hit and miss with me. I loved Anonymous Girl.

This is going to be one of the top books of the year for me. The way it unfolded was flawless. Some books will save too many of their secrets until the very end, resting the entire ending on that twist instead of revealing things at a natural pace. I was so impressed with the layout of this book!

Catherine, a recent nursing school graduate, and her single mom Ruth are used to being invisible. They've had a tough life but they've had each other and can err toward codependent.

Catherine was preparing to go work at a prestigious hospital away from Ruth when Ruth is diagnosed with dementia. It's in the early stages but having worked at a nursing home, Catherine knows how bad this will be.

We know Ruth wants to keep Catherine close to her at any cost but we don't really know why. Catherine is starting to get this hunch too so she decides to dig into her mom's past, since she knows literally nothing. She begins finding more than she bargained for but Catherine seems to be looking in her mom's closet when she has a few skeletons of her own.

Kate Mara narrating the audiobook was pure perfection. Don't ask me how, but Ruth and Catherine sounded completely different. The dual narration really set this off too. I have absolutely nothing negative to say.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to listen and review.

Catherine and Ruth Sterling have always had each other. Now that Catherine is ready to begin a new career and separate herself from her mother, Ruth will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Is Ruth being paranoid or is danger coming for Catherine? Is Catherine being paranoid or is Ruth lying to her?

This domestic thriller kept me on my toes. I guessed some of the plot surprises, but I loved the original storyline with mother lying to daughter and vis versa.

Twisty fun thriller. A life built on lies leads to many layers of deception. The novel is told from multiple POV - that of Catherine, and her mother, Ruth. Ruth's sections included stories from the past that lead us to the present. I don't want to say too much, for fear of ruining the twists that keep coming, but as the characters start to deceive each other, it leads to more, rather than less, danger.

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.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother's past or background. But when Ruth's desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth's carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Theres nothing stronger then a mothers love and her willingness to protect their children. This starts out a little slow as we get into the dynamics and lives of Ruth and Catherine, but then it takes off! We get both womens pov as things start to go sideways. Ruth has secrets from her past and she doesn't want her daughter to know about them to keep her safe.We get Ruths pov has she writes in her diary about her past from the very beginning where things started to go wrong. With quick chapter you fly through the book as go along with both women as they try to keep their secrets! Cleverly written with some twists I didn't see coming!

4stars

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for my gifted copy.

This is the story of a mother who has been keeping a secret from her daughter in order to protect her and the daughter who has begun to realize her mother may be not be who she thinks. The book was interesting and I liked that it explored the bonds between a mother and daughter, but it's not nearly as gripping as other books I have read by this author. It is a quick read and I was invested enough to want to know how it ended.

What a book! I read this in a day because I COULD NOT put it down, and the quick chapters made this even easier. I’d say this is a slower burn to start, but it had so much suspense packed in that even the slower parts kept me wanting more.

The relationship between Catherine and her mom Ruth was a combination of strange and nice. I had so many suspicions about certain things that I wasn’t quite sure what or who to believe, and I love that in a thriller. I also liked the sections where Ruth is talking about her past and seeing that side of her.

There were a few small plot pieces that seemed too far-fetched or too tidy to be 100% realistic, but I had no problem suspending reality for the sake of the story. Some of the twists I saw coming, and then there were others that made me gasp. If you’re looking for a quick thriller/suspense that’ll have a vice grip on your attention, this is it!

I picked this book up because I recognized the author had been co-author of [book:The Wife Between Us|34189556], [book:You Are Not Alone|45046742]and [book:The Golden Couple|57693416] all of which I read and enjoyed. This is the first book I've read by Sarah Pekkanen along, but I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Description:
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.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother's past or background. But when Ruth's desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth's carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.

My Thoughts:
This was a well-plotted thriller. There are two narrators giving us different perspectives: Catherine, the daughter, and Ruth, the mother. The relationship here between mother and daughter was a strange one and strained as Catherinel needed her freedom an Ruth wanted something totally different. There are some twists in this mother-daughter story - some are revealed earlier than I expected but some waited until near the end to reveal themselves and certainly surprised me. The plot had good movement and tension built to a climax in the final scenes. Secrets and lies are always fun in a book and there are some good ones here.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on August 1, 2023.

Gone Tonight
Sara Pekkanen
August 1, 2023


Ruth Sterling started her life having problems. Her mother was a drunk and enjoyed hurting Timmy, Ruth’s little brother. She would try almost anything to help when they were facing mother’s ire. Most times it got her in trouble and Timmy was terrified of his mom. Their father worked many hours and was not home most evenings until his wife had passed out on the couch. As Ruth journeyed past high school she thought she had met her best friend and prospective mate. When things went wrong and she discovered she was pregnant she developed a plan to make certain her folks or her baby’s father had no idea of where she had gone
After Catherine was born they were close, almost as friends more than mother and daughter. When it seemed that her secrets might hinder their life, she would pack up and the duo would drive to another location and start again.
Gone Tonight will be published by St. Martin’s Press on August 01, 2023. I was selected to read and review the ARC via NetGalley. I appreciate their allowing me to read this heavy suspense chronicle by Sarah Pekkanen. It is a novel of secrets and hidden agendas. Just when I thought I had her plot resolved the entire scenario changed. Of course that is what makes for a really good mystery. Do select this one.

Gone Tonight was a spectacular mother daughter story. Catherine feels that her mother is hiding something from her and she is on a mission to figure it out. At the end though nothing can break a mother away from her daughter. Throughout the book there was unpredictable twists and turns. Great read.

This book is a decent read, I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kate Mara. The narration was nothing spectacular, and I think the audiobook would have been a better experience had there been a different narrator for both Ruth and Catherine.

The book starts with Catherine having just received her nursing degree and is about to take a new job in Baltimore. However her mother Ruth is showing signs of Alzheimer's Disease and Catherine thinks she may need to stay and help to care for her mother. But Ruth has some serious secrets, and she will stop at nothing to keep those secrets hidden, and that means keeping Catherine as close to her as she can.

There are a few interesting twists in this book, but I pretty much called where it was going early on and the twists weren't surprising to me at all. There are way, way too many convenient things that happen in the book, too many for me to suspend my disbelief.

Yet it is a fast paced story and I was interested to see how things would unfold and what the outcome would be. It kept my attention throughout and I was invested enough to want to see what happened (instead of wanting to skip ahead to the end like I want to do other times).

“How far would you go to protect the person you love most in the world?”
A psychological thriller centered around a mother daughter relationship. A horrific deception created for protection. Told in dual POV from the mother and daughter; past and present. Filled with twists and turns, lies, and secrets. A wonderful read but marked down to 4 because the beginning did not read as the description; I felt like the story was about something totally different which I almost stopped reading. It hit a little bit close to home and wasn’t the plot I was hoping to read. Luckily, at chapter 14 it became riveting, and the story took hold. I now know that the beginning needed to be told as it is; so don’t give up on it. It’s totally worth the wait.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gone Tonightby: Sarah Pekkanen
Pub Date: 8/1/23
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Catherine Sterling is 24 years old. She’s an only child who just graduated from nursing school and is getting ready to take on her first adult job in a new city.
Ruth, Catherine’s mother is a hard working waitress who seems to be exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease at just 42. Unfortunately this will mean Catherine is going to have to put her new job on hold.
The more Catherine watches her mom the more she wonders about her. All she knows of her family is that when Ruth found out she was pregnant her father kicked her out. But as she works to discover more, big secrets start to slowly unravel. Is anything her mother had told her over the last 24 years true?

One of the best mystery thriller books of this year!! Definitely a must read

Ruth and her daughter Catherine have a close relationship. Ruth is starting to show signs of Alzheimers and Catherine is worried. But Ruth has a secret. She is hiding something that she doesn't want Catherine to know.

Initially I was annoyed by these two characters. Catherine seemed melodramatic and Ruth was shady. As I continued reading, I got so caught up in all the twists and turns. The ending was so good!

If you love a slow reveal, twisty mystery, this is the book for you!