This was definitely a different take on a thriller and one that I found pretty enjoyable. The story centers around Ruth, a 41 year-old, single mom who has always worked hard to provide a good life for her beloved daughter, Catherine. Catherine has just finished nursing school and is on the brink of moving to Maryland for her first job at the prestigious Johns Hopkins hospital when she begins noticing some odd behavior changes in her mom. Ruth's forgetfulness and new neurologic symptoms make Catherine concerned that she could have early onset dementia. Ruth has always been super secretive about her past and Catherine begins to realize that, with Ruth seemingly slipping away, if she doesn't start asking questions and finding answers, she may not have an other chance. The story unfolds to reveal secrets of Ruth's past and the lengths that she has gone to protect her daughter. This was a quick and entertaining read, although slightly predictable, it kept me turning the pages!

Thank you to the author, Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to advance read this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

What a great read this was! Single mom Ruth Sterling has raised her daughter, Catherine, all these years by herself. Catherine graduated from nursing school and wants to move away to further her education but mom seems hesitant to let her go. This is a very suspenseful story that kept me guessing what the outcome was going to finally be. Lots of surprises in this story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this very exciting read.

I am a big Sarah Pekkanen fan and this one did not disappoint! It definitely took a turn from the beginning, but I really enjoyed it. Perfect for a rainy summer night, would recommend to anyone who likes thrillers! 2 thumbs up!

3. 5 stars rounded down

Despite its rather bland title, this was an exciting and unusual psychological mystery from one half of the always must-read Hendricks-Pekkanen duo.

For 24 years, Ruth and her daughter have been as close as a mother and daughter can be. But even though she is still very young, Ruth is having serious memory issues and Catherine, who works in a care home, recognizes the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. But Ruth has a secret past which she hasn’t shared with Catherine and she is determined to write it out so that Catherine will know the truth.

So, hang on, you say, where’s the mystery here? Well that doesn’t come in till much later and enters spoiler territory so I’m not going there.

About three-quarters of the book rather depends on that frustrating trope of two people, despite being extremely close, not talking to each other and making the reader the only one who rather impotently knows what’s going on. Once that is finally resolved, the thriller elements pick up and rather quickly get resolved. There’s a queasy coda in which it appears mother and daughter are still not fully communicating and is a bit of a dot dot dot what’s going to happen next.

So, a slow misdirect burn to start with, a rather frustrating middle, and then a hasty resolution but, nonetheless, an enjoyable twisty read with a little something to say about mother-daughter relationships.

Thanks to St Martin's and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

I am a huge fan of the novels co-written by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks, but this is my first novel written by just one of them. It certainly didn't disappoint! This was a definite page-turner. I loved the dual perspectives which kept the pace moving quickly. The characters were well-written, the plot was engaging and the shocking conclusion was absolute perfection! I think this is going to be a huge hit and I highly recommend it!

Available August 1, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to review this ARC.

Sarah Pekkanen’s books, along with her co-author Greer Hendricks, have always been my go-to for a great thriller. While Gone Tonight was entertaining, Pekkanen’s solo release just didn’t have the same level of intrigue for me.

The book is told in two different timelines, from the POV of Ruth and her daughter, Catherine. Throughout Catherine’s entire life, Ruth has kept her past a secret. Now that Catherine is in her 20s and planning to spread her wings, she questions Ruth’s motivations to keep them inseparable.

In my opinion, Gone Tomorrow missed the mark. It was more of a domestic drama than a thriller. The ending was fairly predictable and there wasn’t too much “thrill,” since so much was revealed early in the book. I found the premise to be a bit contrived and there were too many plot holes. That Facebook search was quite absurd!!

As I said, the book was at least entertaining, but ultimately, it wasn’t up to the same level of perfection I expect from Pekkanens and Hendricks’ joint ventures.

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

This is Sarah Pekkanen’s first solo thriller and I’m here for it. I’ve been reading her books since her first was released in 2010 📚😊 and I’m happy to say she nailed this 🤩 - - I loved it!

Written with alternating POVs.. GONE TONIGHT follows the close-knit relationship between 24-year-old Catherine Sterling + her mother Ruth who has recently started having memory troubles, which has Catherine worried. Ruth absently? reveals one small thing.. that is how Cat learns her maternal grandmother died of early-onset Alzheimer’s. (A grandmother she’d never met.. or any other family for that matter)

Cat was supposed to move to Baltimore for her new job as a geriatric nurse👩🏻‍⚕️ but makes the choice to stay-put, for now, to help her mother - - and Ruth intends to keep it that way. 🏠👵🏻👩🏻 It’s at that point I questioned if Ruth was faking her memory loss.. if so.. why is she so set on her daughter never leaving her side? And whats up with Catherine never knowing any family.🤷🏼‍♀️🤨 Catherine thinks she never knew her mother at all.

This story explores mother/daughter family dynamics, hidden secrets, trauma, the frightening little tells Ruth sees in her daughter🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️.. and the consequences for Catherine secretly searching into her family background.💻 Catherine has unexpectedly opened up a dangerous can-of-worms regarding her mothers past.. and boy is it good! GONE TONIGHT is intense with fantastic suspense and will definitely keep you guessing.💥 4 stars — Pub. 8/1/23

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for kindly approving an arc. All opinions are my own.

Gone Tonight was an incredible book with fascinating characters. I loved the whole story. I am now a Sarah Pekkanen fan.

Sarah Pekkanen shows the length a mother would go to in order to protect their child:

It has always been Catherine and her mother Ruth. Ruth ran away when she was pregnant with Catherine as a teen and had been kicked out of the house by her parents or so Catherine thought. Catherine is ready to move on with her life and to live her own life and create a career for herself. Ruth has not been honest with her daughter, and it turns out that Catherine is not the person that Ruth thought she was. But Ruth has been protecting her daughter her whole life and will do anything to keep her by her side, she needs to keep her safe.

I have only read Sarah Pekkanen when she is co-author with Geer Hendricks, so I was interested to see what Pekkanen was able to do on her own. This a good domestic suspense book but you need to get through the slowness of the first 30% of the book. In that first 30% you're really kept waiting as to what Ruth (Ava) ran away from when she was a pregnant teenager and why she has kept running ever sense. In the first 30% I found that Ruth's life before were the more interesting parts, the present day were more just depressing with Ruth being diagnosed with Alzheimers. Once you are past the 30% mark, things really start to pick up as more and more information is revealed.

This book is all about manipulation, and manipulation not only between Ruth and Catherine but also the other people in their lives. If you enjoy manipulation and the lengths that people will go to in order to get their way and spread lies, then you will enjoy this book.

There are some aspects in the book that really raise the concept of nature vs nature as you learn more about what Ruth is running from as well as the upbringing that Catherine has had. I kept coming back to this question as I read further and further into the book and even more so towards the end. This is also a worry for Ruth as well, for more than one reason.

This book was good, I enjoyed all the secrets that Ruth and Catherine were keeping from each other, and it is a bit of a different take on domestic suspense as this is between a mother and daughter instead of husband and wife, which is what we normally see. I think that Pekkanen did a good job working with the story and like I said above the manipulation is on point.

Enjoy!!!

I thought this was fine. It had a lot of pieces of her vibes and the last thing he told me. I liked the ending and the characters were interesting enough. It just was meh.

Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen.

Warning: Child abuse and domestic violence. Gone Tonight is a fast-paced thriller told in alternating POV by Ruth and her daughter Catherine. The story pulled me in right away, and I read it in just two sittings, unable to put it down. This story shows the sacrifices a mother will make and the lengths she’ll go to in order to protect her daughter. Gone Tonight alternated between. Ruth and Catherine’s present day life and Ruth’s upbringing. There is no big twist in this story; rather there is a slow burn. The main characters are well-developed and realistically flawed. There are a few coincidences as the story progresses that seem a bit far-fetched at the time, without giving too much away, but when I look at the novel as a whole, it fits and wraps up nicely. As a big fan of Sarah Pekkanen’s earlier novels, I was excited to read this book, and I highly recommend it. It did not disappoint, and I enjoyed it a great deal!

A mother and daughter realize they don't know each other at all...but they would both do anything to keep the other safe.

This book was a roller coaster, and I loved the depth of the two main characters. I found myself being able to identify with parts of both of them. Interesting plot, lots of action and mystery, 4 stars!

Sarah can be hit or miss for me but I loved this slow burn! I was excited to read how the story unfolded between Ruth & Catherine. I like how the author used the characters POV of the same situation but their own perspectives of what the perceived happened vs the true reality. I just really enjoyed their dynamic and Catherine learning about her own mother.

4 stars

Sarah Pekkanen, best known for her quartet of novels written with Greer Hendricks, ventures out on her own with Gone Tonight. While her novels with Hendricks are often characterized with hidden secrets leading to a series of explosive reveals, Gone Tonight is rooted in building suspense through unreliable narration and the slow reveal of secrets throughout. This switch, paired with the deliciously intricate mother-daughter relationship at the center of the novel, made for an immensely gripping read that had me looking for any time that I could spare to get to the next chapter!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This was not what I was expecting at all-but such a great domestic thriller! just when you think you have it figured out, you don’t! So glad to have this early arc!

Thanks for the ARC netgalley! This is my first thriller by Pekkanen solely (I loved “The Wife Between Us” that she helmed with Greer Hendricks.) Like that bookstagram beloved thriller, this one has alternating perspectives which create a gripping pace.

Catherine has always been close to her mother Ruth, who had her as a teenager. She is finally leaving her mother to pursue her career in Baltimore when Ruth begins to show signs of Alzheimer’s. Catherine is devastated as her mother is so young, and quickly derails her move. She begins to realize that things don’t add up between Ruth’s disease and secret past. We also get to see Ruth’s POV-what she’s keeping from her daughter and why.

I couldn’t put this one down! It’s a bit of a slow burn at the start, but the tension builds in a great way. The last 30 or so pages were a little off the rails for me, but ultimately one of the most solid thrillers I’ve read this year. I look forward to diving into Pekkanen’s backlist.

✨Trigger Warnings: Grief, Murder, Alzheimer’s, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Sexual Assault, Bullying

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy of this one!
Overall this book was just very average for me. I felt like it was missing a “wow” factor. While I was interested enough to continue listening to the end I was a little bummed I didn’t get that mind blowing ending I craved.
The relationship between mother and daughter was interesting. I couldn’t figure out which side of the story was the accurate one. I feel like some parts dragged and some parts were rushed.
Overall this one was okay!

Sarah Pekkanen is one of my must-read authors. The story was so evenly paced that I was utterly engrossed from beginning to end. The characters were well-developed. I also loved that this book paid homage to "Where the Heart Is." Thanks for the advance review copy.

W.O.W. This book was wonderful. First of all, what a twist from what I thought I was getting into. These characters were so easy to love. I loved all of the Pittsburgh references (my hometown) and just every aspect of this story.

PUBLICATION DAY: August 1, 2023

Ruth and Catherine/mother and daughter- they are as close as two women can be. Separated from any remaining family, Catherine has always been able to count on her mother for everything…but when a surprise diagnosis comes to light, everything she thought she knew about her life comes into question. Why has Ruth refused to give any details of her life prior to having Catherine? What will Catherine discover as she begins her deep dive into Ruth’s life…and will it be worth it?

PROS and CONS:
Oh my…I thought I knew where this was going but I was WRONG. I was captivated from the first page - sympathetic to the symptoms Ruth was facing, and super curious about her backstory. But hang on dear readers because this author is just getting started and you won’t believe what happens next.

READ IT?
If you’re looking for…a fresh, exciting, twisty story that’s a perfect summertime read - then this one’s for you!

4 Stars