I wanted to love this. The setup of the plot was fantastic but the execution just fell flat. The characters were not very likeable either.

Most mothers would agree we would do anything to protect our children. Unfortunately with that comes making what we think are the best decisions on what and what not to tell them. We can only shelter them for so long and eventually hidden truths will come to light. Is love between a mother and daughter enough when the walls come crashing down? This was a quick twisty read. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Slow-burn thriller with multiple POV, capturing the unique relationship between mother and daughter. I was absolutely thrilled to read this book as I have enjoyed all other books co-written with Greer Hendricks.

Character development and digging into the storyline took some time, making me feel as though I was reading a drama, as opposed to a thriller. About 1/3 into the book, it started to pick up and had me hooked. A solid thriller that I very much enjoyed!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is the kind of deliciously twisty novel that I cannot get enough of. I am a huge fan of Pekkanen going way back to her women's fiction days and continuing through her recent thrillers co-written with Greer Hendricks. Gone Tonight definitely didn't disappoint- I absolutely loved this mother/daughter story and even though I was racing through the pages to find out what would happen next, and next, and next-when I got to the end I wished I'd taken my time because I didn't want to the the world I was so fully immersed in. Highly recommend!!! (I might have to listen to the audiobook too- it's that good!!!)

This book hooks you from the fist page. A daughter, Catherine, thinks she knows her mother, but no one knows the whole truth about Ruth's life. It is a fast paced thriller full of twists and turns that I couldn't put down until I knew how it ended. A great book!

Wow wow wow wow! This book!!! I am always a fan of Sarah Pekkanen's books but this one was another level. I went in blind to this book (aka not ready the synopsis) and this story was not what I expected! I knew there would be lots of twists but I did not see a few of them coming, though the ending ended the way I was expecting it to which I was a fan of. I could not put this book down since nothing is as it seems. I am such a sucker for a good domestics psychological thriller and "Gone Tonight" delivers. I loved the dual POV and the journal entries from Ruth. When this story is released I am recommend anyone who loves these types of books to pick it up!!

I have read several of Sarah’s books and have loved them all. This one was no different! It definitely started slow and took some time to build but by 3/4 the way in I was on the edge of my seat. Overall it was very well done but I was longing for more from Catherine’s perspective. Her character just seemed so much less developed than Ruth/Ava’s. Regardless it was a wonderful read and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to review early!

A psychological mystery told from the POVs of Ruth and her daughter Catherine. I really liked this format of storytelling, especially as both characters were keeping secrets from one another.

I loved the plot of this book, but the character development was lacking for me. I understand Ruth’s main motivation but I never fully understood Catherine. I also didn’t particularly like either character. But I didn’t need to like the characters to enjoy this book or understand the plot. Overall I was on the edge of my seat for most of this book and couldn’t put it down. Such a well written thriller!

Gone Tonight
By Sarah Pekkanen
Pub Date August 1, 2023
St. Martins Press
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I adored Sarah’s previous works she’s created with Greer Hendricks. This time she is writing solo and has done a marvelous job.
A gripping thriller told in three acts. Absolutely recommend!
5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this early.

I think this book was a me problem, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but this just did not work for me. I found it extremely predictable in terms of exactly what was going to happen. I also went into this expecting more of a mystery type of thriller, but this is definitely more on the psychological side.

However, my problems with this book aren't just the topic and the predictability, but this also was just kind of a mess to read and definitely needs to be edited further. There are multiple spelling and grammatical mistakes as well as formatting errors that constantly took me out of the story. I remember, for example, that at the thirty percent mark there was this point where Ruth and Catherine were just talking, and the very next paragraph starts when they're discussing how they've driven an hour away... No breaks in the paragraph or anything to show the passage of time or distance, and that happened more than once. The paragraphs are also incredibly short or suuuuper long, but it just reads kind of jumbled with no rhyme or reason.

I think I've enjoyed Sarah Pekkanen books years ago, and I think I may try another to see if this was just a me problem, due to the fact that this is an early copy, or if this author and their writing style just doesn't work for me.

I just finished reading Gone Tonight and it was a good one to read for the month of May as it was about a mother/daughter relationship. You get the perspective of both but I enjoyed the POV of the mother a lot more where we got to see the past and why things were the way they were. There were two twists at the end but they were pretty obvious to me and I have seen both done before. Nothing groundbreaking. However, I was never bored or felt like I wanted to DNF this book either. All in all, a good typical thriller.

Gone Tonight is a slow burn thriller. The story is told in alternating point of view between a mother, Ruth Sterling, and her daughter, Catherine. Ruth has dedicated her life to Catherine and will do everything and anything to keep her daughter safe. Catherine is a nurse and got offered her dream job at Johns Hopkins, but when her mom is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, she makes the decision to stay and help her. But things don't quite add up. Why won't Ruth tell Catherine anything at all about her past?

I did predict the twist pretty early on, but overall, I really enjoyed the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

In the last month, Ruth Sterling has lost her keys, a twenty dollar bill, her train of thought and her way home from the drugstore.

Her 24 year old daughter, Catherine, was about to move to Baltimore to start work as a nurse at John Hopkins, having graduated cum laude. Her specialty is geriatrics, and she is currently working in the Memory Wing at Sunrise, a high end facility where people with dementia, Alzheimer’s or traumatic brain injuries reside.

Catherine is well aware of the sobering, heartbreaking statistics of the disease, and since it’s always been just the two of them, she and her Mom, her future plans may have to change.

They have never lived apart, and they don’t have the money for Ruth to live in a facility like Sunrise. In fact, they moved throughout Catherine’s childhood, whenever her mom became too far behind on the bills.

At least that is the “excuse” that Ruth gave to her daughter.

Now, with Ruth’s memory fading, Catherine must uncover her mother’s secrets while she still can. And, time is of the essence for reasons she could NEVER guess.

The multi layered story unfolds from the alternating perspectives of Catherine and Ruth, as each CONFIDES in us, what THEY know that the other one DOES NOT.

At the beginning of this story, the book feels like it should be listed in the genre of Contemporary Fiction, but at 30% it takes a SUSPENSEFUL turn that completely caught me off guard!

I have been disappointed with many of the mystery/thriller books this year, as so many of them had similar overused premises such as “friends with a secret from their University days” “Mean Girls” or “Missing Children”

This story was COMPLETELY ORIGINAL and it was nice to read a story that was FRESH and PLAUSIBLE.

I was engaged from the start and flipped the pages eagerly to see where this one would take me!
And, as the tension ramped up towards the end, my heart was in my throat!

Despite some mixed reviews from my Goodreads friends, this was a WINNER for me, and it just might find itself on my 2023 favorites shelf for the SUSPENSE category.

AVAILABLE August 1, 2023.

Thank You to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

This one was definitely a slow burn - while I enjoyed the twists and turns throughout, there were times I found the story a bit meandering and just wanted it to move along. Overall it kept me guessing and engaged with the multiple POV though, so I will recommend this one and look forward to reading additional titles from this author in the future!

I really liked the dual pov, I think it added a lot to the book! Overall really enjoyed but was a little slow for me. I somewhat predicted the reveal on the last few pages so it wasn’t that climatic for me. Great book, will recommend. I’m giving it 3.5 stars but rounding up to 4.

What a terrific story! Slow burn, tense, twisty and explosive are some of the words that come to mind! Kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Thank you so much!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was honestly let down by this one. I normally devour Sarah's books but this one was just okay for me. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. I was not expecting some of the major plot twists so that was a plus. I also like Sarah did a good job with pacing the story, but I didn't really feel a connection any of the characters, so that made it difficult to keep wanting to read.
I also was not a fan of the mother's history being told by her writing in a journal. It felt very non authentic to me. I will say that I seem to be an outlier, because a lot of people seemed to really like it. I personally did not find it very thrilling and was only surprised a few times.

I was excited to get the opportunity to read this solo book by Sarah Pekkanen, as I have always enjoyed her books with Greer Hendricks. . This one was a slow burn and a little too slow of a pace for me. It wasn’t a typical thriller with twists and turns and not much happened along the way I did enjoy the backstory of the mother Ruth and getting to know her past and appreciate her passion for wanting to protect her daughter.

I was expecting a great thriller and this book didn’t quite deliver that. The mother/daughter relationship kept me wondering what would happen next but it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat like I was hoping. Overall, a good read though. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thanks so much for the advanced copy. The subject matter was really hard to read. I have enjoyed other books by this author a lot more so I look forward to reading other books in the future.