I was so excited to read another Sarah Pekkanen book, as I have loved her past ones with Greer Hendricks. Gone Tonight is an intriguing domestic thriller that grabbed me from the start. I couldn't wait to see what happened next, and loved the twists! I enjoyed exploring the facets of mom Ruth and daughter Catherine's relationship, and trying to decipher the lengths they would go to to keep secrets and look out for their own agendas. This is a great suspense book perfect for fans of the genre!

Gone Tonight was a page turner of a mystery. I was very invested in finding out Ruth’s secrets. Once we did find out I could not understand why she couldn’t have a real and honest conversation about who she really is with her smart adult child who is smart enough to put herself thru school to become a nurse and is about to leave to start her new life in Baltimore. That along with the anachronistic use of the word Poms for Ruth’s high school dance group (Ruth and I are the same age and that word is a more recently used word), a couple of other small details that would only probably bother other Registered Nurses like myself, and some actions of Ruth/Catherine I found a bit unbelievable are why I can’t give the book 5 stars. Because of these details I was only going to give the book 3 stars but the last 15% or so and the ending made me change my mind enough to give it 4 stars. The things that bugged me most readers will never think about and most thriller readers will love it.

I recommend this to those who enjoy mysteries with unreliable narrators and those who’ve read the books coauthored by Greer Hendricks/ Sarah Pekkanen.

In addition to my e-arc I also bought a HC from book of the month and got the audiobook from my library.

**Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review**

since Catherine can remember, it’s just been her & her mom against the world. Ruth has spent her whole life working odd jobs & moving their little family around, all with the intent of keeping Catherine safe. but Catherine doesn’t share the paranoia that her mom feels, and she plans to move away and start a life of her own. Ruth is willing to go to unthinkable extremes to make sure Catherine stays close to her, because it’s the only way she’ll know she’s truly safe from the danger that lurks beyond Ruth’s past.

this was one of the better suspense reads I’ve gotten my hands on in a while! told from dual POVs, we get both Catherine & Ruth’s perspectives, which is helpful in developing both characters while simultaneously unwrapping the tension of Ruth’s past that has led them to their current situation.

part of Ruth’s POV included her writing about her past life to Catherine, which felt like a natural & purposeful way for the audience to uncover important background information that related to the present-day plot. I also loved the shoutouts to Pittsburgh during Ruth’s flashback scenes! I always get so giddy when they depict my city in stories ☺️

while you could kinda tell where the storyline was heading, the build-up of tension in this story really made for genuine suspense throughout the read. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys this genre!

thank you to @netgalley & @sarahpekkanen for my #advancedreaderscopy of this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The beginning of the book had me debating if I wanted to continue. Catherine's mom Ruth has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's which is an iffy subject matter for me. This is not the full plot of the story and as things picked up and the twists began, I could not put it down. Definitely glad to have gone into this one blind because I didn't see any of it coming!!

Recommended to fans of slow burn twisty thrillers.

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

Propulsive is an accurate description for this story of a mother and daughter and how their quiet, unassuming life quickly unravels due to long held, dangerous secrets. 5/5⭐️

• Go in knowing no more than that and be prepared to ignore your responsibilities.
• Audio and print are equally fantastic. I started with the audio, then finished with print when my air pods ran out of juice.
• Suspend disbelief and just go along for the ride!

3 stars

Thank you netgalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC in return for an honest review!!

I think this was a decent read! I am thinking that I would have enjoyed this more as an audio than a physical. I like the overall idea of the book and the unsettling aspect of it. I unfortunately put it all together quite quickly. Many said this was fast paced, and I don’t think it is. It’s definitely one where you have to pay attention to the details or you will miss something.
This was fine! I just wanted more from Gone Tonight. I wanted to be at the edge of my seat or wondering how the puzzle would finalize.

I would recommend for those just starting to read thrillers!

Read if you like:
• psychological thrillers
• unreliable narrators
• dual timeline

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for an eARC of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen! Pekkanen is one of my favorite authors, so I was absolutely thrilled to get my hands on this copy before pub day - And let me tell you, this did not disappoint. A layered, masterful plot with jaw-dropping twists - 5 massive stars!

What's it about?
This one follows the story of Ruth - When she was a teenager, she disappeared while pregnant in the night to escape a troubled relationship and abusive home. Ruth has now provided for her daughter, Catherine, for over 20 years. Catherine is ready to explore and be an adult, but Ruth is cautious from her past and doesn't put down roots in case she needs to run. They both have secrets. Can Ruth protect Catherine from the past forever?

This one went in a totally different direction than I expected and I absolutely loved that. One of my favorite reads of 2023, hands down!

Catherine and Ruth, a mother daughter duo living their lives together almost as one that is until Catherine has decided it is time to spread her wings and be on her own. Mommy dearest doesn't want that to happen but Catherine can't really know why since Ruth is hiding a lot of secrets her daughter doesn't know, a mother she doesn't really know!
Told in three acts from alternating POV between Catherine and Ruth with Ruth also giving the story a multidimensional plot flipping between past and present to reveal all the little lies and secrets that got her to where she is now! Sarah Pekkanen going at it alone is just as compelling and enticing as her partnering up with Greer Hendricks!
At the heart of this story is the family bonds that run so deep in our existence, the relationship between mother and daughter is so strong and binding yet so destructive in some ways when you think you know but you don't. hat wouldn't a mother do for her child, but would that child ever really understand unless it was the same thing they had to survive?
Intriguing, suspenseful, full of secrets that are revealed in a complex puzzle and this was fascinating to read chapter after chapter! So thankful to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for giving my thoughts on this amazing book!

I do love a good thriller, filled with twists and secrets, and Pekkanen has offered them in spades with Gone Tonight.

Ruth has secrets to hide from her daughter, Katherine. And Katherine isn’t willing to sit idly by and let her mom ruin her future without some answers. But when the two of them are all they have, survival beats all the issues.

This book explores that most complex of relationships, mother and daughter. Throw in some dark secrets, a good dose of intentional miscommunication and obsession, and you get a propulsive, fast-paced read. There were a couple of moments when belief had to be suspended, but not enough to stop me flipping pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for offering an eARC, in exchange for my honest review.

I do really enjoy Sarah Pekkanen when she writes with Greer Hendricks (The Wife Between Us, The Golden Couple, You Are Not Alone), and have had middle of the road luck with her books when she has written them alone (The Ever After), so this book fit right in there with what I was expecting.

Despite not being a fan of coincidences and characters that just cannot or will not communicate (of which this book had plenty of both), the author's writing and the pace of the plot kept me reading. Psychological thrillers are right in my wheelhouse and I realize that for the most part they do require a bit of the suspension of belief and I was willing to go along for the ride, I think because I have enjoyed this author in the past. If it was a new-to-me author, I might be a little less forgiving.

I really enjoyed how this one played with the ideas of motherhood and the mother-daughter relationship. What would you do to keep your child safe? How well do you know the woman who raised you? Who can you trust?

This dual POV was a quick read and one I definitely enjoyed. The concept is fairly simple: a hardworking mother who will do anything to give her daughter a good life, and a daughter now grown up and ready to get out from under her mother’s wing. This was full of incredible storytelling and lots of twists along the way.

I always like Pekkanen’s books and recommend this one as well.

Solid 3 star popcorn thriller. I liked the alternate POVs and writing style. You do have to suspend disbelief a little bit. As an avid thriller reader, i have a problem when things are straight up too unrealistic. With that said id still recommend it. This would be a good one to listen on audio.

Dark. Twisty. Chilling. Those 3 words best describe this book. I almost feel as if there could be a sequel....

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. Sorry it took me so long to get to it!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have been reading Sarah Pekkanen for years now, and not a single book has disappointed me yet. A truly enjoyable thriller from start to finish.

This one kept me up late into the night. Ruth is an ill mother with a secret, Catherine a daughter she desperately wants to protect. This takes the reader on a wild ride like no other. The story is told in alternating voices with their own views.

Thrilling and Brilliant page turner. the will grab the reader tight on within the first pages. Very likeable, strong characters and a twist that many will not see coming.

Highly recommend for all Thriller fans

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC E-book in exchange for my honest review.

I tried reading this a few months ago and it was a DNF...for now. I'm glad I picked this back up via audio. I thought the dual POVs and the stories told within them were engaging, but it definitely is a book that requires a bit of concentration to follow along.

It is fast paced, while the characters still have positive development. There was a ton of tension between the mother-daughter pair - and the mother character just brings out so much rage while reading - and yet, you get to understand her as the story progresses.

Overall, this was a fun, fast-paced thriller that I would recommend to lovers of the genre.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I'm glad I took a chance on this book.

Sadly this was just too slow burning for me. The story felt lackluster and I wasn’t intrigued enough to power through the beginning to find out if things picked up. Thank you for the opportunity.

Single-mother Ruth (42) and her daughter Catherine (24) have always been a team. They have no contact with Ruth’s ultra-religious family who disowned her when she became pregnant as a teenager or with Catherine’s father. They’ve never even spent more than a few days apart.

Catherine, though, is about to move from their home in Pennsylvania to Baltimore for a nursing position at Johns Hopkins. Just as she is preparing to leave, Ruth is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She decides to stay and care for her mother.

Shortly, though, Catherine starts to believe her mother’s illness is an act, and she begins to investigate her mother’s past. Catherine’s questions unwitting open her and her mother to a long-simmering danger.

GONE TONIGHT, told in dual points of view, has short chapters that help maintain a fast pace. Still, it took me some time before I really got into the book. Once Ruth’s back story was revealed, though, I was highly invested and thought the plot was cleverly constructed.

In this book, the characters struggled financially, and it seemed a realistic portrayal of poverty and the difficult choices lack of resources require. The mother-daughter relationship between Ruth and Cathrine offers much to unpack: how close is too close? what’s the line between protective and stifling?

Expect a slow-burn with unreliable narrators, an exciting, jaw-dropping second act, and a touch of ambiguity in the ending.