3.5 stars, rounded up

I really liked this fast-paced story about Catherine who is a nurse at an elderly home and her mother, Ruth. They have been together all their lives and have a very close dependable relationship. Until things start to unravel. Catherine catches her mother in one lie, and then another, until she is not sure she can believe anything her mom says and their paths start forking.

This story goes back and forth between the present time and Ruth's diary entires about her past. While I liked the diary entries, it felt a bit like telling more than showing so made those parts of the story feel like I was reading someone's synopsis of a book.

Unlike so many mystery books, this one didn't have any dislikable characters and I found myself rooting both for the mom and the daughter. I read this one in a single sitting and I am sure you will, too.

With gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth and Catherine only have each other. Catherine has graduated from Nursing school and works at a nursing home - ready to move and work in a hospital. It is then she discovers her mother is showing signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease. How can Catherine leave her mother now? This really tugged at my heartstrings as my own mother suffers from the same disease and is in a nursing home. But that is only a part of the story. Seems that Ruth might not be as bad as Catherine thought. As she starts to dig into her mother's life, there are somethings even more frightening than a memory that is fading--somethings that should stay hidden. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

This novel’s plot was so incredibly interesting to me. Half mother/daughter drama, half tense thriller- it kept me turning the pages at warp speed. Each character was so expertly written with so many layers. It kept me guessing and wanting more!

I could not put this book down, which is just the kind of book I needed when I picked up Gone Tonight. This is probably the best Sarah Pekkanen book I have read thus far. The story is told by the Ruth and her daughter Catherine - who have been living, just the two of them, for all of Catherine's life. However, this is about to change, as Catherine has completed her nursing program and has secured a job at John's Hopkins. Devastating news has her rethinking this decision, and she may be staying with Mom after all. However, nothing is as it seems in this book. One of the amazing things about this book is that you truly have no idea about what is coming. There is one story that you are 100% into and then in quick succession twists and turns are thrown in, in a truly masterful way. 100% recommend this book to everyone who likes a good psychological thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gone Tonight, Sarah PekkanenThank you Netgalley for the early copy of this book!Ruth and Catherine are mother and daughter who truly only have each other. Catherine is finishing up nursing school, ready to head out on her own, but when Ruth starts showing signs of early Alzheimer's, Catherine's plans. The more Catherine starts looking into not only her mother's symptoms but also her past, the more things are just not adding up and making sense. The book is told from both points of view and also past and present. This is really your typical thriller read and while I enjoyed the characters and the storyline, I thought it was a little far-fetched and really just unbelievable at times.

This book begins with Catherine's mother Ruth being diagnosed with early onset dementia. Emotions are raw as the implications of this diagnoses are fully realized, and Catherine realizes she may need to change some upcoming life plans. At this point in the book (not having read any summary before starting reading), I thought this was going to be a deeply emotion and heartwarming mother/daughter story. But THEN - little clues start to appear, and Catherine discovers that her mother may not be exactly who she has always thought she would. Catherine wants to learn more about Ruth's past, but Ruth wants to protect her from what she doesn't know. The book quickly develops into a high pace thriller as history is revealed and real danger is realized.
This book had my heart racing, and I couldn't put it down until I had reached the end!

I just got done reading Gone Tonight, and all I can say is WOW! Sarah Pekkanen has always been one of my favorite authors, but after reading this, she IS my favorite! I loved everything about this book; everything from the characters to the shocking ending! Gone Tonight deserves to be on all the bestsellers lists and I will be telling everyone to grab a copy!

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen
This book moved along at a good pace and definitely kept me interested in the story. Well written and well fleshed out characters. You won't be disappointed, I will be reading this authors books as fast as they are released! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book and leave my opinion.

Gone Tonight will grip you with the plot. As the book progressed, it was gathering more steam and moving faster and faster with the many unexpected surprises and twists. After finishing Gone Tonight, you'll sit back and breathe a "Wow! What a book!" Thank you to NetGalley.

Not me picking this to read over all my other TBR even though it doesn't come out until August 💀 I simply wasn't going to wait that long after the book appeared on my Kindle.

This is a dual POV between mother and daughter, told in alternating chapters. Catherine believes she knows her mother, and Ruth has spent her entire adult life ready to run at a moment's notice. I was kept guessing the entire story, and I LOVED the pacing of the story - it was never too much or too many reveals, but just enough to keep everything moving. Big, big fan of this one!

This book was a crazy ride. The chapters go back and forth between the mom and daughter characters. The mom gives a bit of backstory as the book progresses. I definitely saw the ending coming but at least it took a while to totally figure out all the details. I didn't want to stop reading, although it did get a little tedious in the middle section. I just wanted to be done and know what happened.

Just when I think I have read every thriller trope under the sun, Sarah Pekkanen comes with us with this gripping solo debut! I went into this completely blind and the first 5% had to look the book up on GR to see what the genre was, which it indeed said mystery/thriller. I can now see why the beginning started as it did as it laid the premise perfectly for us. I kept on and it very quickly switched to be what would clearly be a fantastic wild ride. The mother daughter codependency was so well written, as well as the flashback journal that Ruth kept. I don't usually get the on the edge of my seat feeling as early on as this did, but I was basically twitching my toes and biting my nails for the last 40%. This read like a Karin Slaughter book who is one of the most phenomenal writers I have read. There were some miscommunications that I didn't love but unlike in a romance, I think they were very realistic in this story especially with the mother/daughter dynamic. The ending was so well crafted I was left thinking about it long after finishing the book, and dare I say we need a sequel asap! Pretty girls meets Gilmore Girls with a touch of Where the Heart Is. That's all I will say. Request this on Netgalley, hit up the publisher, pre-order this, because I can already see this as being one of my top thrillers of the year already! I finished this in under 24 hours and almost wished I had savored it longer.

thank you netgalley for the advanced readers copy! I've loved this author so i was hoping this would be a good one! it really hooked me in about halfway through and i couldn't put it down! I was not expecting that ending either! great read!

From the publisher- "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.

No one can know Ruth's history. There is a reason why Ruth kept them moving every few years, and why she was ready--in a moment's notice--to be gone in the night.

But danger is closing in. Is it coming from the outside, from Ruth's past? Is Ruth reaching a breaking point? Or is the danger coming from the darkness that may live in Catherine, herself?"

I have to preface this review by stating that Sarah Pekkanen is one of my FAVORITE authors right now. She tells an amazing story with well developed characters and immersive settings. I am a massive fan and when I was offered the opportunity to read and review her newest novel, I dropped everything and started reading. Guys- I was NOT disappointed. Gone Tonight shifts between the points of view of both Catherine and her mother, Ruth. The beginning made me cry, the middle made me angry, and the ending made me want to do a fist pump and send a bouquet of flowers to both Ruth and Catherine. I was INVESTED. I finished this novel in one sitting.

With that being said, Gone Tonight was slightly reminiscent of Karin Slaughter's Pieces of You, and I think it's probable that Sarah read it and developed another plot line that ran in a slightly parallel direction. However, this does not affect the quality of this book in the least. I was entertained the entire time I was reading and I found that I was hopeful that things would turn out well for both main characters in the end. This is a must-read.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this title, along with NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to more from this amazing author!

Catherine is a nurse working with patients who have dementia. When her mother Ruth starts forgetting things and losing her way home, Catherine suspects early onset Alzheimers and pressures Ruth to see a neurologist. But as Catherine digs deeper into her mother's past, she wonders what is really going on. Is she really suffering from Alzheimer’s or is it something worse?

As the story unravels and the mother/daughter relationship evolves, you learn more about Ruth’s past and realize she'll do whatever she can to keep Catherine safe. Lots of twists and scary scenes that keep you wanting more.

Gone Tonight, a new thriller by Sarah Pekkanen, is the story of a mother and daughter, and all their secrets. Catherine and her mom, Ruth, don’t have any relatives because Ruth got pregnant with Catherine as a teenager, and none of her religious family wanted anything to do with her. So they’re very close, and Catherine thinks she knows everything about her mother. But as the story unfolds, Ruth’s complicated secret history comes out. I knew I’d like this one because I loved both An Anonymous Girl and You Are Not Alone, both by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

Gone Tonight is told in alternating chapters, focusing on Catherine and then Ruth. I don’t always love the dual-narrator in thrillers. (Wait, is that 100% true? Do I dislike dual-narratives in thrillers, or do I just hate when the two stories lead to the underwhelming reveal that “Liz” in one story has been going by “Betsy” in the other one? Ugh, no.) But the format worked for me here, partly because both Catherine and Ruth’s stories are detailed and connected, and partly because it’s not played for dramatic cliffhangers at the end of every single chapter. Also, the story starts with a mother-daughter drama, so by the time our characters were in any danger, I was already invested.

I enjoyed how Ruth’s back story came out over the course of the book– Sarah Pekkanen is a master of misdirections and careful clues. Those little discrepancies that tip Catherine off that her mother’s story might not be fully accurate! So as I read, I constantly felt like I was getting hints and I was trying to piece together what had happened, which is the best feeling in a thriller.

Without revealing too much, I have to say that I just loved Ruth’s careful escape plans. I sometimes read thrillers and mentally scream NO! Turn off your phone! or NO! Everyone can see your license plate! or whatever. But Ruth’s escape plans were solid. She bought a burner phone ahead of time, had her fake IDs read to go, and readers can really see how long she’s been watchful and ready to run. Good planning, Ruth. I liked reading a thriller about a character who made a lot of smart decisions! And Catherine also knew she was in a domestic suspense, and was equally sneaky and smart. This makes great cat-and-mouse (er, cat-and-other-cat?) tension.

There’s a definite blood warning, but it’s not really gross. There’s the horror and guilt of a murder happening, and then all the lies around it, the book has a lot of dark and tense moments, but not really a gross scene.

You know when you are reading a book and you can’t wait to have free time to get back to it? This is one of those books. Pekkanen has the ability to create multilayered characters that are both unreliable narrators yet sympathetic at the same time.
GONE TONIGHT has two strong female characters in the mother-daughter team of Ruth and Catherine Sterling. At first glance Ruth seems to be an overbearing, controlling parent, while Catherine is a wishy-washy daughter, content with drifting through life. But there is so much more behind this curtain! Catherine is ready to take a new job in another state, far away from Ruth and her constant scrutiny. When Ruth learns about Catherine’s plan, she creates a diabolical and twisted plan to keep her daughter near and dear. And then their lives begin to unravel.
I hated Ruth. Such a helicopter parent! And I also wished Catherine was stronger. Then, as the pages turned, I started to understand Ruth and disliked her less. Then, it seemed as if Catherine had found her inner strength and was going to leave her mother behind. Ok, the plot is all tied up neatly.
Nope.
The author adds some mind-blowing twists to the mix and wham! everything goes sideways and you can’t stop reading. GONE TONIGHT is psychological suspense at its best. I had no idea who to trust or who to believe. At a certain part of the book, I just kept murmuring “wow” as the plot took hairpin turns and twists yet stayed on the rails. A few more unreliable narrators got added and the conflict took a violent turn. Just when I thought the author couldn’t wring out another drop of crazy, another twist sent everything in yet another direction.
Yes, this story is full of suspense. But I also need to mention that the dialogue is on point. Ruth and Catherine seem completely believable as they alternately snipe at each other, then provide loving support. I also liked that each chapter was told from the POV of one of the characters. It is sometimes awkward to get into a rhythm when POVs are alternating, but once you become immersed, it flows. Using this style helped me get into the minds of each woman, giving me another layer of understanding of their “why”. (Even if that “why” is kind of unhinged.)
If you love psychological suspense, action, and well-written, opinionated female characters, you will adore GONE TONIGHT. There is so much more I would like to say about this book, but it can’t be done without including spoilers. Pekkanen is at the top of her diabolical game here – do not pass this one by.

Ruth and Catherine are mother and daughter. They are incredibly close. Catherine is gearing up to move away from home for a new job but decided to stay put when Ruth starts to develop some strange symptoms.

Told from alternating POVs Gone Tonight grabs you from the get go and keeps you up all night to find out what happens. It turns out Ruth has many secrets and as Catherine struggles as she starts to unravel the layers.

Sarah Pekkanen's books are always a home run for me - especially Gone Tonight! Her stories have great characters, are well developed and truly suck you in from start to finish. I highly recommend her books for anyone who likes a fast paced, can't put it down read.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced copy of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen, in exchange for an honest review. This one is a must read!

I’m truly enjoyed this book! The dynamic between mother and daughter including a very big secret made a great premise for the book.

Catherine discovers her mom Ruth is hiding something. She could never guess just how big the secret really is, and how it will continue to affect them both.

5 stars!

Catherine and her mother Ruth are a close unit and always have been content with their rather insular life. Until Catherine plans a major move and their relationship begins to strain under the weight of unspoken constraints. Suddenly, Catherine begins to doubt her upbringing and Ruth deals with the unbearable secret in her teenage years that is again threatening to break lose. This is a thriller that builds and builds until you can’t put it down, the reader just has to know what really happened to bring both women to this point and can their relationship survive and we realize we need to consider whether they themselves will survive. Excellent read to start off the year.