3.5⭐
Utterly reviting!

This is my first book by Sarah Pekkanen. She has a way of building a suspenseful story by alternating between mother and daughter perspectives with a good dose of flashbacks.

Life hasn't been easy for the pair in Harrisburg, PA. But single mom Ruth Sterling and daughter Catherine are super close. At 24, Catherine landed a golden nursing opportunity in Baltimore at John Hopkins' Geriatric Department. However, her dream came crashing down when her own mother show early signs Alzheimer's. Would Catherine be able to leave her mother behind?

I was drawn to the story from the very beginning. As more secrets are revealed it was impossible for me to put this book down. Ruth has plenty of secrets and I love her flashbacks part the most. Meanwhile, Catherine is trying to piece the puzzle about her mother she thought she knew.

Gone Tonight really kept me on my toes. I wanted to know how the story unfolds and for me, this was a 4 solid star story until the last third of the book. Without any spoiler....Yes, it sort of make sense and NO, it does not. LOL. I happened to care about the third character and wish there was more.

I listened to Gone Tonight narrated by Kate Mara. As much as I like her in movies and enjoy her familiar voice, I don't think she brought anything extra to the story. It was difficult to know whose chapter it was because the narrator gave the same voice for Ruth and Catherine. As a listener, you have to make sure you don't miss the chapter heading. Absolutely, most of the time the story is a big tell of who is doing the talking but wish the narrator differentiates the characters through some voice acting.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for my ALC.

I was provided both the audio and print ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was an interesting domestic thriller. It follows mother and daughter Ruth and Catherine through their daily lives. As we get to know them it quickly becomes clear that Ruth is hiding something. Ruth has always been closed off about her past, and as Catherine is ready to spread her wings as a new college graduate and start her career as a nurse she is more curious than ever about her mom's past. What she doesn't know is that Ruth has carefully cultivated a life to protect herself and Catherine from the past that she is so desperately hiding from. She will do anything to keep Catherine close until she is 100% sure she will be safe from people and events that happened in her past. As the book unfolds we find out the lengths that Ruth is willing to go to to protect her daughter, and how far her daughter is willing to go to find the truth about her mother.

There were some situations that were a bit "unbelievable". I thought it was pretty unrealistic that Catherine wasn't able to figure out her mother's ruse a little more quickly, but overall the storyline was interesting. There were some good twists and turns, but I didn't find this to have high level of suspense. This may have some triggering content for some readers. This is an interesting story of the mother daughter relationship as well as nature vs nature.

As for the audio narration, I thought the narrator did a good job. I would have liked a bit more differentiation between Ruth's voice and Catherine's voice as the book is told from both of their perspectives. It was a bit difficult to tell which woman was at the center of the chapter with only one voice telling the story. I feel the audiobook would have benefitted from a 2nd narrator or if Mara would have been able to voice once of the characters a bit differently.

Psychological thriller meets family drama in the latest from Sarah Pekkanen entitled Gone Tonight. This one is perfect for fans of Sandie Jones or Sally Hepworth.

Gone Tonight follows the story of Catherine Sterling and her mother. We find out early that Catherine’s mother, Ruth, is demonstrating signs of early-onset dementia. Through Ruth’s narration, we quickly discover that the suspected dementia may be a ruse. Determining Ruth’s motivation and uncovering her backstory is only part of what makes the plot so compelling. There are so many layers of suspense to the story, from Ruth’s deceit to Catherine’s newfound distrust of her mother, and each chapter seems to bring new questions that keep the momentum moving at a quick clip.

I prefer more than one narrator when the story is written from varied perspectives. With this in mind, I was initially nervous I’d have trouble following along to the audiobook with one narrator and a dual perspective storyline. In the end, I was worried for nothing because Kate Mara narrated in a way that was engaging and easy to follow.

For that reason, I easily listened to this one in two days. I couldn’t stop searching for clues on how the story would unfold. The fast pacing, coupled with a unique mother-daughter relationship, has me recommending this to anyone who enjoys suspenseful family dramas. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the DRC.

𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦!

I love Sarah’s books and I was so excited for this new release, it was so good.
A wild domestic thriller, with lots of family drama, secrets and deception that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this gifted copy.

𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 by Sarah Pekkanen released yesterday August 1, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

How well do we know our parents? Thats the question thats asked a lot in this story.

It starts as any other mystery/ Thriller for me it was a slow start to get to the auction of the story by the time we got to the mid/end. then it really ramped up. And it makes you think what lengths you would go to protect yourself and the ones you love.

If you like a mystery that your trying to solve with the characters of the book. this is a good read for you.

It is told in Duel POV. My only complaint from the narration was I sometimes couldn't tell whos character they were telling from she didn't change her voice between them.

This is my 1st book by this author and I would read from her again.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for this audio-arc in exchange for my honest review

A solid thriller.

A captivating story about the lengths a mother is willing to go to protect her only daughter. Even if it means living a lie.

Highly recommend!

***Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pekkanen, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Book Title: Gone Tonight
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Release Day: August 1, 2023
Format: Audio Book
Rating: Storyline 4.5⭐️ Narration 4⭐️

Synopsis: 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 completely not what I was expecting, and it was much slower paced than I was expecting. However, once it picked up, it was worth the wait, and I was so wrapped up in this that I couldn't stop listening! I will say the narration by the famous actress Kate Mara threw me off a tad. This is just because her voice to me is so known from her notable acting roles. I was about 30% in before I could completely take her voice in as the female characters in this book. I will say this was told in two pov, mother and daughter. I truly loved the descriptiveness in the writing and was completely invested in what would happen to this mother daughter relationship. This is what I label a domestic thriller with family drama, and it did not disappoint.

Thank you to MacmillanAudio and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy for my honest review.

**4.5-stars rounded up**

Gone Tonight is the latest solo-release from beloved Thriller author, Sarah Pekkanen. I have had this one on my radar for a long, long time and she did not disappoint. I listened to the audiobook and was so impressed with how it was able to hook me from the very start. I was intrigued, I was invested, I wasn't able to put it down!!

In this story we're following a mother and daughter, Ruth and Catherine, respectively. Catherine feels like she knows her mother almost as well as she knows herself. It's always been just the two of them against the world.

Ruth loves her daughter Catherine with her whole heart and would do anything for her. Ruth was young when she got pregnant, and she gave up a lot for Catherine, but it was worth it. After all, a mother's life is full of sacrifice.

As Catherine has aged, she has grown strong, smart and independent, just like her mother taught her. She's now ready to spread her wings, move to a new city and get her first career-focused job. It seems like everything is going her way, until it's not.

Secretly, Ruth isn't ready for Catherine to be moving on. She's willing to do what she has to in order to keep her daughter close to her. She knows it's deceptive, but she also knows it's for Catherine's own good. In her efforts to keep Catherine with her, Ruth has inadvertently opened herself up to her daughter's scrutiny for the first time.

Ruth has always been secretive about her past. Catherine knows nothing about Ruth's life before her, or even her own extended family members. Ruth's recent behavior causes Catherine to dig, discovering she may not know her mom so well after all.

Y'all, I loved this! As mentioned above, I was hooked into this one from the start. I thought the plot was well-crafted by Pekkanen, keeping the Reader invested and on the edge of their seats.

I loved the character work. The way the truth of Ruth's past was revealed was completely enticing. We do get Ruth's past perspective to help that unfold and I was just as interested in those past sections as I was with the present perspectives.

I also really enjoyed being in the minds of both of these women, as they grappled with their present circumstances and the reality that they may not know everything about the one closest to them. The way it was written you feel like you're a fly on the wall, possibly with a piece of buttered popcorn, just watching all the drama unfold. It's juicy and captivating.

In short, I love a book that captures my attention enough that I can read it in a day. That's exactly what this one did. I had such a fun experience with this one and would definitely recommend it to other Thriller fans, or people who enjoy reading about complicated family dynamics. If you end up enjoying this one half as much as I did, you're bound to have a good time.

Thank you so, so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. In my opinion, Pekkanen nailed this one. She should be proud!!

Ooh, this one was twisty. I liked the alternating points of view of the two main characters. Catherine and Ruth have a messed up relationship, as the reader you vacillate between liking and not liking Ruth as more is revealed about her past. I loved that the ending leaves you wondering if you could see these characters again in a future novel or maybe you won't.

Kata Mara did a good job narrating the novel, I will look for more books narrated by Kate in the future.

This was quite the suspenseful ride! I really enjoy the way that the story unraveled at a steady pace. The lies and drama that surround our main character are pretty crazy and the trip to the climax is great. Once I started, I didn’t stop and listened to this audiobook in one day.

I received the audio through NetGalley and I really enjoyed the narrator as well. I do wish that since we had POVs from both the mother and daughter that we would have gotten two narrators to go along with it, but that’s really my only audiobook complaint. I definitely prefer the POVs to have their own narrator.

As for the story, I did find it to be well paced and included plenty of drama and suspense to keep the readers attention. On top of that, it’s a different and interesting story and I wanted to know what happened next. I didn’t even try to predict anything - I found myself just wanting to enjoy the ride. I love that.

Thank you to #stmartinspress for my #gifted copy! This book was published August 1. The audiobook is narrated by a single narrator, Kate Mara, and is fine as far as audiobooks go but I think it would have benefited having a second narrator to differentiate the two women.

The story is told from the POVs of daughter Catherine and her mother Ruth in the present day along with journal entries from Ruth's past. Catherine is finishing up nursing school and looking to move away to her new job. Ruth starts exhibiting signs of early Alzheimer's and Catherine feels she must change her plans to take care of her mom.

There are some interesting twists in here and some parts of the story feel predictable but this is a solid mystery! The pacing is a slow burn - the first half feels more like contemporary fiction and the second half builds up the suspense. Recommend if you enjoy mother / daughter stories and want to untangle both of their secrets and lies. I was quite invested in both women and both timelines but you do have to suspend reality to make some of the jumps that happen in here.

I generally shy away from novels that revolve around Alzheimer's, but I'm glad I didn't skip this one. Kate Mara's narration was excellent and I couldn't wait to find out what all the secrets were. Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!
So this one brought me to tears multiple times…
If you know someone with Alzheimer’s or Dementia…this will probably hit home for you too! ( Not to mention that I’m also a nurse…)

Catherine Sterling is a 24 year old who recently graduated at the top of her Nursing Class. She applied to and was accepted for a position at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Geriatrics Unit…this is her dream come true!
She currently works for Sunrise Assisted Living in the Memory Care Unit…and her patients, staff and bosses all love her and will be sad to see her go.

Ruth Sterling is Catherine’s mother. She and Catherine have been together since the beginning. Ruth has and always will protect her daughter. She raised her as a single mother when she got pregnant as a teenager and was thrown out of her home. She is very protective of Catherine.

In the last month or so, Catherine notices that Ruth is starting to forget things…misplace things…and she even got lost coming home from a local store. Catherine is worried and starts a journal documenting what’s going on with her Mom. They go to see a specialist and her worst fears come true. It looks like Ruth has the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. But she doesn’t want anyone to know…and she doesn’t want any treatment.

This. Changes. Everything!!!

How can Catherine leave to take this new job hundreds of miles away?

Told from two (or more) different POV’s…the story unfolds (unravels) in a way that I never expected…
Secrets were kept. Promises made. A sketchy past is revealed…and nothing seems to be what it is supposed to be!!
Some amazing twists and turns reveal totally unexpected things that will have you hanging on to every word.
Beautifully done!
5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC of the audiobook!

Nice to see Sarah Pekkanen do her own book again after co-writing with another author.

One thing that was quite different was, there are no “rich people and opulent things” around going on in this book. If you have read any of the GH/SP co writing, their books are full of rich people sh!t that seems too pretentious sounding sometimes.

Anyhow…….
The story is about a mother (Ruth) and daughter (Catherine) who are always on the run. Now that Catherine is older, she wants to put pieces together why she and her mother always change their places to live. Her unfolding of secrets are going to cost them their safety.

Multiple POVs
- Quite slow at first but kept up with the pacing almost at the end.

not really thrilling but thrilling enough to keep me intrigued.

Bring on all the feelings - heartbroken, shattered, stunned, disbelief, confusion and more - all before I had listened to the first third of the book. Oh my! This story is told in alternating POV between Ruth and her daughter Catherine. The plot twist is quite creative and I did not see it coming. After this revelation both characters behave and move in surprising ways, which kept me on my toes and I was unable to predict how the story would progress. At times I was team Catherine, other times I was team Ruth, while simultaneously wanting them to work as a team and be strong together. The ending of the book left me with questions to ponder, which in this case worked. I have a feeling I will be thinking about this book for a while.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio book in exchange for my honest review.

While I appreciated the development of the characters in the storyline, it was really had to fathom the skill set required for the 17 year old pregnant girl depicted here. There were numerous gaps that I wanted filled to explain the progress of her life.
The story is delivered by two voices: a mother and daughter with flashbacks that provides the reader with how their two lives have unraveled.
A mother’s love is the emotion that this book evolves around, and what she will do to keep her daughter safe and invisible. As in real life, the past is ultimately revealed and in this case with events that worry both parties and their future relationship.
If the reader hadn’t announced who the main speaker was in each chapter I would not have known, as I didn’t hear an audible alteration of her voice.
The reader will appreciate the continued theme of the story even though there’s a new beginning for both parties that should set their orbits in different directions.

"My mother seems to have materialized at 18 when she had me. It's as if we were both born at the same time."

Whew! Gone Tonight by psychological thriller author Sarah Pekkanen is at times an exhausting mother daughter trauma...I mean drama fueled dual first person POV where no one is telling the truth to each other.

Luckily Ruth, the mother, and Catherine, her daughter, tell us what is really going on, at least in their own minds. To Catherine her mom is a hardworking single mom who only wants the best for her. To Ruth her daughter is a good girl who would never leave her...right? She can't leave! There's real danger out there; in fact it's getting close to them everyday!

Just as Catherine is leaving the state to advance her career Ruth shows signs of dementia and reveals that her own mother died from early on set Alzheimer's Disease. Catherine can't leave now.

You think you know what's going on and you're probably right BUT the reasons are very different than you might think; at least for me. I had a different scenario of where things were heading and was surprised by the turn it took and how much it changed my feelings about the very complicated Ruth.

Another pleasant surprise was the incomparable actress Kate Mara narrating with such gravitas that it forces you to pay serious attention to Ruth's motives. After all, anyone who plays Springsteen's Thunder Road to relax and says, "What kind of monster doesn't like Springsteen?" can't be all bad.

There's also an important message about how easy it is for girls to disappear. We learn quickly to make ourselves small to avoid sexual and familial abusers but sadly it's usually after the abuse that we are not seen and can be gone tonight.

I received a free copy of this book/ audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Really good!!! I love how the mystery slowly unfolded and throughout the book you learned more of the truth. The ending was great as well. Kate Mara was an excellent narrator; however, I think it would have been easier to follow along with the audiobook if there had been different narrators for Ruth and Catherine.

I wanted to like this one more, but I never fully got into this book. It was too much of a slow burn for what I needed. The relationship between Catherine and her mother Ruth, who has Alzheimer’s, was an odd dysfunctional relationship to say the least. Ruth has secrets that she wants to be kept hidden from her daughter. In listening to the audiobook, I became confused if I was in the present time or the past. I did enjoy both POVs. This story was about deception, betrayal, relationships, love and how well do you really know someone.

I started this on audio but had to set it aside to wait for my physical copy to arrive. While I think Kate Mara is an excellent actress, as a narrator she didn’t work for me at all. Her performance was very monotone with no differentiation between the two POV’s, and I found myself zoning out and having to re-listen to sections. The physical book was much easier to get into, but it is a very slow burn plot for the first half of the book. The first major reveal definitely took me by surprise, but once you get some of the background it is fairly easy to predict where the story will go. I didn’t love either character but was still invested in finding out how it would end. I did like this one, but it isn’t my favorite by the author.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the ALC and finished copy!