Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Gone Tonight

I was so excited to picked this up because of how much I enjoyed Sarah Pekkanen's work with Greer Hendricks.
"Gone Tonight" is a mystery thriller that explores a mother daughter relationship. Catherine Sterling has always had a very close relationship with her mother, but now that Catherine wants to forge her own path, her mother does not seem supportive. Ruth Sterling has shielded Catherine from her past, but now that Catherine is older, she is asking questions Ruth does not want to answer.
I was SO disappointed with this story. This mystery felt very mediocre, and it felt like it relied way too much on convenience, rather than well thought out plot. Catherine was able to unearth things about her mother so quickly because there here literal crumbs presented to her in such an easy way. If she could so easily figure out where her mother came from, wouldn't she have figured at least something out sooner?
Catherine was also just not an interesting character to read from. She never questioned or doubted her mother, and she just always accepted Ruth's word as law. I think this is a pretty "normal" train of thought for a child, but Catherine is in her 20's now and Ruth's behavior warrants some questions.
Ruth's chapters were the most interesting to read about, especially the flashbacks to her childhood and why she has built the life she has for herself and Catherine.
The mystery of this story and the "twists" were kind of easy to anticipate and I did not think they were done in an interesting or fresh way. All of the characters just seemed to easily accept everything any other character told them. It was way too easy for Catherine and Ruth to get what they needed, and it shattered the thrilling feeling at times.
I have not written off reading from Sarah Pekkanen in the future, but I am optimistically cautious about what I will pick up.

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readers_sea's review

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

full vlog & thoughts here: https://youtu.be/aU1dMqwHOO4?si=pp2KfInddFJ0_4we

I fully expected to LOVE this book especially since I love the author duo.

This book had a great premise and setup. I was really loving it when it started and was so excited to see where it was going to go. In the end, I felt the book revealed too much too soon and that made the ending drag. Nothing groundbreaking and a bit predictable for me, but not the worst in my opinion.

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theinstabookworm's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This story wasn't at all what I thought it would be, in a good way. I've read so many thrillers and mysteries where one person is manipulative for their own gain and I definitely got those vibes from reading the synopsis, but I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't that at all. While there was deception, there was a valid explanation for it which the reader learns throughout the book. I also loved that the characters were younger. I feel like a lot of MCs in mysteries and thrillers are at least in their mid-30s and it was refreshing to have perspectives from one MC in her mid-20s and another in her early 40s (we get alternating POVs in every chapter).

I liked that this book mentioned early on-set Alzheimer's because I feel like it's not talked about a lot. The fact that both mom and daughter are young lends a fresh perspective on the condition.

This is definitely a slow-burn domestic mystery and not a thriller, which is something to know going in. Also, can we stop using italics for long blocks of text? It hurts my eyes. 😵‍💫🤪

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jj_tj's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bekah1210's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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lcg527's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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eemillers15's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars!! I've loved Sarah Pekkanen's books that she wrote with Greer Hendrix. This was my first solo book by her, and YES YES YES! I cannot wait to read more! This was thrilling, mysterious, and nerve-racking. So good!!!

Catherine is ready to begin her life as a nurse at John's Hopkins Hospital. Her plans are derailed, however, when her mom, Ruth, starts to exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Catherine decides that she needs to stay close to her mom in order to spend as much time with her as possible before the disease takes her mother's mind. However, she starts to notice that her mother is also exhibiting other odd symptoms and seemingly only when she's around Catherine. Slowly Catherine realizes that she may not know her mother as well as she thinks and starts to peel back her mother's shady past, which proves to be darker than Catherine could imagine.

My only reason for not giving this 5 stars is that the end felt a little anti-climatic to me. I was gripped from the beginning and loved the entire story, but the ending was just little flat.

However, I loved the dual POVs told from both Ruth and Catherine's points of view. I think it helped get the full spectrum of the story that Sarah was trying to tell. There was good talk of Alzheimer's disease, as well as other mental health problems that I don't think are mentioned enough (I don't want to mention specifics as it may be spoilers).

There were enough twists to keep you guessing as to what would happen next with this mother/daughter duo. I also loved the underlying nature vs. nurture discussion. Does our biology really shape who we become or can outside circumstance change our future?

Thank you thank you thank you to #Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this book! All opinions are my own!!!

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pomoevareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Twenty-four year old Catherine Sterling has only known life with an overprotective mother. They don’t have any other family and share an apartment and car and each other’s phone locations. They have moved several times but this will be the first time that they will live separately as Catherine has taken a job as a nurse at a hospital in another city. All that is threatened when Catherine starts noticing some strange behaviours from her mother that may result in Catherine not taking her new job. From Ruth’s perspective, she will do anything to protect her daughter including keeping her as close as possible. Ruth has secrets that are threatening to cause harm to her and Catherine and decides to keep a journal to pass on to her daughter, should anything go awry.

As a fan of short chapters, mother/daughter stories and alternating POVs, I was hooked. I binged the last 50% of this book and loved all the crumbs dropped along the way. It was a slower burn for the first half and I have read comments from reviewers saying this wasn’t for them but I didn’t mind it one bit. I was invested in the storyline, the deception and discoveries, the suspenseful jaw drop moments and in the journal entries.

I was in the mood to read escapism and didn’t care about believability. So if you don’t mind suspending belief and are looking for a story to keep you on your toes, then pick up Gone Tonight by @sarahpekkanen when it comes out August 1st.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

As always, potential triggers will be shared to my StoryGraph review (also Pomoevareads)

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