Book Review: Gone Tonight | Sarah Pekkanen

Sarah Pekkanen writes a great suspenseful thriller, whether writing with the incredible Greer Hendricks or solo. I find that the books written with Hendricks are more twist-y psychological thrillers with true devious characters and plots. Pekkanen’s solo works tend to be more domestic suspense in tone and character-driven.

In her latest novel Gone Tonight, Sarah Pekkanen tells the story of a mother and daughter duo who begin to crack when the mother’s past threatens to come back.

About the Book | Gone Tonight

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. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review | Gone Tonight

I hate when I have to make this choice (because it means I can’t gush about all of the things I want to about a book), but I want to preface my review by saying if you are a reader comfortable going into a book blind, this is a great book to take that strategy with. However, I do feel like there are some things I can discuss without entering spoiler territory.

Gone Tonight is a slow burn, character-driven thriller that is not light on twists and turns. Ruth got pregnant with her daughter Catherine as a teenager, and was turned away by her religious family. At least, that’s what Catherine was told. Catherine has grown up her whole life surrounded by her mother’s love, and experiencing the closeness of a mother-daughter relationship that occurs in those special circumstances where it is just the two of them.

Just as Catherine is preparing to leave home for a new career, Ruth starts to experience symptoms of a degenerative memory condition that trouble Catherine, who works in a memory unit assisting patients as her career. Catherine is worried about her mother, and delays her plans to move away so she can care for her mother. But soon it becomes clear to Catherine that her mother may be faking the condition.

As Catherine struggles to understand what is really going on with her mother, she begins to piece together clues from their past as to who her father may be. Her mother has done a good job protecting them both, but with the veil lifted Catherine begins to see pieces of the puzzle that she hadn’t connected before. Who is her mother really, and who is she running from? Catherine races to put the pieces together, but she doesn’t know that someone else from her mother’s past may find them first.

Told in alternating POV, Gone Tonight is gripping from start to finish. This is a novel about secrets, deception, and deeply buried trauma that you can never truly outrun. While Catherine seeks to understand the lies her mother has told her and parse out the truth among them, Ruth’s story comes out through diary entries written to one day explain to her daughter who she really is and why they are so isolated.

Ruth’s story captivated me, as did Catherine’s search for answers. I was impressed by the skill and intellect both women show—one to cover her tracks and the other to uncover them. Who will be faster and what will the consequences be? That is the question that looms over the book.

As the story progresses, the tension increases at such a slow and steady pace that I felt like the frog in a pot of water, not realizing it was set to boil. By the time the book reaches the big reveal and fall out, I was in a chokehold by this story. Nothing about the story of these two women is simple or straight forward. Twists and turns kept me engaged as each new breadcrumb led to more insight into what was truly going on.

An absolutely gripping novel of psychological suspense!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author | Sarah Pekkanen

​In her early 20s, Sarah Pekkanen begins work as a journalist, covering Capitol Hill. Sarah is assigned to cover the White House Correspondents Dinner and ride in the Presidential motorcade. Sarah convinces a White House aide to let her stick her head out of the moonroof during the ride and wave to onlookers. Later, her triumph is tempered by the fact that bouncers will not allow her into the Vanity Fair after-party. Sarah attempts entry three times in case the bouncers were just kidding.

Sarah also conducts an 18-month long investigation into the corrupt and prejudicial practices of a U.S. Congresswoman, resulting in concurrent investigations by the House Ethics Committee, The Justice Department, and the Federal Election Commission. 

Sarah takes a job writing features for the Baltimore Sun. She specializes in crafting lengthy Sunday narratives, bringing a unique, emotion-packed storytelling approach to major news events. She is awarded a Dateline award for feature writing for her article in the Washingtonian Magazine titled “Saving Dorothy,” about a U.S. Congressman and his wife’s incredible battle to find a cure for their young daughter’s cancer.  

Having left her journalism job to chase around after her three active sons, Sarah begins work on a novel every chance she gets – scribbling sentences in car-pool lines, on the sidelines of soccer practice, and in the rare moments when her kids sleep.

Sarah’s first novel, titled The Opposite of Me, is sold to Simon & Schuster (oh, if only it were that easy – but Sarah is prohibiting any mention of the times she nearly hurled her computer across the room in frustration or wrote entire chapters that were far inferior to those in Miscellaneous Tales and Poems). People magazine hails Sarah’s debut as “engaging, fresh… with lovable characters.”

Sarah’s subsequent novels – praised as “chick lit with grit” – are Skipping a Beat, These Girls, The Best of Us, Catching Air, Things You Won’t Say, The Perfect Neighbors and The Ever After. Rights to Sarah’s books are sold in China, Australia, Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland, Canada, Russia and Spain and her novels become international bestsellers.

Sarah and her former editor – and by now good friend – Greer Hendricks team up to write four New York Times bestselling psychological thrillers: The Wife Between Us, An Anonymous Girl, You Are Not Alone, and The Golden Couple. All are published by St. Martin’s Press under the helm of publisher Jennifer Enderlin, and all have been optioned for film or television, with Sarah and Greer penning the screenplay for The Wife Between Us for Amblin Entertainment.

Other than creating pulse-pounding novels, Sarah’s passion is volunteer work with rescue animals. She serves as the U.S. Ambassador for RRSAIndia, a sanctuary for injured and abused street dogs in Anand, India. Sarah is also the founder of a non-profit called India Street Paws, Inc. And every Sunday afternoon, Sarah volunteers for Lifeline horse rescue, mucking out stalls and helping traumatized horses learn to trust humans again.  

As always, Sarah is working on her next book. You can usually find her pacing, muttering to herself,  and writing down ideas on old receipts or in the steam on the mirror when inspiration hits while she is in the shower. Please connect with her on Instagram and FB, where she loves to talk about writing, the publishing process, book recommendations, and her neurotic rescue dog.  Though not in that order (the dog wants you to know).