Gone Tonight

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen
8/1/23; 352 pages
St. Martin's Press

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is a very highly recommended novel of suspense.

Catherine Sterling and her mother Ruth have always presented a united front against the world. She knows her mother has always worked hard to care for her. Now that Catherine has her nursing degree, she has accepted a job and is planning to move, but she has to put her plans on hold when Ruth begins to show symptoms of  Alzheimer’s disease, symptoms Catherine is familiar with since she currently works at a nursing home with an Alzheimer's unit.

However, Catherine makes a discovery which lead to doubts Ruth's diagnosis and perhaps everything her mother has told her about her life. At this point a cat and mouse game begins between the mother and daughter. Alternating chapters are told from Ruth and Catherine's points-of-view and they are eye-opening. Ruth has been trying to protect her daughter from the real story of her past. Catherine is trying to uncover who her mother really is.

Both women are very original, fully realized characters. Catherine's suspicions are understandable based on the information she has and readers will believe her suspicions. However, as Ruth tells her backstory all of her present actions make perfect sense and readers will quickly realize that the situation is much more complicated and potentially dangerous. The suspense increases as each woman tells us what they know while they have no clue what the other is really thinking. The pace is even at the beginning and then as more information is revealed, the tension increases as the threat is real.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.