Description:
Twelve hours earlier, she was...
Hopeful.
Excited.
Safe.
Now she's gone.
Review: 5 Stars
What a book! A game of cat and mouse brilliantly written. Full of suspense and twists. The narration is well paced and you truly can’t pick sides in this book. You can’t be sure who to trust and can’t identify who is lying. This is a must read and a book that I’d pre-order in a heartbeat.
The description gives away precious little. The book is about Laura who returns to her home town after many year, goes on a date and disappears. Her sister Rosie starts looking for her with the help of her husband Joe and childhood friend Gabe. We also know that Laura has a murky past where her teenage boyfriend was murdered and people in her hometown believed she was the murderer.
The story is told in 3 different time periods, starting 3 months before, the day of the date and present day. Each is interesting enough that when you move between the times you want to keep reading since each of them has something interesting to offer. The suspense keeps you on edge and the heavy dose of psychology only adds to the myriad insights in to the mind of Laura. Then book is a taut dark thriller and at times it makes breathing physically difficult! Both sisters are shown battling with themselves and the intensity of their emotions is disturbing to say the least.
The twists are surprising and hard to guess I think at some point in the book I just didn’t want to try and guess anymore because I felt like no matter what I guessed I’d be wrong. The writing is powerful, that the characters are flawed yet relatable adds a lot of credibility to Wendy Walker. My only complaint is that the book has a bit of a slow start. But you can’t escape it. If you decide to DNF it and move on, chances are you won’t be able to. The plot, the dialogue, and the characters will keep playing on your mind and you will rush back to this book.
Ideally you want to read this book in one long session because it’s going to occupy your mind whether you are reading it or not.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Pres for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley, #TheNightBefore
