A Today Show and New York Post Summer Reads Selection! First dates can be murder. “Ferociously smart.” –AJ Finn “Riveting.” –Riley Sager “Addictive.” –Liv Constantine “Wonderfully tense.” –Aimee Molloy “Irresistible.” –Mary Kubica “Impossible to put down.” –Megan Miranda Riveting and compulsive, national bestselling author Wendy Walker’s The Night Before “takes you to deep, dark places … national bestselling author Wendy Walker’s The Night Before “takes you to deep, dark places few thrillers dare to go” as two sisters uncover long-buried secrets when an internet date spirals out of control.
Laura Lochner has never been lucky in love. She falls too hard and too fast, always choosing the wrong men. Devastated by the end of her last relationship, she fled her Wall Street job and New York City apartment for her sister’s home in the Connecticut suburb where they both grew up. Though still haunted by the tragedy that’s defined her entire life, Laura is determined to take one more chance on love with a man she’s met on an Internet dating site.
Rosie Ferro has spent most of her life worrying about her troubled sister. Fearless but fragile, Laura has always walked an emotional tightrope, and Rosie has always been there to catch her. Laura’s return, under mysterious circumstances, has cast a shadow over Rosie’s peaceful life with her husband and young son – a shadow that grows darker as Laura leaves the house for her blind date.
When Laura does not return home the following morning, Rosie fears the worst. She’s not responding to calls or texts, and she’s left no information about the man she planned to meet. As Rosie begins a desperate search to find her sister, she is not just worried about what this man might have done to Laura. She’s worried about what Laura may have done to him…
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The one thing I don’t like about thrillers is when I can figure out where a story is going early in the book. Luckily, that was not the case in this thriller! The story is told with dual timelines- the night before and afterwards. Laura disappears after a blind date and her sister Rosie is desperate to find her. Questions about Laura’s past, the man she went out with and her sister and their friends will keep you trying to unravel this one until the end. Really enjoyed this one!
The relationship between two sisters with long-buried secrets always provides a compelling basis for a psychological thriller. And The Night Before is no exception..
Laura Lochner has come home. She’s on the run from a broken heart (again) and has abandoned her Wall Street job and New York City apartment, hiding out in the home of her sister, Rosie, who never left the small Connecticut town in which they grew up. Laura’s life has been defined by a tragedy that occurred in her youth, and opened her up to suspicion and gossip. She has never dealt with that reality. Rather, she has been involved in a series of relationships with the wrong men. Of course, Laura has not been forthcoming with Rosie about the details.
Rosie understands her sister and has always been her protector. So of course, she allows her to take up residence in the home Rosie shares with her husband, Joe, and son. Because Laura has not been completely candid about the reasons she gave up her life in New York City, Rosie is left to surmise and attempt to understand this latest chapter in her sister’s troubled life.
But Rosie is supportive when Laura announces that she has a date with a man she met on an internet dating site. Rosie helps her gt ready and loans Laura her car so that she can meet the man for a drink, with Laura’s assurances that she will behave responsibly.
So Rosie is understandably upset the next morning when she discovers that Laura next came home the previous night. Worse, Laura is not responding to calls or texts, and Rosie has no idea how to reach the man Laura was scheduled to meet. Rosie saw his photo on the dating website, but has no way of knowing whether that picture was genuine or if he provided Laura with his real name. All Rosie knows is that her sister is missing, Rosie’s vehicle has been abandoned, and the only person who might be able to help is their mutual childhood friend, Gabe, who lives next door in his boyhood home. Gabe performs IT forensics — sometimes tracking down cheating spouses — and offers assistance tracking calls to and from Laura’s telephone, as well as the telephone’s whereabouts.
Author Wendy Walker relates the story of the desperate search for Laura through alternating narratives. She relates the details of Laura’s sessions with a New York City psychologist, commencing four months earlier, along with Laura’s present-day first-person account and a third-person present-day narrative told from Rosie’s perspective. The result is extremely effective. Walker reveals details about Laura’s life that she disclosed to Dr. Brody as readers go along with Laura on her blind date. The focus then switches to the frantic search for her undertaken by Rosie, Joe, and Gabe. Walker switches the story’s focus as deftly-times intervals, compelling the story forward and keeping readers intrigued. Along the way she expands upon Laura’s history and why she has always been the dysfunctional sister, Rosie’s resentments about that and fear not that Laura has been harmed but that, perhaps, she has done something untoward to her date, and grants readers an unfettered look at Laura’s feelings — her self-recriminations, lack of confidence, and awareness of how her sister regards her.
Walker deftly keeps the pace moving, providing clues to Laura’s whereabouts, some of which are valid and some that prove disappointing. The suspense builds to the point that Walker reveals what happened to Laura and her location, but the focus then switches to the desperate attempts to get to her in time. Walker includes a subplot involving Rosie’s jealousy about the relationship Laura and Joe share which is ultimately resolved with the revelation of family secrets that impact all of them.
The Night Before is a creative, tautly-constructed contemporary thriller and exploration of a troubled sibling relationship. It’s a smart, crisp mystery that proves first dates can be murder.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
Told in alternating POVs over the course of a few days, this was an enjoyable psychological thriller. It wasn’t so stressful to keep me up at night – although maybe enough so to keep me away form online dating forever! There were numerous twists and turns that kept me guessing well into the second half of the book.
Terrific thriller!
Thanks to Goodreads for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was very excited to read this book as it had been on several lists recommending it. I thought the book was intentionally confusing, and that bothered me a bit. There were quite a few surprises and twists in the novel, but I suspected someone quite early in the book, and I was correct. I didn’t know the full extent of it, but it was clear to me that I was being given a lot of red herrings to lead me down a path that was meant to mislead me.
Overall, it was an interesting psychological study, but it wasn’t the thriller that I was expecting.
Laura Heart Lochner has always felt unloved. She had a bad breakup and retreated into herself. She moved in with her sister, Rosie, and Rosie’s husband, Joe. Laura, Rosie, Joe, and Gabe grew up together and have been friends forever. Now, Laura has met someone online and has a date with him. However, things about her date don’t add up. When she doesn’t come home, Rosie calls Gabe, an IT expert, to help find Laura. The book alternates between Laura’s sessions with her therapist, Laura and her date – Jonathan Fields, and Rosie, Joe, and Gabe’s attempt to find Laura.
When they finally involve the police, both Laura and Rosie come to terms with various things that don’t add up – both in their past and in their current lives, as the story comes to its conclusion.
#TheNightBefore #WendyWalker #Goodreads
Gets a little to redundant here and there, but overall a good read. Has some great twists along the way.
Believe all the hype! Wendy Walker is the queen of the page-turner, the queen of psychological thrillers, the queen of making me sneak in some extra pages at work. THE NIGHT BEFORE begins as Laura leaves her sister’s house to head out for a date with a man she met online. When Laura doesn’t come home that night, or the next morning, her sister Rosie panics and begins a desperate search to find her. While switching between Rosie’s journey in the present and Laura’s perspective from the titular night before, Walker brilliantly reveals information about a dark event in Laura’s past, making us question who’s really in danger here—Laura, or the man she went out with. The writing expertly conveys so much tension, right from the very beginning, that I had such a pervasive feeling of dread as I read this book. And don’t even get me started on the full-body chills I got from the end of chapter thirty-five! Everything about this story was so clever—the structure, the misdirection, the secrets that weave an intricate web of darkness around all the characters—and I was consistently surprised by each of the book’s haunting revelations. If you’re looking for a book that will absolutely consume you, THE NIGHT BEFORE is it.
Great read!!!! I love Wendy Walker’s books and this was no exception. It kept me fully engaged, had many twists and turns and happily was one I couldn’t quite figure out before the end
Good read
What a bloody page-turner this book turned out to be! In one sitting, The Night Before by Wendy Walker had me wrapped around its captivating pages until that shocker of an ending!
Laura has had her ups and her downs when it comes to love, more downs than ups actually. She is haunted by a teenage tragedy that has essentially defines her life. She is always choosing the wrong men. In an effort to move forward, she moves back home to Connecticut with her sister and joins an internet dating site. Just like that, she has a connection with a man on the site and decides to go on a blind date.
Nervous, yet excited, Laura leaves the comfort of her sister Rosie’s home to meet her date. When Laura doesn’t return home the following morning, Rosie and her husband fear for the worst. Together they begin to uncover the clues and details about the night before!
What a fantastically suspenseful wild ride! Not only was this a page-turner, but I was enthralled from the first page to the last. Like many thrillers, you sit there reading and guessing what is really happening, trying to figure out what new plot twist the author is going to throw at you, but this one had me completely blown away. I honestly didn’t see this ending coming!
Told from alternating perspectives, both Laura and Rosie’s, Wendy Walker keeps you wondering where she’ll take you next. The pace and the layout is what really kept me on the edge of my seat, just when I thought I was going to get more from Laura, we get a different side from Rosie! While it is a wee bit of whiplash at times, Walker has a magnificent way of making you want more from each chapter.
The Night Before by Wendy Walker is a riveting and entertaining thriller that will leave your heart pacing as you question everything that you’re reading. While you’ll think you know what Walker is playing at with the plot twists, you’ll soon find out this is an author who knows how to throw a curve ball! This is my first Wendy Walker novel, but it certainly won’t be my last! She is an author to keep an eye on! This intense thriller by Walker is a must read for 2019! You’ll be hearing about this one, so don’t miss out! I highly recommend you read The Night Before by Wendy Walker!
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Wendy Walker for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Read my full review here: https://bit.ly/2Q8I8Te
A really good psych thriller and I read a lot of them. This plot was interesting and the build great!
3 stars
I have read All is not Forgotten and Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker and loved them both, so I was very excited to get The Night Before. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t do it for in quite the same way. Maybe because I had a hard time caring about Laura and Rosie; I am just not sure.
For me, this book took off a little slow and in the first 20% or so, I was definitely waffling on a DNF. However, I decided to finish it and I am glad I did. Even though I didn’t feel as connected to the characters, the book did start to pick up the pace and I found myself wanting to know what happened the night before. While some of the reveals were a little far-fetched, I definitely did NOT have them all figured out.
Based on all of the other reviews out there, I would encourage you to give this one a shot. This one didn’t rank too high on my list, but there are plenty of other readers out there who were wowed by this one.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy of this book via NetGalley
This book was so good. It’s a mystery/thriller that you will love from start to dramatic finish. It has it all. All the feelings you like in a good thriller.
Take two sisters and throw in a husband, best friend, a few deaths, online dating and kidnapping and you have a good story. This one is actually a great story. I was drawn in from the beginning and could not put this book down. I wanted to know what was coming next. I thought I had it figured out but I was so wrong. I did not see it coming at all. I usually get close, but this time I was so far off I may as well have been on another planet looking.
This book will take you from Laura and Rosie’s childhood to their adulthood. Back and forth between the two. From both of their lives. They alternate chapters and keep you wondering what is going to happen next. Who can you trust. Who did what to who and will they survive. It’s one roller coaster of a ride that you will not soon forget. It contains the thrill, mystery, love, hate, relationship and friendships. It truly has it all. It’s not a huge tearjerker but you will feel for the characters. For all of them actually.
They characters are so well developed and your feelings for each of them will change at times but throughout I truly like them all. Even the villain when he is finally exposed. My heart broke for Laura for all the things she went through trying so hard to find love.
I felt like the ending of this book was well done. It didn’t leave any major loose ends and certainly didn’t keep you wondering. It was my first book by this author but won’t be my last by any means.
I have to thank #NetGalley, #St Martin’s Press for this awesome book in exchange for my complete and honest review.
It’s another 5 stars from me. I loved it.
5 FANTABULOUS STARS!!
I absolutely love Wendy Walker’s writing, I love how she makes me feel so involved in her characters’ lives! She writes with such delightful details making you crave more and more as you fan through the pages at top speed like a reading-ninja! I won’t say I was blown away by the ending since it crossed my mind but I enjoyed every single step getting there! Well done Wendy Walker!!!
Tightly coiled and perfectly plotted, The Night Before is a wonderfully tense and extremely pleasurable read… Wendy Walker lures us in with a gathering sense of dread, proving once again that she is among the most talented and fearless writers at work today.
I did something with this book that I rarely do. I finished it and then sat with it, trying to decide how I felt about the story. First of all, I will say that I didn’t find the riveting thriller that’s promised in the blurb, although it does eventually get thriller-like toward the end. The story jumps back and forth between Laura and Rosie, one happening in the present and one happening the night before. Then, we get snippets of therapy sessions thrown in here and there. The jumps are frequent and at times served to pull me out of the story rather than the opposite. For a large chunk of this one, we’re left to wonder whether Laura is out with a psycho or if she’s the one who’s unhinged, which is a decent enough plot device except Laura’s waffling about her date grew tedious much too soon in the story. The writing is a little too dry for the amount of tension this type of book should have, and the big reveal didn’t produce the shock I think the author was going for. Once you figure out the who, which is pretty easy, the why kind of falls into place. I did finish the book, and I suppose my feelings about it are somewhere in the mid range. I didn’t hate it, but it’s also not one that I’ll think about down the road.
This story grabbed me from the beginning and didn’t let go. There were a lot of twists, a few red herrings, and a whole lot of guessing (and being wrong). The author did a phenomenal job of keeping the reader off-balance. Occurrences which sent the book in a different direction were plausible enough so that it didn’t feel forced. Everything felt like it could actually happen. I read this book in one day, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a psychological thriller that will keep you on your toes. See my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews for a more in-depth review. Thank you to St.Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a pre-release digital ARC.
The Night Before is a psychological thriller with enough suspense, twists and surprises that will keep you up reading all night. It is well written with great characters and interesting plot. The story is told with multiple points of view in the past and present by Laura and her sister Rosie.
Laura is so devastated by a break up that she leaves her high profile job and moves back to her hometown and in with her sister Rosie. Rosie convinces her to try online dating. Laura had a tragic event happen when she was younger that causes her to have problems falling in love. Laura reluctantly goes on the blind date, but never returns. Rosie frantically looks for Laura. Knowing Laura’s past, she wonders if Laura was hurt or if Laura hurt her date. This is the second book I have read by Wendy Walker. A must read author for me. Thank you to Wendy Walker, Netgalley, and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.
I was lucky enough to read an early copy of The Night Before. It is my first book by Wendy Walker and I was definitely wowed.
The characters were so great and the plot moved quickly and kept me turning pages wanting to know what would happen next.
If you enjoy twisty, turny, psych thrillers or books with lots of family involvement in the drama, this one is for you. It made me think and caught me unaware several times. I’ll now be checking out Wendy Walker’s back list.
Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for approving my request for an ARC. All thoughts are my own and freely given.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC book and give my own personal opinion.
The Night Before by Wendy Walker, for me this was an ok book, it was an interesting read with a twist, although I didn’t really come to care for any of the characters I had to finish this to find out what happened to Laura.