Publishers Weekly
02/18/2019
Financial analyst Laura Lochner, the narrator of this devilishly plotted if intermittently heavy-handed psychological thriller from Walker (Emma in the Night), has a disastrous track record with men—dating back to the murder of her first boyfriend in circumstances sufficiently murky that she fled her hometown and created a new identity for herself. A devastating recent break-up has prompted her to take a leave from her job in Manhattan and move in with her sister, Rosie, and Rosie’s family in suburban Connecticut. Three weeks after the move, Laura fails to return to Rosie’s house after her first date with a man she met online. When the police treat the disappearance as less than urgent, it’s up to Rosie, husband Joe and their lifelong best friend, Gabe, to track her down. A frantic race against the clock ensues. While the psychoanalysis of the roots of Laura’s feelings of unlovability can get tedious, Walker excels at exploiting multiple timelines and ample misdirection to maximize the suspense of her twist-filled tale. Readers will be eager to see what she comes up with next. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Assoc. Literary Management. (May)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Night Before:
One of:
BookRiot's "The Best Psychological Thrillers to Add to Your TBR"
EW.com's "Crazy Dating Stories Round-up"
Goodreads' "2019 Most Anticipated Mysteries"
The Nerd Daily's "2019 Book Releases"
Cosmo UK's "28 Most Anticipated Books for 2019"
PopSugar "The Night Before will keep you guessing until the very last pages. A twisting, turning delight!”
"Walker excels at exploiting multiple timelines and ample misdirection to maximize the suspense of her twist-filled tale." —Publisher's Weekly
"Walker's clever misdirection paves the way to a truly chilling finale, and she has plenty of insightful things to say about the blame placed on women by society and themselves for the idiotic, careless, and sometimes downright evil things men do. Twisty and propulsive." —Kirkus
"Skillfully manipulating tension and using breathless pacing, Walker keeps that question in the air until the final twist unmasks secrets about Laura's disappearance and the murder in her past." —Booklist
"The Night Before will keep you guessing until the very last pages. A twisting, turning delight!" —PopSugar
"I raced through The Night Before, another page-turning cracker from Wendy Walker. You're in for a treat!." —B.A. Paris, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors
"A dazzling hall-of-mirrors thriller: ferociously smart, furiously paced, and — best of all — honest-to-goodness surprising. All hail Wendy Walker." —AJ Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
"As timely as it is compelling, The Night Before gripped me from the first page all the way to its stunning conclusion. Through twist after twist, the story takes you to deep, dark places few thrillers dare to go. A riveting read!" —Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Time I Lied
"Pulse-pounding action makes you race to the finish of this addictive thriller...Just when you think you have everything figured out, Walker pulls the rug out from under you and leaves you staggered. The writing sings, and the twists deliver." —Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish
"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." —Aimee Molloy, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Mother
"Wendy Walker proves her ingenuity with her latest hair-raising chiller. Teeming with taut writing, an abundance of jaw-dropping revelations, and Walker's uncanny insight into the dark side of human nature, The Night Before is irresistible." —Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl
"A sharp, suspenseful, roller-coaster of a thriller...Walker unravels the hidden secrets between families and friends in this smart, compelling read. Impossible to put down!" —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls
Kirkus Reviews
2019-02-19
A first date takes a sinister turn for a troubled young woman in Walker's third psychological thriller.
It's the day after Laura Lochner's date with a man she met online, and she hasn't returned to the Connecticut home of her sister, Rosie, her brother-in-law, Joe, and their little boy, Mason, where she's been staying after a bad breakup. Rosie fears the worst, but Joe advises caution. After all, Laura is an adult and can have some fun, right? But Rosie has a bad feeling. Laura won't answer her phone, and Rosie only has more questions after poking around online for info on Laura's date, Jonathan Fields. Rosie eventually calls the police, and events begin to cascade like dominoes. Interspersed with Rosie's attempt to trace Laura's movements and get a handle on the guy she went out with is Laura's first-person account of the actual date as well as enlightening snippets of sessions between Laura and her therapist. Laura's is the most compelling part—a tormented, often prickly piece of storytelling by a woman carrying the pain of a horrible event that happened in high school and feelings of abandonment by a father who always seemed to love Rosie more. Laura's desire to be loved is all-consuming, but her conviction that she is not worthy of love is heartbreaking. She sees subterfuge in nearly everything Jonathan says and does. Meanwhile, Rosie must come to terms with some ugly surprises of her own as she digs into their past. As the timelines inevitably converge, Walker's clever misdirection paves the way to a truly chilling finale, and she has plenty of insightful things to say about the blame placed on women by society and themselves for the idiotic, careless, and sometimes downright evil things men do.
Twisty and propulsive.
