This is a grower. You start off not sure what's going on. But as each page turns it gets more and more exciting. I'd like to read more by her now that I've read this one. Recommend!

4.75⭐️
Thank you so much to Netgalley for sending me an ARC copy of Emma In The Night by Wendy Walker in exchange for an honest review. Emma in the night will be published on August 8,2017 by St. Martin's Press.
Emma in the night captures your attention from the very first sentence! We believe what we want to believe. I was hooked.
We follow two people looking for the same person, Emma.
We follow Cass, Emma's little sister and the last person that saw Emma before she disappeared. In Cass's perspective we get to see young Emma and Cass live their lives, grow up (to a point), deal with school, friends, brothers and unprotected sex that lead to running away, which got them into this mess.
Emma and Cass, missing three years...
Once Cass is home she is a celebrity, everyone wants to know what happened and where she was, where Emma still is. Cass provides detailed explanations of her experience on the island in hopes that she can help the detectives find Emma before its too late.
When reading about Cass's time on the island I felt like i was there. It was detailed and thrilling!

We also follow Detective Abby Winters who is put on Emma's missing person case. Abby's perspective is more clincal, direct, and serious. Identifying key persons of interest, interrogating Cass about her sister and to Abby finding Emma is her job, nothing more then a missing person and case to close. Until Abby talks to Cass and finds out that Cass and Emma were held as prisoners on an island.

This book isnt just a mystery it is a story of lies, deceit, survival, plus twists and turns that will keep you guessing til the very end. I highly recommend this intense, heartbreakingly beautiful novel!

This sort of book is normally just up my street.Whilst it is mainly well written and had an interesting storyline,for me it was overlong in parts.Plus the characters seemed to make everything overly difficult for themselves.I know it was to show their narcissistic behaviour,but it seemed implausible at times.Overall an interesting book but not quite 4* for me.

I really loved All Is Not Forgotten when I read it last year. So much so that I was really looking forward to this book. Although, to me, it didn't quite reach the heady heights of the previous book, the bar was really set that high, it was a good solid read which I devoured in a day, leaving me completely satisfied.
One night, sisters Emma and Cass disappear. Fast forward three years and Cass comes back. Alone. And boy does she have a tale to tell. Forensic psychiatrist Abby Winter is tasked with talking to Cass and it soon transpires that the thoughts she had when she was investigating the disappearance originally, but was advised not to pursue, could have more standing as the tale that Cass tells starts to crumble. Is Cass telling the real truth, the truth as she knows it or is there something rather more sinister going on? At the end of the day, all Cass wants is for them to find Emma and she will make that happen whatever she has to do to get there.
I do love a good dysfunctional family and we have a doozy here! In amongst Cass telling her story of the past three years, we are drip fed stories of her childhood, of her family life and I simply drank in each delicious detail. Common sense with spoilers stops me saying much more related to the actual story as I really don't want to ruin the book for others but I can say that within the story, the characters were so very well defined and totally believable. I also, sadly, saw quite a bit of my own family in this book which, at times, was a little hard to get through (my experience was nowhere near as extreme as what happens here I hasten to add). Cathartic also at times though!
The actual story was fascinating. the way it was built up in layers and then the same layers uncovered, a bit like pass the parcel, each layer removed had a small extra titbit of the story contained within it. A method of storytelling that I really enjoy and that really fitted with the tale being told.
The multiple timelines and switches of perspective were also handled perfectly. As with other books of this genre, the narrative flits bout a fair bit but, even with my memory and concentration issues, I was easily able to follow in its entirety without once getting confused. I pay special mention to the difference between the characters of young and older Cass. It might have only been three years but the difference was apparent and, in my opinion, completely credible and congruent with the story.
I really felt for Cass, sometimes more than others but I really loved the character of Abby, especially her interactions with FBI Special Agent Leo Strauss. I'd love to see them teamed up again, I feel they have so much more to give as characters. I'm not thinking series necessarily, even just as supporting cast in future books, it would be wonderful to reconnect with them.
All in all, a good solid read that I would definitely recommend to fans of this genre. Roll on the next one!

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I’m starting to think I’m over the whole unlikeable/unreliable narrator thing. I love an intelligent psychological thriller, particularly when the focus is on complex characters and this definitely fits the bill. However, while there were elements that I found fascinating it lacked the tension and emotion it needed to really draw me in. I found it difficult to like, or unfortunately care, about any of the characters and as a result the whole thing left me cold and struggling to focus on the narrative.

The story starts incredibly well with 18 year old Cass, approaching her family home. She and her elder sister Emma both disappeared on the same night three years ago and despite an extensive investigation and search at the time all hope of finding them was abandoned. Cass claims to have escaped from an Island where she and her sister were held prisoner (and her sister still is) but there are more than a few question marks over her story and it soon becomes clear that this is a family with secrets.

The narrative is told from the point of view of both Cass and Dr Abby Winter, a psychologist with the FBI who has been involved with the investigation since the original disappearance. This dual perspective brings a nice balance to the story as we get both “the victim’s” story and an insight into the investigation and evidence. Cass’s narrative jumps back and forth in time from the present day and her return to her time on the island and the events preceding their disappearance.

The complex relationships between Cass and her family make for fascinating if at times confusing reading. Dr Winter suspects her mother of being a narcissist and Cass’s story of her childhood certainly seem to support this. Everything is about her. She has to be viewed as the most attractive, the most powerful and the best mother and god help anyone who threatens that. She is definitely a complex, unpredictable and for that reason engaging character.

Cass is difficult to read. It’s clear from the beginning that she’s pursuing her own agenda (the narrative is very open about this) but it’s difficult to know what that is. Is she trying to be part of the family again, desperately trying to save her sister or could her motives be darker? She comes across as cold and calculating a lot of the time and despite the neglect she clearly suffered I found it difficult to get behind her. I found myself a little detached from her story. It was interesting to read and I was curious about what had happened and what she had planned but it didn’t grip me and there were occasions where I felt like I could quite easily put it down and walk away.

Dr Abby Winter unfortunately wasn’t any more engaging as a narrator. She was involved in the initial investigation into the girl’s disappearance and has been troubled by the case ever since as she recognized the mother for what she was and suspected some kind of involvement. We get some information on her past and the similarities between her upbringing and Cass’s but again while I found it interesting I didn’t really feel it.

I thought the pacing of the story was a little bit on the slow side and the plot was fairly predictable. I found my attention wandering in places which, when you have a story that jumps between two narrators and various time periods, meant I did end up having to re read pages because I’d no idea what was happening or where I was.

It is a well thought out story and I thought building in all of the information around narcissistic personality disorder and the impact on the children was incredibly well done, it does make you wonder if Cass could maybe also be suffering from some kind of mental illness. I just wish I could have connected with or found one character I liked and could get behind.

I do however think I’ve become a little tired of the whole unreliable narrator thing in thrillers (not that I was overly keen on it to begin with) so there is a strong possibility it’s just me. If they are your thing you might find you absolutely love it.

Unfair to leave a review on a book I did not finish

Here is a family composed of a mother with two daughters, the step-mother to her first husband’s son (Will Tanner) and then a step-mother to her second husband’s son (Hunter Martin). Imagine being the younger sister (Cass) who is virtually invisible to her mother. A mother who is so self-absorbed that she has raised her daughters to continually praise her beauty, her wit and her skills at being the ‘best mother ever’. When Cass wants the girls to live with their father, the mother forbids her to call her mother anymore – from then on she is ‘Mrs Martin’. Emma, the older girl is very beautiful and is adept at manipulating her mother, either withholding affection or acting out or else seeming to conform.

One night the two girls disappear, Emma’s car is discovered at the beach. Three years later Cass returns to her home and family and insists that Mrs Martin is always present when she is questioned by Dr Abbey Winter, a forensic psychologist with the FBI. Slowly, Cass reveals her story whilst Abbey and her colleague Leo Strauss are left to solve the mystery.

Abbey is an expert on narcissitistic mothers and the relationship with their daughters and believes that is what she is dealing with in relation to Mrs Judy Martin and Emma. Both are narcissists and vie to outdo the other, to be more beautiful, more demanding and with the most power. The story is revealed from two perspectives, that of Cass and that of Abbey.

Fundamentally this is a story about power and who holds it and who wants it. Emma as the beautiful, favoured child is automatically given more power; Hunter retains it as he basks in his father’s favour; Judy assumes her power through her powerful, rich husband, her privileged social position and her beauty and sexuality: she is wary of anyone who threatens her position. Meanwhile Cass is over-shadowed, any attention she gets is negative and so she remains outwardly passive and watches, studies and learns about power and revenge.

This is not only a well-written book it is cleverly constructed; we are drip-fed information from Cass which is then analysed and deconstructed by Abbey & Leo. Cass’s story seems very far-fetched and surrounded by mysteries and it is clear from her narrative that her intention is to deceive and control.

I found this book to be utterly fascinating. The concept of an unnatural mother is not unique, nor is the notion of child abuse. However, this portrayal was unusual and so understated that it left me slightly bemused, the subtle accumulation of Mrs Martin’s betrayal of her position slowly crept up on me, leaving me uncomfortable.

This is a somewhat different psychological thriller, a slow-burn but a third-degree burn for all that – serious and very painful.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

I would have liked to read this but the typesetting was so erroneous, offset, littered with numerals and symbols that it rendered it unreadable. Such a shame. Not the first such mention of this - I love reading these books etc but if you offer them for review, we need to be able to read them 'normally'.

Loved this one! A well deserved five stars, and one of the best books of this year so far.
I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

A very well constructed psychological tale, detailing a psychosis that I hadn't read about in depth before. I deducted a star because I worked out very early on that sister Emma wasn't abducted and the big reveal therefore fell a bit flat for me.

Really enjoyed this gripping thriller. There were lots of twists and turns that keep you intrigued until the end, but not to the point of confusion. This is the second book of hers I have read and I was not disappointed with either of them.

We believe what we want to believe.We believe what we need to believe.

These are the opening words of this twisted tale of family dysfunction,secrets,lies and mental illness.

One night three years ago Cassandra and Emma Tanner disappeared.Three years later Cass returns without her sister Emma.She narrates a shocking tale of kidnapping and betrayal and insists that both her and Emma have spent the last three years being held prisoner on a mysterious island.But to forensic psychiatrist Abby Winter something doesn't add up.

As the desperate search for Emma begins, Abby begins to uncover secrets about Cass and her family and slowly begins to realise that one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.

The story is told from the alternating points of view of Abby and Cass so the reader gets to be part of the investigation into Emma's disappearance are the clues are uncovered and the case unfolds.Cass`s chapters are set in three different time zones,the present day,before the girls disappeared and during the three years that the girls where on the mysterious island.To be honest I enjoyed Abby`s chapters more than I did some of Cass`s,I felt that the story dragged at times during some of the pages that narrated the mind games and interactions of Cass`s family and broke the flow of the story of Emma`s disappearance.Most of the characters where untrustworthy,unreliable and unlikable although I did like Abby,Leo and Cass`s brother Witt.

It's not a fast paced story but it have enough mystery and intregue to keep me interested and wanting to know what had happened to Emma and how the story was going to end.

Emma in the night is a solid 3.5/4 star book. This could easily have been a 4 star book and I can see many giving this 5. The reason I didn't give the book 4 stars was for a few things.

This was the first book by Wendy (Author) I'd read. I had no expectations bar a really good synopsis. From the start Cass's voice pulls you in. I didn't know what to make of her. She sounded flat and at first I thought this was a fault on Wendy. But alas it is not. Cass had a unique/horrendous childhood with her sister Emma. Her mother is vile, confusing and a lot of things I can't say because I will not give spoilers. But all the blame cannot be placed on her mother. Her step father, step brother and even her own father have all played a part in this upbringing. Even Cass's relationship with Emma could be questioned, it is far from 'right'.

The story has a really good pace, giving you little tit bits as you go along to keep you following that bread crumb trail. Don't believe everything you read and don't trust everything you are told. This book has come clever surprises that I really liked. The psychological side of this book was also well researched I found too. Wendy had done her homework and made me believe what I was reading.

There are not 100s of characters in this book, so there is very little confusion although I did keep confusing Witt and Hunter near the middle!

The ending is nice and climatic and I liked the epilogue of everything that happened after. Cass is a very complex character. It wasn't that I didn't like her at first. She just felt rather emotionless at times. But as I read the story I realised this was how she was supposed to be. I say for those who find Cass a bit flat early on, give this book time. After the first 30% you really start to learn a thing or two and its well worth it.

So, I did like Emma in the Night a great deal. I just had trouble with Cass. This book is by no means bad or even mediocre. Its very good and I highly recommend it.

Three years after teenage sisters Emma and Cass disappeared one night, Cass is back. She tells her story of those three years willingly, but something is a little off - some things don't quite ring true. How much of Cass' s narrative can be believed? What really happened the night the girls went missing? And above all... where is Emma? FBI psychologist Abigail Winter and Special Agent Leo Strauss must unravel the truth, and there's a lot to unravel.

Wendy Walker certainly puts the psychological into psychological thriller. In fact there's significantly more psychology than thrills on show here, with a detailed discussion of narcissistic personality disorder and rather too much exposition in the first part of the book about Emma and Cass's complex, dysfunctional family background. However this doesn't detract from a well written and compelling story with an intriguing plot. I was desperate to find out what had really happened to Emma and Cass, and the final reveal was a complete surprise.

Emma in the Night is beautifully written, a classic psychological suspense novel with a brilliantly observed unreliable narrator in Cass and a multi-layered plot that digs deep into a family dynamic that is fascinatingly twisted.

A slow burner of a story that slowly unravels the truth behind the disappearance of two sisters, Wendy Walker takes us on a tense and atmospheric journey through lives affected by mental disorder, Emma in the Night is an emotionally charged tale which even though occasionally predictable does what it is supposed to do - engage you into the lives of its protagonists and stick with them to the bitter end.

Clever and absorbing therefore recommended. Full featured review to follow upon publication.