This is a well-crafted plot which uncovers a series of secrets. There are two POVs in this book from a 42-year-old mother, Ruth, and her 24-year-old daughter, Catherine. They lived together in a small affordable apartment with thin walls in Harrisburg, PA. Ruth dropped out of high school at 17 years old to move away after a tragic event. This single parent survived financially by working as a waitress for years. She encouraged Catherine to go to college and was pleased when she graduated from nursing school. At the beginning, she had just accepted her dream job at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. However, her mother now had symptoms of dementia. Catherine questioned whether she should take this position and leave her mother behind. At first, I thought this was another book about one’s memory being ripped away. In this case, it would be from the mother with dementia with her daughter taking care of her. Catherine asked herself, “How long until I’m the sole memory keeper of our life together?” But as I continued, there quickly was an unexpected plot which kept me glued to the pages. Each character had their own agendas. The writing was pretty smooth for both – almost too smooth as in real life, it’s difficult for someone or both to articulate their thoughts so well. There’s a lot to learn in this book about being captive with Alzheimer’s and running from a complex situation. Toward the end, I was deeply touched by what happened -- a sign of a good story. My thanks to Sarah Pekkanen, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected release date of August 1, 2023. (read less)

This is a well-crafted plot which uncovers a series of secrets. There are two POVs in this book from a 42-year-old mother, Ruth, and her 24-year-old daughter, Catherine. They lived together in a small affordable apartment with thin walls in Harrisburg, PA. Ruth dropped out of high school at 17 years old to move away after a tragic event. This single parent survived financially by working (read more)

I think I've read all the books that Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks have written together - and enjoyed them all to varying degrees - but this was the first one I'd seen with just one of the authors so I was pretty excited to give it a shot. I loved the premise and figured there was some unreliable narrator stuff happening. What I didn't expect was the tremendous amount of unnecessary details (filling a water pitcher, how a character stepped on a floor and the condition of the floor, and so, so, so many more) that dragged the story to a snail's pace at times. I also didn't expect plot devices that stretched my ability to suspend disbelief to the breaking point. Then there were the explanations of the plot devices and clues and consequences of actions that were so detailed it felt like the author was doing the "explain it like I'm five" thing. It seemed as though she wants the reader to know that she really thought all the possibilities out, just like we're doing, and why something would or wouldn't work. As if her editing notes were out and she was working a checklist of reasons a plan should be considered as viable. As for the characters, I felt for Ruth. She did what she needed to do with the knowledge and resources she had. Catherine, well, I'm not sure how I felt about her. Not as positively as I did her mom, that's for sure. Her choices - particularly those in the third part of the book - were unbelievable and, well, some were ridiculous. I can't go into any detail here because of spoilers but there was a lot of head shaking and talking back to the narrator in that last part of the book. I think maybe my expectations were just too high. There were good things about the book, of course. The action scenes were, for the most part, exciting and satisfying. There were some interesting bits about certain mental health aspects that were fun to speculate about. And I really liked Ruth. Kate Mara was also a fine narrator. All of which give me a "I liked it" 3-star rating. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook! (read less)

I think I've read all the books that Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks have written together - and enjoyed them all to varying degrees - but this was the first one I'd seen with just one of the authors so I was pretty excited to give it a shot. I loved the premise and figured there was some unreliable narrator stuff happening. What I didn't expect was the tremendous amount of unnecessary (read more)