Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Night Before by Wendy Walker

The Night Before by Wendy Walker

The Night Before

by Wendy Walker

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • Published:
  • May 2019, 320 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Riveting and compulsive, 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…

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"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

"Walker excels at exploiting multiple timelines and ample misdirection to maximize the suspense of her twist-filled tale." - Publishers 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 Reviews

"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, 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 author of All the Missing Girls

This information about The Night Before was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Sandi W.

A real 'who-dun-it' mystery...
3.75 stars Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review this book.

At the center of Internet dating, Laura, never lucky in love, takes a chance - again. But upon meeting this new man, a blind date, she goes missing. Her sister, her brother in law and a childhood friend are all looking for her. They are scared for her life - but also scared of what SHE may have done.

A real 'who-dun-it' mystery. Many twists and turns coming to the final outcome. Just when you think you have it figured out another twist happens.

Betty Taylor

Keeps you guessing to the end
Walker’s newest book will keep you guessing until the end. Like her previous books (EMMA IN THE NIGHT and ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN) Walker takes us into the dark side of human nature.

This psychological suspense novel is told in dual timelines – the night before and the day after. There are also some flashbacks to four months earlier. You quickly grasp that something here is just not right, but what is it? And who is it? You will be racing through the pages to find out what happens next. Who is the killer? It will keep you guessing as Walker masterfully leads us along, sometimes deliberately misdirecting us.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews
A murder that followed Laura from her youth, a breakup via a text message, and a blind date.

All of these things and more had Laura having a difficult time coping and made her decide to move home to live with her sister and her brother-in-law.

After a few months, Laura decided it was time to date again so she joined a dating site, went on a date, and never returned home.

THE NIGHT BEFORE is told in alternating chapters of before and after in Laura's life. The before tells of the horrible incident that happened in her youth. The present tells of her blind date and things that happened before the date that Laura never told her sister.

We also meet Rosie, Laura's sister, as Rosie relives the incident from Laura's youth and still wonders what really happened back then. And we follow Rosie as she tries to figure out where Laura could be and hoping for the best.

THE NIGHT BEFORE pulls you along and into the story line because of all of the what if's and the question of who is really the one orchestrating all this drama.

THE NIGHT BEFORE was a difficult-to-put down, well-carried out psychological suspense that will have you guessing but not guessing correctly.

If you enjoy characters that you won't be able to figure out, secrets kept, and a shocking ending, THE NIGHT BEFORE needs to be in your to-be-read stack. 4/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Wendy Walker Author Biography

Photo: Bill Miles

Wendy Walker has worked as an attorney specializing in family law. Her novels include Four Wives, Social Lives, and All is Not Forgotten. She lives in Connecticut where she is at work on her next novel.

Author Interview
Link to Wendy Walker's Website

Other books by Wendy Walker at BookBrowse
  • Emma in the Night jacket
  • All Is Not Forgotten jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: My Friends
    My Friends
    by Hisham Matar
    The title of Hisham Matar's My Friends takes on affectionate but mournful tones as its story unfolds...
  • Book Jacket: James
    James
    by Percival Everett
    The Oscar-nominated film American Fiction (2023) and the Percival Everett novel it was based on, ...
  • Book Jacket
    But the Girl
    by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
    Jessica Zhan Mei Yu's But the Girl begins with the real-life disappearance of Malaysia Airlines ...
  • Book Jacket: Patriot
    Patriot
    by Alexei Navalny
    On the 17th of January, 2024, colleagues of Alexei Navalny posted a message to his Instagram account...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

It is always darkest just before the day dawneth

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.