Cover Image: The Empty Nest

The Empty Nest

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Member Reviews

I really enjoyed this book.. at first I thought the Mum was going on a bit but as the story developed it definitely got better. There were some very unexpected twists.

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Sue Watson manages to write a thrilling story which you wont want to put down. This is a good story of an obsessive mothers love for her missing child

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It's not a secret that I'm a Sue Watson fan ever since her Ice Cream Cafe series. I so love her wit and humor and her writing style. And when she started writing mystery/thriller novels, I can't help but devoured them as well. The Empty Nest is definitely not an exception. A slow start maybe with a slightly unlikeable majn character, or maybe because I can't relate to her just yet, but I still went through the pages breezily. As always, I wasn't disappointed as every twists and turns caught me by surprise until it came to a very strong and satisfying ending. Definitely worth a read.

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Great read! Looking forward to reading more from this author! I highly recommend this book and author to all!

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A brilliant book from one of my favourite authors. Couldn't put it down and was hugely gripped throughout. Looking forward to reading more from the author.

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Love it, if you are looking for a good suspenseful thriller, this is definitely going to be right up your alley. A bit tropey, but that's not always a bad thing.

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I'm feeling torn about this one. I liked the thrill and story but Kat, the protagonist, wasn't a likeable character. Her point of view came off as annoying at times. The story also started a bit slow but picked up towards the middle. I would try another book by Sue Watson but this one wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I was disappointed with this book. It just didn’t work for me
The main character of the book is so unlikeable which makes it feel like a hard slog to get through as she is always complaining.
The thriller aspect was so predictable and I guessed it early on.

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Kat has always been close to her daughter Amy. Now Amy is attending university 2 hours away and Kat looks forward to their daily conversations by phone. One day, Amy doesn't call, and Kat goes into OVERREACT mode. Whether she is justified is only flushed out during the story, but MAN did I dislike Kat. The story moved VERY slow for me - seemed like the first half (or more) was all about Kat freaking out about something happening to Amy and trying to get anyone with ears to listen to her. When things finally picked up secrets were revealed and the story came together a bit more for me. Overall it was a decent read although not a favorite.
Thanks to Sue Watson, Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

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When her daughter doesn't call home or answer her phone, Kat is worried. When she checks Amy's social media accounts and there are no recent posts, she panics. They share every bit of news. It's unlike Amy to go for so long without contacting her mother.



It quickly becomes obvious that Kat isn't the most reliable narrator and that maybe her relationship with Amy isn't quite as perfect as she describes it....but Amy is nowhere to be found and there seems to be something going on. The plot builds slowly but it kept me turning pages and I definitely didn't expect it to end the way it did.

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I found this book to be interesting. The plot was good and it kept me surprised and not knowing what was going to happen next. Being a mom myself I could totally sympathize with the empty nest feelings. This has plenty of characters that are involved with a missing person that you just keep wanting to read more to see where the story is leading. The ending is totally unexpected and I love an ending like that! I now want to rad all the books by Sue Watson. Thank you for a great reading journey

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It’s difficult to even do this book justice in a review.

At first, I thought Kat was a very overprotective mother. She seemed to be overreacting when she didn’t hear from Amy at regular intervals. As we find out a bit of her backstory it begins to make more sense, but even so, it was hard to know if something had genuinely happened to Amy, or if Kat was worrying unnecessarily.

As time goes on, and Amy is still missing, I really couldn’t guess what had happened to her. The plot is very clever, and there are several possibilities.

The characters are superb, they feel so real, and you feel their pain and worry, and the tension builds all the time.

Then comes the twist, and I was genuinely shocked, I could not put the book down at this stage. But it’s not over yet, there are more twists and turns to come!

A really stunning and gripping book, this is one to devour. I absolutely loved it. Fabulous.

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Kat is an overprotective mom. She loves her daughter more than anything. This book definitely explored what happens when secrets are kept between a mother and her child as the child leaves the nest. There were great sections of this book that I loved. I enjoyed trying to piece together what happened to Amy and I got somewhat close. The downfall of this book was just many parts felt repetitious and the epilogue was not needed at all. This book did take a unique look at the relationship between parents and grown children, which I thought was well done.

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What an absolutely gripping read, this was a wonderful book and I can't wait to read more from Sue Watson

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Mothers are constantly concerned with the comings, goings and well being of our child or children. You don’t want to hover, but you also can’t help but to worry about this person that you once upon a time carried inside your body. And if that child happens to have experienced a childhood illness that was life=threatening? Well, that adds another layer of worry altogether. Kat and her daughter Amy share a special bond. Kat has been through a divorce, a custody battle and her daughter’s serious illness. Now Amy is all grown up and attending school in another town. Empty next syndrome has set in, but Kat has a light at the end of the tunnel: a daily phone call from Amy. One day, that call does not come, and Amy does not show up at home as previously discussed. Everyone thinks that Kat is overreacting due to her prior overprotectiveness, but her gut tells her that there is something wrong.
This book plays on the fears of many a parent. As a mother, my sympathies were with Kat throughout the story as she worked to convince others that there was truly something wrong. This is a parent’s worst nightmare, but the twists and turns keep you engaged in the story, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. The ending was unexpected and totally blew my mind! This is a great read! Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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Kat and her 18-year-old daughter, Amy , share a very close relationship . When Amy starts college a few hours away from home Kat misses her terribly but they  are in constant touch with one another. When Amy does not arrive home for the long weekend and Kat’s phone calls or texts go unanswered she just knows something is wrong, but no one takes her seriously. After a few days pass with still no word from Amy, the cops are involved and the search for Amy begins .With a long list of suspects the police have their work cut out for them but Kat won't stop till she finds out what happened to her daughter.      

The Empty Nest by Sue Watson is a dark, addictive, twisted  thriller . It has great characters and is an excellent psychological thriller with lots of secrets and twists and turns  to discover that kept misleading the reader and with an ending that I did not expect made it an excellent compulsive read for me

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

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I have mixed feelings about this book.

Kat and Amy are as close as a mother and daughter can be. When Amy goes to college, they still y’all every day, by phone or text. One weekend, Amy days she will be coming home, but never follows up. She doesn’t show, she doesn’t call, she doesn’t text. Kat starts worrying, knowing her daughter would have contacted her. As the search for Amy begins, the secrets Kat has been keeping start to unravel, and the mystery of Amy’s disappearance isn’t the only one solved.

The premise of this book is really good. Girl disappears, mom knows it, mom starts trying to find her. I love suspense/thriller novels, so the plot line is a match for me.

Where it fell apart for me was in the first 20%. Kat is worried about her daughter, and the first bit of the novel is stuck on repeat, with her constantly fretting and feeling sorry for herself because no one believes her. I understand the purpose of some of that, and parts tie in at the end, but it felt like too much to me. I wanted the action to start sooner, and once the pace picked up, the book really improved for me.

I still recommend this book for suspense readers, but I don’t see myself picking this one up again.

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Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this Arc.
Every parents nightmare!!!! An only child, a daughter goes off, happily, to university. A new chapter in everyone's life!! A mother at home, getting used to the eerie silence in the house. A daughter experiencing the freedom of university life.
But then it all comes crashing down! The daughter disappears! But the mother will never give up believing her daughter wouldn't just "take off"! Despite the mother's best friends support she believes her daughter is alive!
Read on because it's brilliant!

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This book had a good premise. I loved Kat and her longing for Amy. That was gutting and heart wrenching. I had a problem with the mystery and the whodunit part. It was an anticlimax when I figured out who did it, although I did not guess it, it didn't work for me.

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A really good twisty thriller. I didn’t like many of the characters however I think this was deliberate. I found myself reading through the book not trusting anyone. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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