This is a gripping psychological thriller that had me hooked from the first few pages.
Kat is missing her daughter Amy while she’s away at University so is looking forward to her coming home for the weekend.
When Amy doesn’t arrive, Kat starts to panic.
She becomes more and more distressed and we gradually find out more about their relationship.
Amy is everything to Kat and she knows deep down she would contact her if she could.
Kat did annoy me a little bit but I think the book shows the extreme emotion involved when a loved one goes missing.
This book has a great ending/epilogue which really pulls the story together.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Another cracking read from Sue Watson, starting slowly and drawing you in until the pace picks up and wham! That was a surprise! And the surprises keep on coming as the sense of danger and tension increases. She has a knack for upending your theories and throwing them back at you with her storytelling, keeping you guessing, before throwing another shocking chapter ending your way.

Amy mother was very thoughtful of her she would any time hold her hand and take her to playgroup
But Amy is gone to university and always rings her mum everyday
But she never rung one day and her mother believes she’s missing
I had an ARC

"It's the not knowing."

Kat and her 18-year-old daughter, Amy, are very close. They're not just mother and only child, they're also best friends. They tell each other everything and Amy knows how her mother worries about her. So, when Amy moves to Wales for university, Kat is bereft and missing her Amy. This empty nest syndrome has got her bad. But, they talk and text everyday which helps to keep some of the terrible lonlieness at bay. And, best of all, Amy is coming home in the upcoming weekend and Kat can't wait to catch up. When Sunday comes and goes without any contact, Kat starts to fret. The initial attempts to contact Amy via mobile come to nothing and Kat moves from excitement to panic as she calls Amy, her friends, stalks her on social media to see if there are any updates (none), and finally summons the police. She knows her daughter and this behavior and the lack of communication is not Amy. Of course, no one believes that anything bad has happened to Amy -- she's just spreading her wings is all. Not Kat's husband, and Amy's stepfather, Richard. Not Kat's best friend, Zoe, or Zoe's daughter, Jodie, or Amy's boyfriend, Josh, or any of Amy's new flatmates at school. Kat will not be comforted and she alone knows that something is terribly wrong. NO SPOILERS.

It is amazing, sometimes, when you pick up the perfect book at the perfect time. It was 11 pm last night and I'd just gotten a call from my eldest daughter (she hasn't lived anywhere near me for many years) who was letting me know that due to a missed connection on her flight home, she was going to rent a car and drive over 5 hours back. So, folks, yeah, it's a mom thing. Of course I still worry about her and always will no matter her age and stage of life. So, I picked this up and started reading. It hit ALL the right notes from the very beginning and I'm confident that most parents would understand everything that Kat was feeling, even if you never were an obsessed helicopter mom or dad. Yeah, Kat was a little over the top neurotic, but she did have some reasons for that and I could totally empathize with her instincts telling her that something was off and her need to take some action. This was truly psychological suspense and great domestic drama with interesting characters and the narrative so compelling that I could not put it down so read it completely cover to cover while waiting by the phone myself! I loved the surprises along the way, especially unusual for me not to anticipate where this was going.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book to read, review and recommend. You won't be disappointed!

Empty Nest hits a few points that will resonate with many women as Kat is faced with her only daughter off at university and too much time on her hands. Amy, Kat's daughter, is by all accounts smart, precocious, pretty and popular. Extremely close to her daughter, Kat has a difficult time with Amy away and keeps in close contact with her-so much so her family and friends feel it's over the top. But Kat is hiding something and her fears of becoming exposed may be realized when Amy is discovered missing.

But not everyone is convinced Amy is missing-after all she's a young college student who may have made other plans to come home for the weekend. However, Kat immediately believes something is amiss and the longer Amy is out of contact the more sinister the possibilities. A few red herrings and some surprises make for a quick read; the narrative in the beginning is a little slow but the second half picks up and overall is a decent read!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book was one I couldn’t put down! Kat and Amy are mother and daughter who have a great relationship. When Amy goes off to college, Kat misses her terribly but they keep in constant contact. One weekend Amy is supposed to visit but she never shows up. And Kat can’t get ahold of her by phone or social media. Kat immediately knows something is wrong but no one will take her seriously. Everyone around her, including her own husband, think she’s too over protective and that Amy will soon show up. But as the days pass, the police are contacted and everyone is a suspect. Where is Amy? Did she run away? Or did someone take her? The secrets and lies in this book are predictable but well executed. I enjoyed this book very much. Good mystery!

I enjoyed Sue's other books, Our Little Lies & The Woman Next Door ... unfortunately The Empty Nest just wasn't for me. I didn't get "psychological thriller" from this book at all. I found the commentary to be quite overdone and didn't feel as though anything really happened until the last few chapters of the book. Sad to say this wasn't a win for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my review copy.

The Empty Nest by Sue Watson
Kat’s over protective love for her only daughter Amy probably borders on insanity but what the hell my mother had the same feeling for me and I have the same for my son so I am willing to give her the benefit of doubt. The empty nest syndrome is a common enough “ailment” experienced by parents the world over when their children leave home for college or work.
Kat and Amy are very close to each other and share all their secrets. One weekend when Amy does not show up at home as promised and does not even answer calls, Kat knows something is amiss. It is not like Amy to do that. What follows is an unbelievable trail of lies, secrets and betrayals where Kat faces the most torturous trial ever.
The pain of losing a loved one, the uncertainty of what would have transpired and the tiny hope that Amy will turn up unharmed is captured with perfection in Kat’s actions and expressions.
As usual Sue makes the readers believe what is the inevitable and just when we are ready to draw a conclusion – Bam- we are hit with something totally out of the blue. The unexpected twist is something readers would die for and does not disappoint.
My score 4 * / 5 for this intense, incredible read.

This author wrote feel good books before and her thrillers make me feel pretty good as well. The way she manages to tell a story and to capture the reader's attention is really fabulous. 

The empty nest syndrome : something I will be able to relate to in a few years as well. I am also very close to my son, but I don't think (hope ;) ) that I am obsessed. Of course I cannot compare the rest of my life to Kat's. I am sure that if I went through the same things, I would react differently too.

Little by little the secrets are revealed. I had an inkling about one of them but apart from that I went round in circles. I was constantly changing my mind about who was responsible for what had happened.

Did I pick the right one in the end? Of course not :) And that is what I love about books that are so well concocted : you have to wait until the last chapter to be able to satisfy your curiosity.

I cannot give this story any less than 5 stars.

Thank you, Sue Watson and Bookouture (via Netgalley)

Quite a twisted mind was shown when the author Sue Watson plotted this book. It took an ink so dark to draft a tale where everything was warped to fit the needs of a damaged psyche.

Kat was the helicopter worried mom whose daughter Amy had left for uni. But she didn’t come home when she promised, and the mother’s instincts went overdrive with worry. But were all of them just worries or did a mother’s love know something? Was Amy alive and well?

Woah!! This book took me by surprise. The writing showed me the author’s mad skills in thinking out the subplots of a dark thriller. I liked how things were hinted at to lead me down roads unexpected. Characters were not many, but they were linked with suspicion. And that helped raise the tension in the story.

The build up of a mother’s worry was brilliant. I would be honest. It was both true to its emotions at the same time, left me with a vague niggle that all might not be honky dory with the characters. Kate’s fear for her daughter’s safety leaped off the pages, and I knew that whatever I told her via my kindle, it wouldn’t calm her down. I just had to walk with her as she tried to make sense of everything.

I suspected everyone in this book. So I was glad to see that my suspicions came to fruition. Yes, I did know that was cheating, but I so wanted to be right. But the epilogue was quite a shocker!! This was a fun read, helped me get over my ill health to some extent. Now I want more such books. Keep ’em coming!! Off to read my next.

Kat has always lived her life for her daughter Amy. When Amy leaves home for college, Kat is lost without her; since they talk every day, however, Kat is managing to cope. When Amy is due home for the weekend but doesn’t turn up, Kat is convinced something has happened to her. Amy wouldn’t just go off the radar without letting her mum know, but everyone thinks that she is just being an overprotective mother.

The story follows Kat as she tries to handle Amy’s disappearance and as questions are asked and revelations come to light, she is left asking herself just how well does she really know her daughter.

Although slow to start, the plot quickly picks up and as the tension begins to build Kat is left wondering who she can trust. A good book with several twists to keep you interested and an ending I wasn’t expecting.

A really good twisty thriller. I did not like many of the characters but I think that is deliberate. Their personalities help to make this story. I found myself reading through the book not trusting anyone. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

On the fence a bit with this really. There were some really good bits, which kept me on the edge of my seat and there were other bits that were a bit slow and I felt myself skimming.
I kind of figured out what was going on towards the end but it didn’t stop my enjoyment.
A solid 3.5 but have marked it up for the amount of crazy in it!

Not for me I m afraid. The characters were simply horrible and I felt no sympathy or interest in any of them. Ive read some of the five star reviews so I think the book will be a success but just one that seemed a real effort to read to me.

Thank you to Bookouture and Net Galley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Kat, a helicopter mom, is very wrapped up in her daughter Amy. When Amy goes away to University, Kat cannot seem to let go. When Kat doesn't hear from Amy over the weekend, she knows something is wrong. Even though her husband and her friend tell her to relax, Kat just can't let it go. So begins the mystery of "Where is Amy?" I liked this book, but Kat was a little annoying-all she could think about was her daughter. This book kept me hooked because I wanted to find out what happened to Amy. A good suspenseful mystery!

Did not finish- just can’t get into it. May try again later. Got up to 7 percent and couldn’t take it anymore. Just very meandering and all over the place

Overall: 2/5 Stars
Characters: 2.5/5 Stars
Believability: 2/5 Stars
Personal Opinion: 2/5 Stars

I really wasn’t a fan of this one. You spend the bulk of the book inside Kat’s head with very little actually going on. The emotions she expresses go from one extreme to another, from one sentence to the next, enough to give the reader whiplash. This is basically a story about extremely unhealthy relationships, relationships between mother and daughter, between friends, and even between husband and wife.

I couldn’t find anything in any of the characters that made me feel much sympathy towards what they were going though because they all had some pretty horrible traits. I did feel something towards Amy, but that kind of gets killed when you get a good glimpse into her personality as well.

The specifics of the plot just felt really overblown and extreme from all aspects. The struggle with believability along with the lack of connection to the characters made this not a good book for me.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions stated are honest and my own.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE EMPTY NEST by Sue Watson in exchange for my honest review.***

Kat helicopter momming caused her daughter Amy to attend university two hours away. When Amy doesn’t come home for a weekend, Kat is certain foul play is the reason. Through a series of revelations secrets will be revealed and everybody is suspect.

I hated every single character in THE EMPTY NEST, most of all narrator Kat whose over-enmeshment with her daughter made me cringe. I waffles between hoping Amy ran away to spite her mum and hoping Kat had murdered her daughter. I didn’t guess the outcome, though I did figure out many of the revelations.

Sue Watson’s pleasant writing style kept me engaged, though the pace dragged with repetitive examples of Kat’s terrible parenting and unreasonable expectations. THE EMPTY NEST lacked tension, though will still appeal to mystery lovers.

You might know a mother like Kat. Warm, loving but very controlling. Would you call her behavior obsessive? Maybe. Richard, her supportive second husband, tries to tell her. Her daughter Amy jokes about it. Her best friend Flo tries to help her relax. But when new college student Amy neither returns a daily call and nor comes home for a planned weekend visit, Kat’s world is turned upside down. She desperately tries to convince Richard, Flo and the police that Amy is missing and in danger. She is frantic, wildly blaming others for Amy’s disappearance. The roller coaster ride that The Empty Nest takes you on continues through dips, drops and thrills until a conclusion that leaves you both shocked and satisfied. This is a stay up all night and read thriller!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Su Watson for this ARC.

It is hard to know who to believe in this latest from Sue Watson. From a smother-mother to her bratty teenaged daughter to the best friends - another mother-daughter duo and close neighbors, to the biological abusive father or could it possibly be the step-father, possibly "Professor Perv"? What happens when your child is two hours away for the first time and cracks are appearing in your relationship. When Amy goes missing, Kat just "knows" something's wrong - but is he just being her ever overprotective self or.... Another really great read from Sue Watson!