The Empty Nest by Sue Watson was a great novel! I really liked it, I wasn’t sure which way the story was going to go. I thought maybe the mother was a little crazy, obsessive, depended on her daughter for too much. But the step-father might have been involved too…this book kept me guessing and I loved the uncertainty of it!

Kat remembers the days when her only daughter Amy wouldn’t leave her side. Amy was the baby who cried when you walked out of the room, the toddler who was too shy to speak to strangers, the small child who clung to Kat’s legs in the school playground.

But now Amy is grown up, and Amy is gone – to university in a town several hours away. Kat’s house – which once felt too full, too noisy, too busy – is deathly quiet, and Kat awaits the daily phone call to tell her that her beloved daughter is thriving and happy.

But one day Amy doesn’t call. Kat’s husband and friends think she is being paranoid – surely Amy is just out, having fun with her friends. But Kat knows right away that something is very wrong. Her daughter would never forget to call. She would never just disappear… After all, Amy has nothing to run from. Or does she?

Sue Watson is another author I have on my “To Watch” list! I will be eagerly awaiting whatever she writes next because she’s proven to be a very good suspense writer with this book and her other thrillers, Our Little Lies and The Woman Next Door -both were terrific!

Pre-order The Empty Nest here! Coming out on November first.

Thanks again to Bookouture and Sue Watson for the opportunity to read and review this book. While I can relate to Kat the main character in this book who is an anxious mother concerned for her missing daughter away at college, she can be hard to sympathise with a times. Kat seems overbearing to say the least. Her daughter Amy simply disappears one Friday evening and Kat is distraught. Determined to get to the bottom of what happened to her daughter no one is beyond suspicion even her own husband. A good read if somewhat slow at times

This book just did not capture my interest. I couldn't finish it! I tried several times, but just could not get into it. From the beginning, I did not like Kat. She was kind of a "flat" character. Some of the beginning chapters seemed to take three times as long to convey the plot point than was needed. For now, I am giving this book two stars, since I couldn't finish it. Perhaps I will try again in a few weeks. If I like it better then, I will revise my review.

When your child goes off to live at college, you have to accept the fact that you will not know everything about their life and you may not be as close as you once were.
Kat is anxiously waiting for her daughter Amy’s arrival from school for the weekend. But when she doesn’t show up and the attempts at trying to reach her are futile, Kat believes there is something truly wrong though her family and friends think that maybe Amy has just gone off the grid for a few days. After a few days pass, they band together and call the police to try and get an investigation going. Her best friend Zoe and her daughter Jodie are by her side every day assuring her that she will turn up and that nothing bad has happened. Kat’s husband who is Amy’s stepfather is by her side but she starts to suspect there may be things that she doesn’t know about him. Kat will do anything for Amy and has done in the past. Kat wonders if her past has caught up with her and her secrets are to blame for the disappearance of her daughter either voluntarily or against her will.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Bookouture and Net Galley for an early copy of this book. Hated the mom, very annoying. Had a terrific plot, many twists and turns, unfortunately the mom was unbearable but I’m glad I stuck with it to find out the ending.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic version of this novel, received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: November 1, 2019
Kat has always been very close with her daughter, Amy. They share secrets, and tell each other everything. When Amy goes away to college, Kat struggles with her absence, trying to come to terms with Amy’s new independence. When Amy doesn’t come home as promised, and Kat can’t reach her on the phone or through social media, she immediately suspects something is wrong. Her friends, and even her husband, try and tell her that she is being overprotective, and that Amy is simply exploring her independence. But Amy KNOWS something is wrong, and she is willing to go to great lengths to prove it and bring her daughter home.
Initially, I had a strong dislike for Kat. As a non-parent, she rubbed me the wrong way. Extremely overprotective (helicopter parent isn’t a strong enough description), she seemed to live solely for her child, and needed to know when and where her ADULT daughter was at ALL times. It was a little bit much, to be honest. But as the story went on, and Amy disappears, I began to warm to Kat, and was quickly rooting for her.
Sue Watson has written thirteen novels, and only two (this one included) are in the “psychological suspense” genre. As a relative newbie (to the genre anyway), Watson seems to have what it takes. The plot is gripping, and (although a bit grating initially) the characters are endearing. Watson provides the right amount of suspense in the right places, and keeps a reader engaged from beginning to end. The twists in this novel too, are relatively unexpected. I only had a small inkling as to how the novel was going to end (being a hard-core fan of this genre, it is hard to completely shock me) and I was delighted when it played out in a way that still left me in some state of surprise.
A slow beginning, with a build up to a satisfying ending, “The Empty Nest” is a story about a mother’s love, and the lengths she will go to protect her.

Well! This was just full of storylines that I didn’t see coming. I’ve seen reviews that describe this book as not being so much of a psychological thriller… well…..All I can say is, what’s not psychological about this?! It’s a slow-paced mystery – engaging – twisted – and full of secrets. There’s hope, then hope is whipped away – it’s one of those books where you can’t be certain that there will be a happy ending. And was there…?

The Empty Nest is the latest psychological thriller by Sue Watson. Ms Watson manages to keep the reader guessing as to what happened....each time you think you know where the story is going something changes. I immediately bonded with Kat (the main character) and found this book very difficult to put down. I was given an early copy to review.

This was a good thriller when it finally got going,the first 40% was slow going but I persevered with it and it was a good ending which I had already guessed though.Kat' s daughter Amy has gone away to university and when she is not in contact with Kat for 24 hours she starts to worry because Amy never does that,but nobody apart from Kat believes that Amy is in trouble or missing not even husband Richard and best friend Zoe and her daughter Jodie ( Amy's best friend).As the story progresses you get to realise that all is not sweetness and light in Amy's life as her mum would have everyone believe.and Kat is certainly keeping secrets.If you can get over the first half of the book it does develop into a good phycological thriller with a good ending.Not the best I have read but by no means the worst,a good 4 star read.

This is an engaging albeit slow paced psychological mystery.

The book tell the story of Kat and her daughter Amy. Amy has just begun uni and Kat is always worried about her and waiting impatiently for her daily phone calls. However, one day Amy didn't call and Kat's mother instincts tell her something is not right with her daughter.

At the beginning Kat's husband and her best friend try to calm her down but as the days go by and Amy doesn't call they seek the help of the police. As the investigation proceeds forward buried secrets come to light and reveal certain stuff about Kat's past and her troubled relation with her ex-husband Amy's father.

There are multiple of interesting red herrings, but the ending was really unexpected as there were very few well hidden clues hinting towards this direction.

I enjoyed this novel as it kept me thinking about many possibilities to solve the mystery, but I only wish the writing was more tight as the first half seemed slow paced compared with the second one when secrets and revelations start taking center stage.

Thanks Netgalley, Bookouture, and Sue Watson for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say that it was a bit of a struggle to get through this story. The fact that the first 15% of the story entails one - yes, one - conversation was not a good sign. I seriously wanted to strangle the main character almost right from the start. So much repetition. I understand that's the point, that the main character, Kat, is obsessed with keeping her daughter, Amy, safe and knowing where she is almost all of the time, especially now that Amy has gone off to university. But really, did we need SO MANY pages of the characters saying the exact same thing over and over and over?

Kat: "Where is Amy, oh my God something's happened to her, oh no, oh no"

Any other character she interacts with: "Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine."

Literally, this is like the entire first 50% of the book. Empty nest syndrome is tough, but Kat alludes to there being more to her helicopter parenting than that, so we know there's more to be revealed. I kept thinking, come on, get on with it already! I don't know, it seems to be just me, as the other reviewers surprisingly love this type of writing. I think if the plot had actually progressed a bit earlier than I wouldn't have been so frustrated. Once the action started and revelations started popping up, the story definitely started moving along. If readers make it to the end they will be rewarded, but I fear that like myself, they'll wish it had arrived much sooner.

I am a big fan of Sue Watson. The Empty Nest is more of a domestic noir than psychological thriller. Kat is the seemingly overly protective mother of Amy who has just gone off to university but expected home in a few days. She never makes it. Doesn’t let’s her mother know. Doesn’t makes any social media appearances. This is a deliberately claustrophobic novel told solely from Kat’s perspective and expect for a couple of outings takes place solely in Kat and Richards middle class suburban home. The first third of the book is heartbreaking when no one believes Kat’s mothers intuition that her daughter is missing. Surely nobody knows anybody better then their mother? is at the heart of the story. I never told my mother my secrets and my doings,, and neither did my friends, Yet we hold true to the thought that a mother knows her child. Watson’s characters are so beautifully written that you visualize them rising from the pages. I kept expecting to see the daughters POV to pop up but we never actually meet her but feel we know her. Kat’s all consuming terror and panic fuels the novel and we keep reading dreading the inevitable. Thank god she has good friends supporting her......

Fantastic book, twists i didn't see coming.. what a great ending.. overall a great read, not unputdownable but a good solid 4.5 from me.

Thanks to net galley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

Amy and her mum Kat are very close. As a single mum for the best part of Amy's life it's understandable that Kat can be seen to be a tad over protective. But Kat has her reasons for being protective of Amy, as her best friend Zoe knows. But does she know the full story?

Kat's second husband, lawyer Richard is a quirky character. He and Zoe don't see eye to eye and tend to avoid one another however when Amy goes away to university and Kat doesn't get a call or text from Amy for over 24 hours they are in agreement for once that maybe Kat is overreacting. Amy will be out with her newfound uni friends, living it up into the small hours then recovering from the hangover from hell the next day. But Kat's instinct as a mother tells her something is wrong and she won't settle until she knows Amy is safe.

Kat does come over as being very full on as a parent - has her overbearing nature actually pushed Amy away? As the chapters move on and we find out more about Kat and Amy's history it becomes clear why Kat is the way she is, so I kind of understood her a bit more. But then to cracks in her story start to show and we see that there could be more behind the events in their past. Ex husband Tony seems to hold a lot of power over Kat, she seems disproportionately worried that he will come back from Europe and take Amy away.

Eventually Kat persuades her loved ones that Amy really is missing and she goes to the police to ask for their help. Zoe and her daughter Jodie- one of Amy's closest friends since primary school - are there on hand to support Kat, Jodie even sets up a Facebook page to spread the word of Amy's disappearance. Then as the police start asking questions, the list of people who could potentially be involved in the disappearance. Who was the mysterious older man seen leaving Amy's room at uni? Was she involved with one of her tutors? Or does someone much closer to home hold the key?

The book tells the story of the search for Amy from Kat's point of view. She clearly knows all that has gone before but she has little knowledge of Amy's new life since she has moved away to Aberystwyth. Who are all these new people? Why hasn't Amy told her about them? The emotions obviously keep Kat awake at night, she can't settle to anything constructive and spends all her time moping at home with either Zoe or Jodie for company. Everyone comes under suspicion of being involved yet she has no proof of anything.

The tension builds and builds as the days go by and the reader is no more informed about what happened to Amy than Kat is. The possibilities were buzzing around my mind even when I wasn't reading the book and I was keen to keep on reading at every opportunity.

The outcome certainly surprised me, I didn't see it coming at all. Looking back at the story there aren't many clues along the way but there are some hints if you are looking for them. Overall I found this an engaging read - although Kat did frustrate me greatly at times. Ex husband Tony remained a bit of an enigma and best friend Zoe seemed too keen to be on hand for Kat whether she wanted her there or not which I found really annoying. With plenty of red herrings to keep the reader's mind occupied, this is a book to get your grey matter working whilst Kat battled her demons.

What a brilliant book from Sue Watson, each of her books get better and better if that is possible and this is the third one I have read from Sue.

This is a brilliant addictive psychological thriller, full of twists and turns and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout with a satisfactory, exciting ending. I got into this book from the very first page, which is a must for me and it made very compulsive reading with interesting characters.

I will certainly be recommending this to the many Facebook Book Groups I am a member of and thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book.

Amy had just started at university a few weeks ago. Now, she is missing. Her mum, Katie, is irrational about this and (has always been) obsessive about Amy. Even prior to Amy's missing, Katie was completely distressed about her daughter attending a university 120 miles away! Richard, Amy's stepfather for 15 years is more patient, yet he has his limits with Katie's behavior.

Eventually we find out that Tony, Katie's ex-husband, wanted to have something to do with Amy's life, but that was out of the question!!!

After meeting with the police at the university, Amy has still not shown up after 2-3 days.


Bossy Zoe (Katie's best friend), her daughter, Jodie, and Amy's ex, Josh, help build a "Find Amy" Facebook page as we learn more about the past... and that is when things begin to unravel.

Many Thanks to Bookoutre and NetGalley for a twisty and exciting read!

Excellent. Simply brilliant. A subject I can really relate to, having a daughter of a similar age. Raw at times with a great exploration of emotions. A really excellent novel.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.. I really enjoyed it, there were a lot of things I didn't see coming and I certainly was not expecting the end. I would definitely recommend this book.

The Empty Nest by Sue Warson is a compulsively readable mystery that kept me fully engrossed and turning pages long into the night. This is a twisty thriller that kept me guessing right up until the final page.

Kat and her daughter, Amy, have always had an extremely close relationship. Those closest to them would say too close. So when eighteen year old Amy becomes unreachable soon after starting university, her mother is beyond frantic. Amy would never willingly lose touch with her mother, so something is clearly amiss. Reassured by those closest to her that Amy is simply enjoying her new independence and freedom, Kat remains unconvinced and is determined to find out what has happened to her precious daughter. Suddenly, everyone closest to Amy seems to be keeping secrets, including her own mother.

This story is brilliantly executed and has all the elements of a thoroughly addictive read. Sue Watson has become a writer to watch.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

Kat is a woman I could really relate to. The concerns you have for your child is something that for me, grows as they get older. When they are toddlers you worry about the small things but as they get older and more dependent, there is so much more to worry about.

Having not had a child go to university, I could still feel the anxiety that Kat does in the story. To not have them close by if anything was to go wrong. As a parent you can only trust that they will look after themselves and be okay. A mother’s instinct is a truly wonderful gift and like Kat, I just new something was terribly wrong.

The author is very good at leading you down the wrong path. I thought I had sussed out who was behind Amy’s disappearance very early on. Sitting all the way through feeling smug to myself that I was positive I was right. I should have known better as that smug feeling well and truly vanished when it all comes to light. I was so gobsmacked as I hadn’t seen it coming whatsoever!

The Empty Nest is a story steeped in secrets and lies. The suspense and tension surrounding Amy’s disappearance, builds up wonderfully and had me totally hooked, tearing through the pages to see just what had happened to her. I was like a woman possessed as Kat’s concerns became my concerns. There are some very clever twists and turns and hats off to the author as I so did not see that outcome.

An author whose books keep getting darker and even more fabulous than the one before it.