Deftly plotted, pacey and sharply written. Twists come out of nowhere and the high drama of the final few chapters is edge-of-the-seat stuff' NEW ZEALAND WOMAN'S WEEKLY Praise for the critically acclaimed, award-winning novels of J. P. Pomare, Call Me Evie, In the Clearing, Tell Me Lies and The Last Guests: A lean and terrifying thriller about a mother’s desperate search for her missing son during a pandemic. Trust us, you’ll devour it in one sitting!’ Woman’s Day As another wave of the virus hits, inhabitants of Melbourne are given until 8pm to get to their home. After that, curfew begins and they need to stay there for 4 weeks. When Lou's son Samuel doesn't arrive, she begins to panic. He doesn't answer his phone, or message, or get on social media. Lou is scared and worried but can't go to the police because she has secrets of her own that she can't let Samuel find out. Lou must find her son herself and bring him home.

An expertly plotted mystery with echoes of Lee Child. I raced through it and missed it once I finished' ALLIE REYNOLDS An excellent tense and twisty thriller set in the Covid years. A mother’s instincts tell her that something is wrong with her son when he doesn’t come home in time for the curfew. But not everything is as it seems, and new plots appear as more characters are introduced. I found it hard to have sympathy for the main character, but the writing is so compelling that I couldn’t put the book down. I didn’t see the final twist coming. I highly recommend this book. Marjolaine, WA, 5 StarsAuthors: This is a place to post author interviews. Have you been interviewed, or have you interviewed someone? Attach the links. As Reid's investigation unfolds, nothing is as it seems: rumours are swirling about the well-liked young woman who crashed the car, killing her professor husband, and their possible connection to a local student who has gone missing. We invite our trusted community to engage directly with the nation-wide conversation about books by registering for Preview, our new crowd-sourced book review platform. Due to the insight and perceptiveness of our readers, we are launching a platform that allows your voice to be heard. How do I express interest in reviewing a book?

This fast-paced novella-sized thriller explores the loneliness and alcoholic tendencies of a single mum to a teenager old enough to do his own thing. She’s held a huge secret with her ex-husband for a long time and it’s starting to claw at her. Exploring these themes as well as overprotective parenting, paranoia, religion, and adoption, there are red herrings sprinkled throughout that had me wondering if I really knew what was going on… The twists and turns from one possibility to the next continue right to the end with the final twist. A tense and compelling read. Sue, QLD, 3 Stars A clever and twisty tale involving secrets from the past that have a habit of turning up when you least expect it. Mostly told by Lou, the story centres around the disappearance of her son, Samuel. Lots of suspense and a twist I didn’t see coming. J.P. has done it again! Judi, NSW, 4 Stars Soon Reid finds himself veering away from the job he has been paid to do. Will he end up in the dangerous position of taking on the town again? Deftly plotted, pacey and sharply written. Twists come out of nowhere and the high drama of the final few chapters is edge-of-the-seat stuff’ New Zealand Women’s Weekly An engrossing tale of investigation and discovery, which will keep the reader fascinated to the end' CANBERRA TIMESthanks for the great question. Firstly, I adore Maketu. As a teenager I spent a great deal of time there and around Pukehina where friends had …more Hi Dee,

Better Reading and the relevant publisher will never share the details provided by Preview reviewers for any purposes beyond the relevant Preview campaign. It’s not clear, however, if Lou’s instincts can be trusted. She’s a heavy drinker, and presents as perhaps a little paranoid, in part troubled by a secret from her past that Pomare teases out. Deft plotting suggests several possible reasons for Sam’s absence, ensuring the reveal will likely come as a surprise. As the author does so well in his other books, he is able to turn the trajectory of the narrative on its head and introduces a tense and bloody stand-off. Despite the consequences to herself and Marko, Lou is prepared to do anything to protect Samuel. The novel concludes with Lou telling herself – ‘It all works out in the end’ [189].Great read, so hard to put down. A real ‘Do as I say, not as I do’. Draws you into this great tale with the likable Lou, but then it’s constantly changing, consistently intriguing, and rivetingly unpredictable. Lisa, WA, 5 Stars To this point, the novel is essentially a straightforward psychological thriller exposing how secrets and deceit determine the protagonists’ lives by creating a prism through which they view the world. Lou is constrained in how she can respond to Samuel’s disappearance as she cannot go to the police because of her fear that the secret will come out. Compounding her fear is her realisation that ‘Samuel knows what happened. He knows the truth’ [131]. But which truth? In Part Two of the novel, the story is turned around completely. Whatever conclusions the reader may have come to by this stage of the novel can now be discarded. The ‘second’ truth to emerge is far more serious with broader implications than the first. The clues are present in the first part of the novel but are cleverly and ambiguously stated so that any conclusions drawn by the reader will be shown to be incorrect. The narrative arc now moves beyond being a psychological thriller towards one which culminates in violence and bloodshed. With plenty of doubt cast on the characters combined with a number of possibilities raised for Samuel’s disappearance, the pressure builds to a crescendo in Home Before Night. I won’t spoil it for you, so reach out and grab a copy when you can, it’s a compressed style read that you will whip through in no time!