Thank you to the lovely team at Hachette Australia for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. divorced mother Lou is waiting on her eighteen year old son Samuel to arrive before the curfew hits otherwise they must stay for the next four weeks where they are, when he doesn’t arrive home and she cannot contact him Lou pushes the panic buttons, does she have a reason to?

With a few red herrings and unexpected twists, this is one engaging read that you won't want to put down. I know we are still in the midst of the pandemic – as someone who only got it for the first time a month ago – but it was a bit surreal. But Lou as brought Samuel up to never lie (which is an underlying theme throughout this story), and now he's disappeared. The whole story with Jessica fascinated me and I so wish it had gone down that path and not where it went. Opening with an outstandstanding prologue, this twist-filled, fast-paced mystery moves at a breathless speed.

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. Deftly written, lean in style, this is a gripping read from a true talent' Weekend Australian'Tense and twisty . Weak and unsubstantial - as evidenced by the way that almost a third of the paperback is actually a seven chapter preview of his next book!

I’m a fan of this author generally and I’m sad about this because for several chapters I thought this was a 5 star read.Easily a one sitting read, Home Before Night is an addictive mystery tale from thriller extraordinaire J. As the third wave of the virus hits, all inhabitants of Melbourne are given until 8pm to get to their homes. At just under 200 pages long, Home Before Night is a fast paced and entertaining read, but also much shorter than I expected, with the paperback padded with a 100 page preview of Pomare’s forthcoming novel, Seventeen Years Later, to be published in 2024. When Lou discovers Samuel isn’t with his girlfriend, more alarm bells begin to ring, and Lou can’t help but think it has something to do with events from her past with Samuel’s father Marko. Pomare’s protagonists are authentic character conglomerations, which draws the reader further into this crime tale.

I found the protagonist needy, overbearing and in general unlikeable which might be a ick for some readers, but I don't mind especially if they're interesting and it's a bonus when it all makes so much sense at the end.Seems like no one really has good memories of Covid and This book kinda has nothing to do with it, except a situational relevance. But Lou knows she is unable to reach out to the police to help her locate Samuel as it will land her in hot water. The characters are miserable, trying to get through the minutia of the first 8-12chapters was very, very difficult for me. The lockdown in this book is more of a New Zealand style lockdown - we never had 'where you are at 8pm tonight you must stay for x weeks' and from memory you could always exercise with one other person it was never alone.

P. Pomare is quickly becoming one of Australia's biggest literary exports' The GuardianMother's intuition or a deadly guilty conscience? but what can his mother do - She cant go to the police he secrets will be revealed they will know who she really is. Also - is it just me or is it too soon to be writing books revolving entirely around the covid pandemic? 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'A twisty small-town mystery with a protagonist I didn't want to let go' IAN RANKIN'The pay-off is criminally good .Home Before Night is a fast paced crime thriller with the sort of blindside twist we've come to expect from Pomare. However, I felt it ended too quickly and wrapped up sharply, leaving me feeling a bit short -changed. Pomare depicts this precarious, uncertain and trying time well, reminding us of the restrictions that were placed on us just a few short years ago. With a fair plot, the revelations are moderate and the cast is underdeveloped, it just doesn’t hit the mark for me. At the heart of this novel is grief, the overwhelming way in which it can alter a person's mind and actions.