The Overnight Guest: A Novel

The Overnight Guest is my first read by Heather Gudenkauf. The eerie cover and the synopsis drew me in and I am so glad it did because I was hooked from beginning to end., Wylie Lark is a true crime writer who is staying in an isolated farmhouse in a small town in Iowa to finish her latest book. Her book is about the people that were murdered twenty years ago in that very same farmhouse and the young girl that disappeared without a trace. With a snow and ice storm hammering down, Wylie finds herself trapped in the house haunted by its secrets as well as her own. When Wylie finds a child lying in the snow in the yard, she brings him into the house for warmth and safety, but Wylie soon learns that with this child comes danger., This book is told in a dual timeline. The timeline in the present centers around Wylie. I loved the eeriness this timeline brought to the book. Gudenkauf’s writing of the snow and ice storm actually made me cold and I could just visualize everything I was reading. We get a little back story on Wylie in this timeline, she is divorced and is estranged from her teenage son. She comes across as a bit cold to start but I did grow to like her by the end of the book. When she first brings the child into the house, she gets very agitated when he shied away from her and wouldn’t talk. But when push came to shove, Wylie stepped up and did what ever she had to do to keep herself and the child safe from the evil that was after him., The second timeline takes place in the summer of 2000 and is told from the POV of 12-year-old Josie. Josie’s parents were murdered in the farmhouse and her best friend Becky went missing. Again, Gudenkauf does an excellent job of describing the farms in this setting. This timeline starts the morning of the murders, and as we see the day playing out, we get a few murder suspects. Right from the start I was suspecting everyone. Josie was such a well written character and my heart just broke for her., In addition to these two timelines, we also get short chapters from the POV of a little girl. This girl and her mother are living in the basement of their home, well I should say they are locked in the basement by the girl’s father. We do not know who this girl and her mother are, but they both pulled at my heart strings. These chapters also gave me an Emma Donoghue “Room” vibe., I love how these seemly unconnected timelines eventually come together in an ending that had a few twists and left a few tears in my eyes., Heather Gudenkauf’s The Overnight Guest, is a suspenseful mystery that kept me guessing for the most part. I thought all of the characters and each timeline setting was very well written. I also loved how Gudenkauf slowly increased the tension in the present day timeline until I was on the edge of my seat at the end. I definitely want to check out more of Heather Gudenkauf’s books.

The Overnight Guest is my first read by Heather Gudenkauf. The eerie cover and the synopsis drew me in and I am so glad it did because I was hooked from beginning to end., Wylie Lark is a true crime writer who is staying in an isolated farmhouse in a small town in Iowa to finish her latest book. Her book is about the people that were murdered twenty years ago in that very same farmhouse and the young girl that disappeared without a trace. With a snow and ice storm hammering down, Wylie finds herself trapped in the house haunted by its secrets as well as her own. When Wylie finds a child lying in the snow in the yard, she brings him into the house for warmth and safety, but Wylie soon learns that with this child comes danger., This book is told in a dual timeline. The timeline in the present centers around Wylie. I loved the eeriness this timeline brought to the book. Gudenkauf’s writing of the snow and ice storm actually made me cold and I could just visualize everything I was reading. We get a little back story on Wylie in this timeline, she is divorced and is estranged from her teenage son. She comes across as a bit cold to start but I did grow to like her by the end of the book. When she first brings the child into the house, she gets very agitated when he shied away from her and wouldn’t talk. But when push came to shove, Wylie stepped up and did what ever she had to do to keep herself and the child safe from the evil that was after him., The second timeline takes place in the summer of 2000 and is told from the POV of 12-year-old Josie. Josie’s parents were murdered in the farmhouse and her best friend Becky went missing. Again, Gudenkauf does an excellent job of describing the farms in this setting. This timeline starts the morning of the murders, and as we see the day playing out, we get a few murder suspects. Right from the start I was suspecting everyone. Josie was such a well written character and my heart just broke for her., In addition to these two timelines, we also get short chapters from the POV of a little girl. This girl and her mother are living in the basement of their home, well I should say they are locked in the basement by the girl’s father. We do not know who this girl and her mother are, but they both pulled at my heart strings. These chapters also gave me an Emma Donoghue “Room” vibe., I love how these seemly unconnected timelines eventually come together in an ending that had a few twists and left a few tears in my eyes., Heather Gudenkauf’s The Overnight Guest, is a suspenseful mystery that kept me guessing for the most part. I thought all of the characters and each timeline setting was very well written. I also loved how Gudenkauf slowly increased the tension in the present day timeline until I was on the edge of my seat at the end. I definitely want to check out more of Heather Gudenkauf’s books.

Heather Gudenkauf has written another masterpiece of a mystery., This book as is some of her others is written in alternating time frames. In August of 2000, the Doyle family lived in a rural Iowa farming community. The events of 2000 are interlocked. The first event was when a local woman goes for an evening jog and hears gun shots. Naturally she thinks the cornstalks that are growing on either side of the street will either provide protection or be a hiding place for the shooter to hide. Seeing a lone pickup truck arouses her fears and suspicions., The Cutter family who have a hog farm in the area are possible suspects. Deb Cutter’s husband has sneaked out of the house and his truck is missing as is their son Brock’s. Brock is a veteran and has had mental issues since he returned from the Middle East in the late 1990s., The Doyle family is in danger. Josie Doyle, 13 and her best friend Becky sneak out of the house for a nocturnal adventure. Little do the girls know that somebody with a gun is out shooting and they could be next. In fact, Josie is shot in the arm when she grabs Becky to flee the bullets., Josie’s parents are killed and her older brother Ethan is missing as is his truck. Could Ethan have done this? Becky somehow vanishes and Josie is left to cope with the aftermath of becoming an orphan. Fortunately her grandparents take her in., Fast forward to the 2022:, Wylie Lark is a career true crime author who is living in a ramshackle farmhouse in Burden Iowa. A snowstorm has forced her to remain indoors. A divorcée with a 14-year-old son living out of state with her ex, Wylie tries to convince herself that arrangement is for the best. Her current project is about the Doyle murders and the disappearance of Becky., Through a series of bizarre flukes, Wylie finds a mostly frozen child outside her door and the child’s seriously injured mother and an overturned pickup truck nearby. More questions arise – who are they? Were they looking for Wylie? Does the child’s mother have secrets other than fleeing an abusive husband? And the child?, This was an excellent mystery that kept me up late reading. Heather Gudenkauf is a master mystery author and this book was no exception.

It has been a while since I’ve read a book this quickly (some slower days with Christmas and New Years), in a while. I really don’t have a favorite part or a part I didn’t like, you could say all of it was my favorite part. The way Heather made Josie’s character was perfect. She made Josie a very strong young lady and tough as an adult. I have to say that if my parents and brother were murdered, and I saw them after, I can’t say I would turn out they way Josie did. The only thing that I feel needed some resolution to was, what happened to Jackson after he was locked in the shed? Wylie said she unlocked the door but was he alive, if so what happened after? However, that’s a minor detail I can live without. What I loved most though, you can’t figure anything out until the last chapters when everything comes together. What makes a good book is, how many twists and turns there are and then getting just enough info to make you think you know what is going on. Well done, ready for the next mind bender from Heather.

It has been a while since I’ve read a book this quickly (some slower days with Christmas and New Years), in a while. I really don’t have a favorite part or a part I didn’t like, you could say all of it was my favorite part. The way Heather made Josie’s character was perfect. She made Josie a very strong young lady and tough as an adult. I have to say that if my parents and brother were murdered, and I saw them after, I can’t say I would turn out they way Josie did. The only thing that I feel needed some resolution to was, what happened to Jackson after he was locked in the shed? Wylie said she unlocked the door but was he alive, if so what happened after? However, that’s a minor detail I can live without. What I loved most though, you can’t figure anything out until the last chapters when everything comes together. What makes a good book is, how many twists and turns there are and then getting just enough info to make you think you know what is going on. Well done, ready for the next mind bender from Heather.

To be honest I had a hard time getting into the book in the beginning (more due to not being able to focus in general) however once I realized the flow of the book… it kept me second guessing and wondering so the way thru. I was definitely blown away by the ending… but I really liked how it all came together.

This story was chilling, brutal, and at times terrifying. I devoured this in a day because I had to know what happened! I knocked a star off because I guessed who the killer was and other plot lines pretty early on, but I still was totally enthralled with the story despite that! There are definitely some triggers throughout, so if you have sensitivities I’d look into those before reading!

This story was chilling, brutal, and at times terrifying. I devoured this in a day because I had to know what happened! I knocked a star off because I guessed who the killer was and other plot lines pretty early on, but I still was totally enthralled with the story despite that! There are definitely some triggers throughout, so if you have sensitivities I’d look into those before reading!