Book Review: BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND by Heather Gudenkauf

Title: BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND

Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher: Park Row
Read: April 2019

Expected publication: 16 April 2019

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟3/4

Book Description:

For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover--movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences.

Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora--and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted--not even those closest to Cora.

My musings:

I first fell in love with Gudenkauf’s writing when I was introduced to Amelia Winn in NOT A SOUND two years ago. Ever since then I have wanted to read more from this author, and was ecstatic to receive an ARC of her latest book for review – thank you, Park Row Publishing!

BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND starts off with a tragic scene: a twelve year old girl has been found unconscious and bleeding in an abandoned railway yard. Her friend is nearby, also covered in blood, appearing unharmed but severely traumatised. The third girl is nowhere to be found. All three were supposed to be at a friend sleep-over. What terrible thing has happened to these girls?

After the strong opening scene, the author uses different formats to skip back and forth between past and present to unravel the mystery. We hear from family members, a trauma therapist, journal entries and text messages exchanged between the girls. Slowly but surely, a picture of the complicated friendship dynamics between the girls and of the events leading up to the tragedy is forming. It is at this point that the author spices up the story with an urban legend that lends an additional air of menace and danger to the events of that night.

But even more disturbing is the way the girls interact with each other. Jordyn, the leader of the pack, is self-confident, popular and a cruel bully when she can’t have her way. Most of the time it’s Cora, the quiet introverted one that bears the brunt of Jordyn’s anger and becomes the butt of her jokes. But even worse, there are moments when Jordyn pretends to be Cora’s friend, only to betray her over and over again. Violet, cowed by Jordyn’s domineering nature, is often caught in the middle, afraid to stand up to Jordyn. Before Jordyn came into the picture, she was Cora’s best friend, but now she is more careful with her alliances. Be assured that this book will make all those high school memories come flooding back!

There are a lot of clues and red herrings scattered through the story, and of course I fell for the first dead end and followed it to the bitter finale before cottoning on that I had been duped. However, this was a fast and intriguing read and I was eager to find out the answers. Seeing how every single person in this book is very quick to tell lies in order to protect their own interests, solving the puzzle is not as easy as you may think. The final reveal was not at all what I expected, and I had to sit with it for a while to let it all digest. In hindsight, the author was very clever to use different media to lead us down the path to the conclusion, and all the hints are there, so the budding sleuth readers amongst us should take this as a challenge – can you solve the puzzle? Personally, I was not totally in love with the ending, but that’s how it goes, and many other readers will disagree with me on that point.

All in all, I hemmed and hawed over a rating and finally settled on 3.75 – yes, I am one of those annoying reviewers that can’t stick with the full points, but I will happily round it up to 4 for the entertaining, well written novel this ultimately turned out to be. I look forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you to Edelweiss and Park Row Books for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review. and to the Travelling Sisters Group for another great buddy read - I loved our discussion!