Book Review: THE OVERNIGHT GUEST by Heather Gudenkauf

 

Title: THE OVERNIGHT GUEST

Author:  Heather Gudenkauf

Read: March 2022

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.

As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.

My musings:

 

Claustrophobic, “snowed-in” mysteries make for the best escapes, especially when it’s a heatwave outside! I usually enjoy Gudenkauf’s books, so I was very excited to read THE OVERNIGHT GUEST with our reading group – and we had a lot of fun sharing our wild and wonderful theories along the way.

 

THE OVERNIGHT GUEST plays out in three separate timelines. In the present, true crime writer Wylie Lark has ensconced herself in a remote farmhouse in the snow to finish off her latest book when a blizzard cuts off all electricity, phone reception and roads into town. In the second timeline, a young girl witnesses the abuse of her mother at the hands of her father. And in the third timeline, twenty or so years in the past, teenager Josie Doyle lives through the most horrific night of her life, when her parents are shot and her brother and best friend disappear. Gudenkauf cleverly weaves all these stories together into a tense, suspenseful mystery that only gradually gives up all its secrets. If you love the kind of story in which you can play armchair detective, then this one should definitely appeal – I guessed some elements but was totally in the dark with some of the others.

 

For lovers of atmospheric settings, THE OVERNIGHT GUEST is the type of mystery where the snowy landscape features almost like another character and adds to the suspense. If the thought of being trapped in a blizzard with an unexpected visitor wasn’t terrifying enough, the house itself holds a dark secret that was not for the faint of heart.

 

I’m normally not a huge fan of too many POVs and usually find myself drawn more to one than the others, and one of the threads contained a theme I would not usually choose to read. However, despite initial misgivings I was soon intrigued by the story, and even though Josie’s POV was by far the most compelling for me, the different threads soon came together to make for a compelling mystery. There were a few plotholes and unanswered questions at the end, which bugged me, but overall I enjoyed the story and thought it made for a good buddy read.

 

All in all, THE OVERNIGHT GUEST was a suspenseful, claustrophobic mystery with an atmospheric setting that quickly captured my attention and kept me interested until the end.