The Overnight Guest: A Novel

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Wylie is a true-crime author. She presently rents a secluded home in the middle of nowhere to finish her latest book. Who could have predicted she’d find herself in the middle of a massive blizzard, leaving her cut off from everyone? The Overnight Guest is a tense and highly atmospheric thriller and held my attention to the very end. stars— I can’t believe I am giving this book 2.5 stars after the first three quarters of it was so entertaining. In fact I was considering a 5 star rating until I got to a certain part of the book I like to call — “The Most Ridiculous Coincidence in The History of Books.” If you have read this book you know it occurs about 80 percent in and to say that it is beyond belief is an understatement. The book alternates between the story of a horrible crime that occurred in the past and a writer who comes to town to write about these events 20 years later. Without spoiling the plot, here are just a few of the things that happen on the night the overnight guest arrives at the author’s home: Heather lives in Dubuque, Iowa with her husband, three children, and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Maxine. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and running.

Y'all, this novel is intensely-gripping. It follows both Wylie's present timeline, as well as the perspective and timeline of a girl who lived in the house at the time of the gruesome murders. This book hooked me right from the beginning and delivered a few surprising twists. The settings in this book were what made it so atmospheric. One timeline takes place during the heat of summer and another in the dead of winter. Each had me sweating and freezing in turns.A woman receives an unexpected visitor during a deadly snowstormin this chilling thriller from New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf. Wylie wanted to talk to her son. She wanted to apologize for just taking off. She had been so frustrated with him, so tired of the arguments, of Seth pitting her ex-husband against her. And when he took off that night and didn’t come home–that was pure torture. She didn’t know where Seth was, who he was with, didn’t know if he was alive or dead. This was my first time reading Heather Gudenkauf, and I am now excited to read more books by the author. There is one more crucial storyline threaded into this book. But what kind of a friend would I be if I spilled the beans?! You’ll just have to let it unfold as you read along. No spoilers here!.🤫 Shifting among three separate storylines in a fiendishly clever way, The Overnight Guest is just about the most structurally innovative mystery we’ve read since The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. In the present day, true-crime writer Wylie Lark is holed up in a cabin in rural Iowa during a brutal snowstorm. While searching for her dog in the snow, Wylie comes across a traumatized young boy and his injured mother, who mysteriously disappears. That puzzle opens up additional timelines…and trust us, you don’t want us to spoil them for you! Let’s just say that Heather Gudenkauf makes us work for every piece of this fascinating puzzle—and we love her for it. By the time we started to grasp what was really going on, we were almost as soaked with fear as the characters. This is an ideal thriller to hunker down with during a long, wintry night. Just be sure to leave the lights on.” -Apple Books

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.** Wylie pressed her fingers to her throat as if she could pry away its cold grip. Night had finally found her unprepared, and Wylie felt she might suffocate.Wylie Lark is a True Crime writer. In the course of her work, she frequently travels to the locations where the crimes she is writing about have taken place. All those stories intercepted very wisely. Till the last chapters, I was about to give five stars but the last vengeance parts are a little overrated and long. The culprit turns into something between Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers who resists to die like a cat with nine lives which made me roll my eyes several times. And there are still some unanswered parts about the motives of the murderer. And third, the narrative in the present, in which true crime writer Wylie Lark is trying to write her latest book but is disturbed by a storm and a child whom she finds wandering out in the snow. This is one of my favorite types of thrillers. Multiple storylines and leaving it up to you, the reader/amateur armchair detective, to connect all the dots and just maybe figure out how it will all come together. Who’s up for the challenge?💁🏻‍♀️

The Present: The small child who turns up outside the “Murder House” where Wylie is TEMPORARILY staying to pen her True Crime novel about the events that occurred there, will have a link that will help her to solve those very same crimes.

Wylie Lark, a true crime writer, while in a tug of war with her teenage son, travels to a remote farmhouse where an unsolved murder took place twenty years ago.

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. Yet another narrative details the life of a young girl and her parents. Gudenkauf says she didn’t realize at first the the third perspective was necessary. But as she was writing, it became evident that the story would not be complete without it. The little girl’s mother is again pregnant, having lost two children previously. It soon becomes clear that the girl and her mother are dependent on her father for everything, including food, which he sometimes fails to deliver. The girl dreams about going into “the Out There,” a world she has only experienced through television programs and gazing at a glimpse of it from a basement window. As the narrative proceeds, in chapters alternating with the other two, the time frame is unclear. But it becomes apparent that the woman and her child are being held captive in a basement. Who are they? Who is holding them hostage? In the third plot line, a woman and her daughter are being held captive in a basement by the child’s cruel and controlling father. The mother is being sexually and physically abused while the daughter is in the room as neither are ever allowed out of the small two room basement. Who are they? How did they become his prisoners?Author discovers a small child freezing to death on her driveway because she happens to be walking her dog in a blizzard —later discovers the child wandered away from a car accident ☑️ The Past-a double murder and two missing kids from the Doyle farmhouse just outside of Des Moines, Iowa. Was there movement behind the darkened windshield? Abby couldn’t be sure, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching. The clouds cleared and Abby saw a figure hunched behind the steering wheel. A man. He was wearing a cap, and in the moonlight, Abby caught a glimpse of pale skin, a slightly off-center nose, and a sharp chin. He was just sitting there. Josie was sure she heard the pounding of footsteps behind them, and she turned to see what was hunting them. There was nothing, no one—just the house bathed in nighttime shadows.