This is the type of thriller I love! There are multiple timelines, and you know that they're all directly connected to each other, but not sure how exactly. The timeline in August 2000 was definitely my favorite, but they are all pretty thrilling, but for different reasons.

I was able to predict most of the story, but there were moments where I was seriously questioning my predictions. For me, being able to predict the ending isn't a bad thing. At the end where all the stories come together, all the story lines meet in a really satisfying way. And there were definitely some tears shed when some details were revealed to me.

I also really liked how one story takes place in the brutal summer heat, and one is during a dangerous snowstorm. I thought those two extremes were really interesting to go back and fourth between, and the huge extreme weather conditions were tied to these two life-changing events for the characters.

Overall, I would definitely recommend to anyone who wants an interesting thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Park Row for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

The winter months are the perfect time to read The Overnight Guest, Heather Gudenkauf’s newest thriller teeming with suspense, shocks, and plenty of snow. Throughout her career, Gudenkauf has proven herself adapt at crafting complex storylines that rarely proceed in traditional manner. The Overnight Guest is just the latest example of her ingenuity.

The first half of The Overnight Guest is actually a rotation of three distinct storylines which Heather Gudenkauf will masterfully weave together in unexpected ways right around the middle of the novel – setting up a second half that is virtually impossible to step away from until all the answers are revealed. Those storylines include:

• a summer of 2000 sleep-over between two girls – Josie and Becky – does not go as expected, resulting in the children becoming witness to a horrific crime taking place on an isolated farm in Iowa. By the time the night is over, two people are dead, Josie is traumatized, and several people are missing – including Becky.
• in present day, Wylie Lark, a true-crime writer who prefers to immerse herself in the location where the crime she is covering took place is staying at the farmhouse during a harsh snowstorm. As the storm rages around them, Wylie’s dog discovers a small boy lying on the ground in danger of freezing. Knowing there is no hope that emergency services could get to their location, Wylie takes the boy in as her guest for the evening.
• meanwhile, a third storyline is less coherent, involving a mother and daughter living an isolated existence as the husband and father comes and goes.

Crime readers will immediately begin the work of connecting these storylines in their minds as they read, but Heather Gudenkauf has some tricks (and twists) up her sleeve, making that more challenging than it might seem. Because of the three simultaneous storylines, there are many characters to keep track of, but after just a few chapters, most readers will be able to follow the events without any trouble.

The turning point comes right around the halfway mark in the novel and from there, Heather Gudenkauf shifts gears to a more traditional thriller plotline in which it is not clear if anyone will escape with their life intact. The groundwork this author has placed in the early chapters helps to ratchet up the tension and the blustery-cold setting will have readers reaching for a blanket and hot tea.

The crime writing genre has seen countless examples of past crimes leading to present danger, but Gudenkauf is not afraid to take chances with her narrative – luring readers into her complex web of events before taking some unexpected detours that delight. It is hard to imagine any crime fiction fan coming away from The Overnight Guest disappointed or unsatisfied. In fact, most will be anxiously awaiting Heather Gudenkauf’s next novel.

Heather Gudenkauf is a genius. What a fabulous heartpounding thriller.

The book starts off with a bang and doesn't let up until the last page.
The story has three POVs and can I just say all three narratives have you hooked. One story is in the past and the other two are in the present. All are linked inextricably.

The plotting and the pace of the book is gripping. The author has done a great job in character development which is a feat considering there are many characters. Despite the many characters each one is distinctive from the other.

The setting of the book is phenomenal. You can almost feel the cold with the evocative writing.

I don't want to give more details but suffice it to say this book is a perfect thriller which has you hooked from start to end. It has you thinking about it after you have finished the book.

A solid 5 star read! Highly recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you net galley for the advance ebook of THE OVERNIGHT GUEST by Heather Gudenkauf. This book was awesome. This was a 'whodunit' that kept me guessing. While I had figured out a lot of it, I was wrong in my thinking of who did the deed. I enjoy books that go back and forth between timelines/characters. It made the book very suspenseful and made me want to hurry up and get to the next chapter to find out what had happened.

You've heard the phrase "I can't put it down!" but that is exactly what happened to me. Every chapter pinned me to the edge of my seat with a "what the heck is happening." This story is DARK and scary so just know that going in. But the concluding scenes are so rewarding. This is a stellar novel. Thank you, Netgalley, for my arc.

I’m rating this book 3 stars, which to me means it was good while it lasted but not great – it’s just another average thriller that I’ll end up forgetting about.

First off – when stories are told like this, you already know the three parts are all related, so it wasn’t a big jump to think that the mystery woman was Becky, and she Wylie was Josie writing her own story. Was this supposed to be a plot twist? Also the reveal of Randy was just bleh – and we just never heard from Jackson again after Wylie locked him up in the shed. Since I already knew everything was connected, I wish the author didn’t drag the ending out for so long. I also think there should have been more included about Wylie being an author. It’s an afterthought that really only gets brought up again in the epilogue, but by the time I got there I didn’t care anymore.

And I’m sorry, but theres no fucking way that Josie and Becky wouldn’t recognize each other lol. Now that I wrote all this, I’m thinking 3 stars is generous.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Heather Gudenkauf delivers yet another shocking blockbuster thriller that needs to be added to the top of your to be read list!

Point of view told in a present timeline that is going through an unbelievable winter weather storm and also told from a 20 year old past in the summer sweltering heat.

How these timelines intermix and correlate to each other had me flying through the pages trying to discover the answer.

A true disturbing treat of a story!

Thank you @htpbooks and @netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Holy cow! I LOVED this thriller!! I read half of it in one sitting and had to slow myself down so it wouldn’t be over so quickly.

This book has three different storylines. Wylie’s present day, Josie’s family in 2000, and an unknown captive woman and child.

Every single one of those POVs were page-turning stories in and of themselves. I honestly just could not stop reading!

What I loved most about this was the eerie atmosphere of a big snowstorm, all of the unknowns of the overnight guest, and how it all falls into place at the perfect time.

There were a couple twists, but I had figured them out beforehand, with the exception of one, which made me gasp!

Honestly, this is just such a riveting story! I have already started recommending it to all of my reader friends. You won’t regret picking this up.

This was quite a chilling thriller! 😉

It was incredibly atmospheric and I throughly enjoyed this suspenseful and tense story!

Gudenkauf masterfully plotted this one and flawlessly executed three separate narratives that were mysterious and all seemingly unrelated. I was completely entertained and satisfied with how it all unfolded and came together!

I also tend to love when the protagonists are authors or if there is a book within a book aspect and I relished in the fact that Wylie was a true crime writer!

The Overnight Guest is told by three narrators: Josie (the past), Wylie (the present/20 years later), and an unnamed child.
-Josie should be enjoying the summer in her sleepy small town; however, murder makes her life take an unimaginable turn. I kept wondering - who committed these murders and why?
-Wylie is a true crime writer who is working on her latest work while holed up in a farmhouse during a raging winter storm. Wylie's situation is the stuff that nightmares are made of - isolation in a creepy old house, a disturbing discovery in the snow, no power or phone.
-The child, who is mainly cared for by her mother, has a story that becomes increasingly disturbing as more details are revealed.

The Overnight Guest was a solid thriller! As each story unfolded, the tension continued to build. I love reading the evolution of multiple stories and seeing how they eventually intertwine. Time to add more books by this author to my list!

Sometimes I like to be scared and this one terrified me. Maybe it's a fear of being in a rural place (*sidenote- I live in a rural place*), being trapped and feeling helpless. The only hiccup here was in the description of Wylie's personal relationships.....I felt like it was not as fleshed out as I'd prefer. I understand why, after reading the whole thing, but I still felt like that was lacking a bit. However, this was scary and unexpected! I love to try and figure everything out and I did not get it all this time. That's a plus! 4 stars, recommend!

The Overnight Guest will pull you in from page one. It will keep you guessing as to who done it. The characters will stay with you for a long time.

Wylie Clark is a true crime writer escaping her ex-husband and son by working in Burden, Iowa. Years ago, at this isolated farmhouse she's renting, a horrible crime happened--two parents were murdered and a young girl disappeared. Wylie finds herself trapped in the farmhouse in a snowstorm, working on her book, when she finds a small child nearly frozen in the snow in her backyard. As she tries to figure out where the child came from, she quickly realizes neither she nor the child are safe--and that she's not as isolated and alone in the farmhouse as she thought.

I loved this dark and twisty thriller--it was a total page-turner. It's told from three different perspectives that intertwine perfectly. We have present day Wylie, a writer escaping her present by researching the past. We have the 2000s timeline that gives us the story of the farmhouse murder Wylie is researching. And we have an undated story told by a daughter and her mother.

So much of Wylie's story takes place in the snow and ice, creating an eerie and ominous setting. The snow feels oppressive and dark, mirroring how Wylie feels. The theme of darkness, in fact, threads superbly through the entire book.

"It isn't the dark you should be afraid of, the girl thought, it's the monsters who step into the light that you need to fear."

I don't want to give away too much about this one, but the story is excellent--full of twists and plenty that kept me guessing. It touches on family and friendship while offering a dark, creepy, and intricately plotted tale.

Many books are being written in dual timelines.  Usually there is one timeline that is much stronger than the other, but Gudenkauf has upped the ante!  Not only did she add a third narrative, but all three were riveting!  

Wylie Lark is a true crime writer.  When she goes to Burden to write about a crime that took place nineteen years previously, she immersed herself in the story and even finds herself living in the very house where the crime took place.  The past and present are interspersed as we read about the crime and what took place in 2000 and now in 2019 with Wylie.   Add the third narrative of a young mother and her daughter living  locked away from the real world and you’ve got yourselves an excellent read.  

It’s a bitter snowstorm and when Wylie finds a young boy outside in the cold she brings him in.  Later she discovers a car accident near her home and a woman that needs help as well, but when she vanishes, Wylie isn’t sure what to think, especially when the young boy refuses to talk.  As the storm rages and the power goes out, Wylie and her young charge are completely in the dark.  What’s the story of the woman and the young boy.  What are the secrets they are afraid to share?  They aren’t the only ones with secrets, Wylie has a some mighty big secrets of her own. While I guessed where the story was going, Gudenkauf weaves the narratives together expertly and The Overnight Guest was a difficult book to put down!

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I liked how it hopped around between different points in time and character voices. I thought I had it all figured out about 30-40% in and while I was close, there were a few twists I didn't see coming. I loved the atmospheric setting of being stuck in a snowstorm (especially since it just snowed where I am!). Definitely recommend, and will read more books by Heather Gudenkauf.

The second thriller in today's post is about a crime writer who runs away from her family in order to get some "alone time" to finish her book. The house she runs to? The one that the murders about which she is writing took place. Talk about getting into the scene... Anyway, on a cold, icy/stormy night, a child appears on her front yard, followed soon by a woman who is beaten up and clearly hurt. The book bounces between the current events in the house, the past events in the house and a (seemingly) random pair of folks - mother and daughter who are clearly being held captive somewhere and it's well past the 1/2 way mark in the book before things start coming together. This could pose a problem for folks who like a linear storytelling style, but for those who aren't bothered by random time/place jumps, this is a thrilling novel with twists and turns and a satisfying ending.

I saw some mixed reviews about THE OVERNIGHT GUEST, so I went in very curious about this one. I was intrigued from the start and read this so fast! I liked the 3 timelines and wondered how it would all fit together. I wondered about Wylie and why she was where she was. Overall, I was very satisfied with the story and especially the ending. I will read this author again.

Not my cup of tea, but I imagine lots of readers will like this! Will most likely purchase for my library.

THE OVERNIGHT GUEST
by Heather Gudenkauf
Out next week!

This one is super creepy, has two disturbing and anxiety infused winter settings and dual povs.

This is my first book by this author but I know I’ll be heading back for more of her cozy, classic, structure.

This is the book you reach for if you’re looking to be transported by a frozen and chilling-atmospheric read.

Similar to Shiver, which I read late last year, the authors does a great job with tension and pacing, and as I already mentioned it’s structured like a classic thriller novel.

Great read for this time of year!

Four Stars!

⭐️ Atmospheric
⭐️ Two chilling settings
⭐️ Classic structure
⭐️ Great pacing

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced copy!

Make sure to check his one out next week,
1.25.22

Great! But falls apart

I would like to thank Heather Gudenkauf, Harlequin, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Also thanks to Justine Sha for inviting me to participate in the blog tour.

Spoilers

I really liked this book! I read to over 60% in one sitting but forced myself to put it down and go to sleep because it was four in the morning. I only meant to read until I was drowsy but it never happened, lol! I read the rest of it a couple days later, again in one sitting. It started out tense and just built and built at a steady pace with well-placed reveals . . . to a point.

What I loved most was the fact that it was set in my backyard, literally just a couple hours away, with very relatable weather. I’m watching a snow storm out the window as I write this review, though luckily nothing as bad as in the book. It’s always neat to read books set near your home, it makes the story feel more personal, and not many books are set in Iowa. Understandably. Not very exciting out here.

But as much as I enjoyed this thriller, I had some problems with it, too.

First, there seemed to be some continuity issues/unclear timing; fingers crossed that these issues were fixed in the final. Examples: in the beginning a woman got out of bed to look out the window, then a few paragraphs later she was staring at the ceiling, presumably lying in bed—but it never said she’d returned to bed. A few times the position of the sun or moon didn’t seem to jibe with the time it was supposed to be. But the biggest and most confusing instance was toward the end—

If you didn’t take the spoiler warning above seriously, now’s the time to reconsider.

On “game day,” the Woman said Dad habitually left at six, went for coffee and a donut, and was always back by eight. It’s horribly unclear if she means a.m. or p.m. Presumably 6 a.m., considering the coffee and donut, but I have no idea if she meant 8 a.m. or 8 p.m.; was his coffee run two hours long or did he go to work from there and get home late? From what I understand, the Woman and girl begin their escape not long after he left in the morning—but they don’t wreck the truck until late at night and aren’t discovered by Wylie until the wee hours. I know they had to switch to Plan B and couldn’t go very fast in the truck, but it did not take them 18 hours to get out of the basement and drive a couple miles. How could they have left at night, anyway? Did Dad live at the location where he kept them? That was also unclear. If he did, he surely might have heard the glass break, garage door rise, and truck start.

Speaking of their escape, why in the world did the Woman decide to try to escape in the middle of winter? I understand if perhaps she didn’t have a good grasp of day, month, and year in captivity—or maybe she did, considering she knew when it was Easter—but she could see the snow packed up against the window and feel the cold in the basement. Easy enough to infer it was winter. She knew they wouldn’t have adequate supplies and that it was possible they’d be on foot—so why in god’s name didn’t she wait for better conditions? There was no urgent reason to leave—well, I mean, obviously she’d want to end their captivity sooner than later, but it wasn’t like they were expecting him to come back and kill them that day. They’d learned to store up food and could get out to get more if necessary. She could have waited until it was less likely they’d die of exposure.

Yeah, their escape had a lot of holes in it. Lots of questions. Which leads me to my second big problem with the book—the ending. It really fell apart. There was the escape that didn’t make much sense, then the whole climax was pretty lame. The tension flatlined when Dad didn’t seem to consider the women much of a threat (and they really weren’t, sadly). He kinda just laughed at them and meandered his way around. He wasn’t sinister or even all that scary, just an arrogant creep. Also, I don’t understand why it went down the way it did. Why on earth didn’t Wylie let Jackson out of the shed to help? See if he had a functional cell phone on him, or ask him to use his radio like she had half a mind to do herself? Why did the Woman literally just sit on the couch and let Dad go after the girl, let Wylie and the girl do the fighting, let the girl pull the trigger? She finally had a chance to fight back, no matter how futile she might have thought her efforts would be, but she did nothing. Didn’t she have any pent up rage to expend? Shouldn’t she have been willing to do all she could to stop him and protect her child? I cannot express how incredibly unsatisfying it was that she just sat there.

Also during the end there was a moment I could have smacked Wylie, a stupid mistake that really lowered my respect for her. She got within reach of the villain. NEVER get within reach while they’re still breathing. Stupid, stupid. I doubted her intelligence for a couple other reasons; she had a million flashlights and extra batteries, that was excellent, but as afraid as she was of being trapped in the dark and cold, why didn’t she have a generator? Any kind of generator. Why didn’t she bring in a whole bunch of kindling and wood when she knew the storm was on its way so she wouldn’t have to go get them in the middle of the night in the middle of a storm? Also, she could have had a box fan or something to blow the heat of the fire around. And where were the candles? Kerosene lanterns? Emergency heat packs? The narrative acted like flashlights, a paltry wood fire, and some musty old blankets were her only choices.

Those were my biggest grievances. Otherwise I just have questions—did Dad set fire to the wrecked truck to destroy evidence, or did a downed electric wire really hit the gas tank somehow and make it go boom? Cause I have a very hard time believing that, and it never said either way. I also have a hard time believing they would have wrecked that badly by just sliding off the road. Maybe I missed something, but unless you go down a ravine or some sharp incline, it’s not likely you’ll flip the truck, tear a bunch of pieces off, and get thrown from the vehicle just by sliding on ice into the ditch. A ditch full of snow. Going a cautious speed. I’ve done it a few times myself, and hitting deer in the fall does a lot more damage than going in the ditch in a snowstorm.

I’m sure I’d have other questions about loose threads if I thought hard enough—like, so if Jackson wasn’t burning evidence in that tire fire, what in the world was it all about, then? Or why did Dad choose that day, of all days, to use the additional lock? Did he know she was sneaking about? Why wasn’t Dad concerned about the snowplow and the presence of another witness?—but I’ve made my point. (Apologies if any of those were explained and I just wasn’t paying attention.)

Overall, Gudenkauf writes excellent rising tension, sets up a great mystery, and can balance POVs well, but she needs to close her plot holes, further consider logistics, and generally work on her endings. The reader shouldn’t be left with questions.