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The Overnight Guest: A Novel (2022)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Fully realized, wholly absorbing and almost painfully suspenseful...The journey is mesmerizing.” —New York Times A woman receives an unexpected visitor during a deadly snowstorm in this chilling thriller from New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf.…
- Release Date
- 2022
- Length
- 317 pages
- Publisher
- Harlequin
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Our Review
About the book
True-crime writer Wylie Lark retreats to a remote Iowa farmhouse where, two decades earlier, a brutal attack left a family shattered and one young girl the only survivor. When a blizzard traps Wylie there and she finds a child alone in the snow, the old case and her present danger begin to overlap.
Our review
Snowbound and suspenseful, this thriller braids a decades-old crime with a present-day storm and mostly keeps every strand taut.
Gudenkauf builds atmosphere with real patience. The isolated farmhouse, the wind, the drifts piling against the windows all press in on Wylie, and the cold becomes almost a character. The structure alternates between the night of the original crime, the aftermath for its survivor and Wylie’s increasingly dangerous present. Those shifting timelines create a pleasant hum of anticipation, and the author is careful to plant small details that pay off later rather than relying on pure shock.
Where it falters is plausibility. By the final act, the coincidences pile up as high as the snow, and a few characters make choices that serve the plot more than their own interests. Wylie herself is a little thinly drawn for a narrator we spend so much time with. Still, the book moves briskly, and readers who enjoy domestic suspense with a rural chill will find the reveal satisfying enough to forgive the stretch it takes to get there.
What we loved
- The claustrophobic, wintry farmhouse setting
- Well-managed alternating timelines that steadily raise tension
- A sympathetic portrait of a survivor living with an infamous past
Keep in mind
- The ending leans hard on coincidence
- The present-day protagonist feels less developed than the past characters
Read it if you like
Readers of Riley Sager, Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs, or Wendy Walker’s Don’t Look for Me.
The verdict
A cozy-dark winter thriller with strong mood and a shaky landing; ideal for a cold weekend, less so for plot purists.
