The Overnight Guest

At midnight on Wednesday I finished reading “The Overnight Guest,” by Heather Gudankauf it was my first time reading from her and I was not disappointed. Not to mention “The Overnight Guest,” got me out of a bad book rut. To say Wylie Lark is going through a lot is an understatement. Wylie got out of a divorce and her son Seth and she have a rough relationship and Seth doesn’t want to talk to her. Wylie is a true crime writer and takes the opportunity to write her new book in an isolated farmhouse in Iowa during a snowstorm. In this farm house two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace. As the storm worsens Wylie sees a small child and brings the child in for warmth. It soon becomes clear that someone else is out there who will do anything to find them. The book is a quick read and I liked all the twists and turns. The book has three different storylines one going from 2000 to the present and to the little girl and her mother and they all somehow connect.

Pros

I like the setting and I like the three storylines that take place in 2000 the present and with the little girl and her mother’s storyline. You would think these stories would be a miss match but they connect to each other. I also enjoyed the twist of who the murderer was and I wasn’t able to figure out who it was. The two people you immediately think it would have been turn out to not be the killer, which is good because it would make it too obvious. I also like the references to 2000 while the detective was investigating the missing girl’s bedroom about an NSYNC poster because both NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were popular in the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. I liked both boy bands but Backstreet Boys were my number one.

Cons

There wasn’t too much I disliked really. It might have been slightly predictable that you know these three stories have a connection to each other but that’s about it.

Overall

Overall I enjoyed “The Overnight Guest,” a lot. It was my first time reading from Heather Gudankauf and I can’t wait to read more books from her. If you enjoy murder mysteries or you need to get out of a bad book rut or both, check out “The Overnight Guest.” It’s a quick read so you won’t get bored.