There's a wolf at the door: THE OVERNIGHT GUEST.

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

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. 4.5 stars.

I received a copy of this book from Harlequin Trade Publishing / Park Row in return for an unbiased review.

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