The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf (Review by Lara Ferguson)

Rating: 5/5

Wylie Lark has tucked herself away in an isolated farmhouse in Iowa, to work in total solitude. A true crime writer, Wylie has chosen this house because it is the site of a horrific crime in which three people were murdered and a young girl disappeared without a trace. She has done the research, now it is time to write the book and face some of the demons from her past.

Add a horrendous winter storm with snow and ice that takes out the electricity and a little boy who appears in the yard, half-dead, alone and seemingly out of nowhere, and the plot begins to get really interesting. As Wylie begins to discover where the child came from and tries to help, the plot twists and turns, urging the reader forward into the increasing tension, never sure who is safe and who can be trusted.

Shifting between the present crisis and the crime that was committed decades earlier, Gudenkauf weaves a gripping story combining characters who are not only complex, but also realistic and compelling, with an intricate plot which effortlessly keeps the reader engaged and unwilling to stop reading for even a moment.