The Overnight Guest - Heather Gudenkauf

There was a foot of snow around my house as I settled in to listen to Heather Gudenkauf's new book, The Overnight Guest. Which was quite fitting!

Wylie Lark writes true crime books. She's penning her latest in a house that was the scene of two murders. A snow storm knocks out the power. (Always a great setting, 'cause you just know the protagonist is cut off and on their own...) When Wylie looks out the window, she sees a child facedown in the snow....

Well, that's just one of three threads in The Overnight Guest. The second is from the past and told through the eyes of a teenager. And the third? A mother and child - and something is just 'off' in their home. Each thread caught my interest and sparked my curiosity. How and what was going to tie these three seemingly disparate plot lines together? I really enjoy this style of storytelling. Switching between those three stories kept me up late listening to 'just one chapter.'

Gudenkauf did a great job building the tension in each of those three threads. There's danger and darkness in every scenario. As the book progressed, I began to put the pieces together.  Gudenkauf's plotting is clever and well delivered. This was a first listen of Gudenkauf for me and I would happily pick up her next book.

I chose to listen to The Overnight Guest. The reader was Audie award winning Brittany Pressley, who I've enjoyed in the past. She has a very pleasant voice, easy to understand and clearly enunciated. She has a rich undertone to her voice. There's lots of movement to her voice and her reading draws the listener in. She interprets Gudenkauf's work very well, capturing and presenting the action and tension. She provides different voices for all the characters, male, female and child, all suited and believable. An excellent performance. Hear for yourself - listen to an excerpt of The Overnight Guest.