Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this riveting thriller from bestseller Gudenkauf (This Is How I Lied), Oregon writer Wylie Lark retreats to an unoccupied, isolated farmhouse in Burden, Iowa, where two people were murdered and a little girl went missing in 2000. The murders and disappearance are the subject of her fourth true crime book. During a major snowstorm, Wylie discovers a bleeding five-year-old boy in her front yard with remnants of duct tape on his mouth. She can't contact the sheriff because her utilities are out due to the storm, so she brings the boy inside, tends to his injuries, and tries to get him to tell her what happened, but he's frightened and refuses to talk. Wylie goes outside to collect firewood, but on returning she finds she's locked out, and, through a window, she sees a woman with a hatchet. Wylie's frantic efforts to save the boy alternate with flashbacks that reveal in suspenseful increments what happened in the farmhouse two decades earlier. This twisty tale builds to a satisfying conclusion. The talented Gudenkauf consistently delivers. Agent: Marianne Merola, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Gudenkauf's (Before She Was Found) locked-room thriller stars true-crime writer Wylie Lark, who's renting a remote farmhouse where a double murder occurred 20 years ago; she hopes to get a feel for the community where the crimes took place and to write uninterrupted in much-needed seclusion. Not long after arriving, Wylie is snowed in by a blizzard and comes upon an injured child. The traumatized child won't speak to Wylie, but as they wait out the storm together, Wylie finds that the child's presence has triggered long-buried memories of her own devastating childhood and the terror she thought she had forgotten. Wylie begins to question everything she thought she knew about the fates of her own family and best friend and ultimately discovers that she and the child she rescued from the snow have a tragic connection. In this audiobook, Brittany Pressley performs all the characters well and with perfect distinction and credibility. VERDICT Probably a better read than a listen, as the main characters have frequent flashbacks, and the thriller's multiple POVs can be disorienting.--Laura Brosie
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A contemporary mystery may hold the key to a 20-year-old murder and abduction case. As a blizzard rages across the Iowa plains, true-crime writer Wylie Lark steps outside with her dog--and discovers a half-frozen child in her front yard. When revived, the boy shows clear signs of abuse and trauma, so Wylie braves the elements to see if perhaps he's been in a car accident. Sure enough, a truck crumpled in the ditch leads Wylie to another body, a clearly injured woman, also almost frozen to death. Who are these two strangers who are willing to risk their lives to run away from something--or someone--in the midst of such terrible weather? Intercut with this unspooling mystery is another that took place 20 years earlier in the same small town: A family was murdered, their daughter the only survivor, and the daughter's friend went missing the same night and has never been found. Gudenkauf offers a third narrative strand, told from the perspective of a young girl who lives with her mother and fears the occasional visits of a brutal, abusive father figure. Of course, all of these narratives will share a solution in the end. Up to this point, the suspense that Gudenkauf creates and builds into each separate story is masterful, terrible, and absolutely addicting. The problem: the solution feels arbitrary and, ultimately, disappointing. There are no clues leading the earnest reader to the answer, just an author's deus ex machina. Despite an actively plotted climax and a gesture toward a hopeful ending, the unknown is the lifeblood of this novel; once the truth comes out, the energy, originality, and interest wink out, too. Tense, taut, and terrifying--until the reveal. Read the first 43 chapters and be satisfied. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
