The Overnight Guest
by Heather Gudenkauf
Blurb:
True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.
My Reaction:
It could have been better. It was going to be a 3-star read for me, but thinking (grumbling to myself) about a couple of particularly annoying points has decided me in favor of knocking off another star. Two it is!
The story is told through three different timelines, which I wasn't expecting. This method of storytelling seems to be almost the default choice for so many modern authors, at least judging by the books I'm reading and listening to, these days. It's not necessarily a problem, but it's also not very original, at this point. Sometimes it can lead to annoyance, as well, when it feels like stalling and padding out the plot. Just when things start to get interesting in one storyline/timeline, you're shoved along to something else, and it's rare that all timelines are of equal interest.
My minor gripes with this book:
- Wylie is kind of annoying. I just didn't warm to her.
- Coincidences abound. (I can't really get into these without venturing into spoilers.)
- Characters make some monumentally stupid choices. (Again, spoiler territory...)
- Predictable in spots. I must confess that one of the major twists never occurred to me until right before the reveal, but others are very obvious. I suppose it's difficult to write something that's genuinely unpredictable without leaving your reader annoyed that you misled or hid information... But it's silly when characters don't see what's right in front of their eyes!
- Bad guy is a bit of a caricature.
- Having Wylie say that Dateline is her favorite TV show? Blatant pandering.
My final "issue" was with the way the audiobook narrator chose to voice some of the characters. Some of the voices just irritated me. Going into who and why would be spoilery, so I'll leave it at that.
If you don't mind some really dark subject matter and can overlook some honestly idiotic decision-making, it's fine for mindless "entertainment" (though it feels wrong to describe it as entertaining), but it's not as good as I'd hoped.
SPOILERS FOLLOW.
SPOILER
ALERT
!!!
So, what were the things that annoyed me so much that I knocked another star off my rating?
First, Wylie tells Becky she's locked Suspect #1 in the shed, so they're safe. Well, Becky knows who her captor was, but for some unknown reason she waits (and waits and WAITS) until the real Bad Guy shows up to tell Wylie that Suspect #1 isn't guilty. That's just stupid writing. Yes, Becky's been through it, has possibly suffered a concussion, and is likely somewhat in shock, but still... She's able to communicate and reminisce about the past, so I'm not buying that she couldn't find a way to process this information and speak up.
Worse, even when Becky eventually says, "No, that's not the guy; THIS is the man who's held me prisoner for 20 years," Wylie tries to talk her out of it! I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. It's so easy to forget the identity of the man who has held you captive for two decades, raped you throughout that period, impregnated you multiple times, beaten you, etc. These things can be so confusing!
Then there's the issue that Becky could have run away long before she finally did. I just... What?! She is able to pick the lock (or something) to her door and could have run away long ago, from my understanding. She wasn't suffering from Stockholm syndrome, but her captor has lied to her, telling her no-one cares she's gone, he has eyes everywhere in town, etc. (Would she really believe that?! She was 12 or 13 when she was kidnapped, and seemed fairly savvy...)
I know that people can be brainwashed and forced into a type of submission that is difficult to fathom if you haven't lived through it, but I find this whole thing impossible to comprehend. She wants to leave. She (finally!) plans to leave, even going so far as slowly gathering supplies and hiding them until the great escape can go forward. But what is she waiting for? Instead of just getting the heck out of there at the first opportunity, she waits. For no apparent reason. She waits until the storm of the century arrives to try to escape, making things much more difficult than they needed to be.
It's mind-blowing, in a bad way.
Anyway, putting that aside, when she finally decides it's time to leave, the door isn't an option, but no biggie. Her young (5-ish?) daughter kindly points out that they can get out through the window. And apparently that works. I'd assumed the basement window they kept mentioning was a tiny sliver that wouldn't possibly be large enough for the woman to fit through, and she simply had stopped looking at it as a possibility, years ago, forgetting that the child could use it to get out, then come unlock the door from the other side... But no, it's big enough for a grown woman, so she would have fit through it easily as a young teenager.
I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous. Bad Guy never thought, "Hm. I should probably board up that window or something..." If there were explanations for these bizarre plot elements, they needed to be included in the book. I'm not going to do the work for the book and make up reasons for implausible behavior.
And that's not even getting into the dumb final confrontation scene(s) where characters almost intentionally put themselves in harm's way for no good reason. Ugh!
