Search This Blog
Love reading challenges? Check out my other blog:
2023 Bookish Books Reading Challenge
20 Books of Summer 2023
2023 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (2)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (12)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (3)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (1)
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (1)
- Illinois
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (3)
- Maryland (2)
- Massachusetts (3)
- Michigan (2)
- Minnesota (1)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (11)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (3)
- Virginia
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (2)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.* (1)
International:
- Australia (3)
- Canada (7)
- Chile (1)
- England (20)
- France (2)
- Ireland (2)
-Italy (1)
- Scotland (2)
- South Korea (1)
- Sweden (1)
- The Netherlands (2)
-Vietnam (1)
2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Booklist Queen's 2023 Reading Challenge
2023 52 Club Reading Challenge
2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
2023 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge
2023 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge
2023 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge
Children's Book Reading Challenge...For Adults!
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Gudenkauf Thriller Keeps Me Up Way Past My Bedtime
11:48 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
When it comes to scaring the kids of little Pitch, Iowa, the tale of Joseph Wither—an alleged murderer who lived locally decades ago—is right up there with Bloody Mary and The Vanishing Hitchhiker. So, when a junior high school teacher gives her class an assignment to research an urban legend, 12-year-old Violet Crow and two of her classmates decide to look more closely at the Wither story. Obsessed with the creepy tale, the girls agree to a late-night meeting at an abandoned rail yard with someone claiming to be Joseph. Hours later, one of them is found beaten near to death. The other two are in shock, refusing to speak about the incident. What really happened that night in the rail yard? Was Cora attacked by a supernatural entity? Or someone much more corporeal?
Despite its simple premise, Before She was Found by Heather Gudenkauf is a taut, twisty thriller with an ending I didn't see coming. Populated with interesting characters, the novel also poses some intriguing questions about the dangers of hysteria and groupthink as well as asking how far a parent will go to protect their child. Atmospheric and engrossing, this one kept me reading late into the night, desperate to know what was going to happen next.
(Readalikes: Hm, nothing is coming to mind. You?)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (a couple F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, blood/gore, and mild sexual content
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
6 comments:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Reading
Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig
Listening
Hooked: A Memoir in Crafts by Sutton Foster
Followin' with Bloglovin'
Followin' with Feedly
-
Dark of Night2 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
Thieves’ Gambit15 hours ago
-
Sunday Salon: September 24, 202317 hours ago
-
The Sands of Time Ch 5217 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Whalefall - Daniel Kraus1 day ago
-
Books Read in August 20232 days ago
-
Bookish Quote of the Day!!2 days ago
-
-
-
The Middle Ground by Jeff Ewing3 days ago
-
Haiku Reviews...3 days ago
-
-
-
A Review of Ravine of Death4 days ago
-
-
-
Westover, Tara "Educated"6 days ago
-
-
-
-
I have been reading...1 week ago
-
Reading Recap August 20233 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra2 months ago
-
-
Weekly Update - What I'm Reading3 months ago
-
-
Dotty Beanie with Ears4 months ago
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?11 months ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Design by:
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ▼ 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
I thought this one was a good twisty thriller, too. And I liked how Gudenkauf wove the separate narratives together. :)
ReplyDeleteI just read my first Gudenkauf in a long time and loved it, I will add this one. Great review Susan.
ReplyDeleteI have this one but haven't picked it up as yet. I've read other books by this author and liked them a lot. This one sounds like a good 'fall' read - spooky enough...
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything by Gudenkauf and I've been wanting to. This definitely sounds like one that would keep me up way too late!
ReplyDeleteThe plot sounds like something I've read a few times before, but from your review the author nailed it. I know there are only so many plots out there and that it's the variations of those plots that make books seem fresh, but I would have probably not given this one a chance just based on the bare facts. Good review.
ReplyDeleteI liked this one, too. I don't remember loving it, but it kept my attention.
ReplyDelete