Before She Was Found

Starred review from February 18, 2019
This scintillating psychological thriller from bestseller Gudenkauf (Not a Sound) examines the cruelty of children, judgmental adults, and the consequences of pranks. Newcomer Violet Crow and class bully Jordyn Petit are having a sleepover at meek Cora Landry’s house. The three 12-year-olds are obsessed with their subject for a class project on urban legends—Joseph Wither, a killer who lived in their town of Pitch, Iowa, decades before. At midnight, they sneak out of Cora’s house to meet someone claiming to be Wither in an abandoned rail yard. Cora is later found beaten and barely alive, Violet is in shock and covered in blood, and Jordyn has run back to the house she shares with her grandparents. Each girl’s personality, shaped by her home life and the events that led to this violent episode, skillfully unfolds through text messages, journal entries, therapist’s notes, and police interrogations. The stunning plot builds to a chillingly realistic ending. Only one girl may be harmed physically, but each is forever scarred. Gudenkauf is at the top of her game. Agent: Marianne Merola, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents.

February 15, 2019
After investigating a local urban legend, a teenage girl is brutally attacked in Gudenkauf's (Not a Sound, 2017, etc.) latest thriller.Like nearly every teenager, Cora struggles in middle school. She's shy and sheltered and tries every day to navigate the stormy social seas of friendships and crushes, even within small town Pitch, Iowa. When Violet and her family move to Pitch, she connects with Cora and helps her begin to come out of her shell, but this is complicated by the on-again, off-again presence of queen bee Jordyn. All three girls end up working together on a social studies project to explore the truth behind an urban legend; they choose to research the story of Joseph Wither, a boy supposedly responsible for the disappearances or deaths of several local high school students across the decades. As they dig deeper into the mystery, Cora begins corresponding online with someone claiming to be Joseph. She knows this could be dangerous, but when her classmates find out and mock her for believing in the legend, Cora decides to meet up with Joseph and prove them wrong. The novel opens with an assault and then slowly unravels the events leading up to that act of violence; also functioning as a mystery, it is not until the very end that the perpetrator is revealed. There are interesting layers of psychology at work here, but it can be exhausting inhabiting the world of these teenage girls, so concerned about appearances, so protective of their own secrets. There is truth there, certainly, but little entertainment.Draws a rather grim portrait of the trials and battles of adolescence--taken to the extreme.

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March 1, 2019
In Pitch, Iowa, a vicious attack on a pair of young girls brings a terrifying urban legend to life. Late one night, 12-year-olds Cora, Violet, and Jordyn sneak out to Pitch's abandoned train depot, where Cora is stabbed and severely beaten. When the police arrive, Violet emerges from the adjacent cornfield covered in blood, while Jordyn is found safe at home. Only Violet reveals clues about that night: according to her, Cora was attacked by Pitch's local bogeyman, Joseph Wither. In 1944, Wither ran away after a failed romance, and local lore has it that pairs of girls are periodically attacked near the depot, one killed and the other lured away as Wither's new love. Beth Crow, Violet's mother, searches for the truth as her daughter falls under suspicion, while Jordyn's grandfather swallows shame and hides any trace of the girl's involvement. Followers of the popular podcast Lore and the horror film Slender Man will enjoy this suspenseful tale. Also recommend C. J. Tudor's The Chalk Man (2018) and Luca Veste's The Bone Keeper (2018).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2019

A librarian favorite, particularly in the Midwest, New York Times best-selling Gudenkauf (The Weight of Silence) returns with the story of 12-year-old Cora Landry and friends Violet and Jordyn, who sneak out on an overnight to explore an abandoned railyard at the edge of town. Past midnight, Cora is found near death on the tracks, and her friends are nowhere to be seen. Soon, everyone in town is a suspectand seemingly everyone wants to suppress the truth. With a 75,000-copy hardcover and 75,000-copy paperback first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2019

A middle school group project on urban legends leads to a brutal attack that stuns and angers a small Iowa town. For their project, 12-year-olds Cora Landry, Violet Crowe, and Jordyn Petit choose the figure of teenager Joseph Wither, who disappeared from their town decades earlier and reputedly returns to lure away and kill young girls. Cora, the smallest and most sensitive of the trio who's repeatedly rebuffed by popular queen bee-type Jordyn, comes to think Wither is real and enters into an online correspondence with someone she believes to be him. Things come to a head when, after their assignment is finished, the trio leave a sleepover at midnight to go to a former railroad depot where Cora hopes to meet Wither but instead is horribly stabbed. The story is told in multiple voices with police transcripts and emails and texts included as authorities try to identify Cora's assailant. VERDICT With a focus on preteen social pressure and parental protection of their children, this latest from Gudenkauf (The Weight of Silence) again builds suspense in commonplace domestic situations. Complete with a reader's guide, this is a solid bet for book clubs. [See Prepub Alert, 10/22/18.]--Michele Leber, Arlington, VA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.