The Night Visitors

January 1, 2019
Goodman, a two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award winner, weaves both frightening and supernatural elements into her eleventh thriller (after The Other Mother, 2018). Star Wars figurines seem to appear and disappear of their own volition when 10-year-old Oren seeks refuge during a snowstorm in Mattie's crumbling ancestral home. He is on the run from a domestic-abuse situation with a woman named Alice. Oren reminds Mattie of her younger brother, who died when he was 10, a story that unfolds as long-held secrets and true identities are revealed, and both Oren and Mattie find that their pasts may finally have caught up with them. Well-defined characters, including the marvelous Sister Martine, who runs a sanctuary for women in trouble; slowly building suspense; and an ending that pulls out all the stops make for a really good wintry read that's reminiscent of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt. Best by firelight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2018

Fleeing a relationship gone violent, Alice and her ten-year-old son, Oren, are taken by social worker Mattie not to a shelter but to her ramshackle house in the woods. Sure, Mattie is a do-gooder with plenty of room, but Oren also reminds her of the little brother she lost 30 years ago. Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Goodman creeps us out. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

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