The Night Visitors by Carol Goodman (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"ALICE gets off a bus in the middle of a snowstorm in Delphi, NY. She is fleeing an abusive relationship and desperate to protect...

OREN, ten years old, a major Star Wars fan and wise beyond his years. Though Alice is wary, Oren bonds nearly instantly with...

MATTIE, a social worker in her fifties who lives in an enormous run-down house in the middle of the woods. Mattie lives alone and is always available, and so she is the person the hotline always calls when they need a late-night pickup. And although according to protocol Mattie should take Alice and Oren to a local shelter, instead she brings them home for the night. She has plenty of room, she says. What she doesn't say is that Oren reminds her of her little brother, who died thirty years ago at the age of ten.

But Mattie isn't the only one withholding elements of the truth. Alice is keeping her own secrets. And as the snowstorm worsens around them, each woman's past will prove itself unburied, stirring up threats both within and without."

My Thoughts:

The Night Visitors was such an atmospheric read and one where I found myself instantly pulled within the pages.  I've read a few books by Goodman now, and she just has a way with creating these suspenseful books filled with atmosphere and tension.  This was actually the perfect reminder of how much I enjoy her books - it made me really want to work on catching up with her backlist!  I actually didn't intend on binge-ing my way through the pages of this book....I was going to take me time and just immerse myself within it.  But what really happened is that I flew through the pages utterly compelled and unable to put it down.  I am such a sucker for thrillers featuring blizzards.  The sense of isolation that the characters experience always adds a spooky layer of tension that I enjoy reading about and this book was no exception.  I'm going to try to be as spoiler free as possible here but there are a few things that I want to talk about that could be considered to be a spoiler.  Feel free to skip ahead if you want to stay completely spoiler free and just check on my overall thoughts.  So this book did have a supernatural aspect that I found very intriguing.  Oren just seems to "know" things (for lack of a better word) that he shouldn't or couldn't possibly know and yet he does.  I feel like this was done really well and that it added to the overall storyline.  I'm trying to remember if this is something that Carol Goodman does with all of her books but I can't say for certain so apparently it has been awhile since I read anything by her.  It doesn't matter because overall it worked really well for this book.  I came to a point in this book where I just knew that I was going to finish despite the fact that I still had at least 100 pages left.  The twists and the turns just kept coming and I couldn't not see how it was all going to end!  I actually really liked the ending and thought it fit perfectly.  The thing I enjoyed most about this book though is how the author continually used the icy, snowy weather to add tension and suspense throughout the book.  I'm curious if it would have been even creepier to read this book during the winter but honestly reading it now in the spring worked just fine if I do say so myself!

Overall, this book was a really great read that I just lost myself within!  When I started it I fully intended to take my time with it but I just couldn't seem to set it down.  I really liked the three main characters so I was rooting for them the entire time.  I especially liked Maddie's character and appreciated that we got to see both her flaws and strengths in this book.  I'm glad that I still have quite a few books of this authors to catch up on!  There is just something about her writing that never fails to draw me in - I had almost forgotten until I picked this book up how much I have enjoyed her books in the past.  I won't be waiting long to pick up another of her books this time around.  I would recommend this book to fans of both mystery and suspense.  Thriller readers will also enjoy this one in my opinion even though I would hesitate to label this book a thriller.  It's suspenseful enough though to appeal to those types of readers in my opinion.  Highly recommended!

Bottom Line:  An atmospheric and page turning read that I enjoyed immensely!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and JKS Communications.  Thoughts are my own.