Review: The Night Visitors by Carol Goodman

Curl up in a warm blanket, make a mug of hot cocoa, and read on for Kerry Hammond’s review of a snowy thriller set in upstate New York.

The Night Visitors by Carol Goodman was published on March 26, in Hardcover, by William Morrow. Goodman is the author of adult fiction as well as children’s/young adult books. I read, loved, and recently reviewed the author’s last adult novel, The Other Mother. You can read the review HERE. The Other Mother was my first foray into Goodman’s world and I was immediately hooked and put her on my read anything the author writes list.

In The Night Visitors, Alice and Oren have arrived in Delphi, New York to seek sanctuary; they are escaping abuse and hoping to disappear. Mattie is a social worker who has been asked to pick them up at the bus station and transport them to a safe house. Mattie decides to break protocol and ends up taking Alice and Oren to her home instead, just for the night, partly because of the incoming blizzard and partly because she feels a sort of connection to the travelers. Oren reminds her of the brother, who died at his exact age, thirty years before. In the next two days, the three must face events from their past as well as present, and the storm turns out to be the least of their worries.

The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspective of Alice and Mattie, a slightly different take from books that alternate chapters between past and present. By alternating perspective the reader is able to get two different viewpoints of the same event. To make it even more exciting, Goodman starts off each new chapter where the previous character left off, so you are jumping into the head of Mattie at the exact time you leave Alice, and you are able to get Mattie’s view of what just happened. I absolutely loved this and found it an exciting way to experience the drama that was unfolding, especially in moments of high adrenaline when the action really started to ramp up. I really had a hard time putting this book down and ended up reading it in a 24 hour period. Highly recommended.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.

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