Before She Was Found: A Novel

by Heather Gudenkauf

Overview

A gripping thriller about three young girlfriends, a dark obsession and a chilling crime that shakes up a quiet Iowa town, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence.

For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover—movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences.

Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora—and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted—not even those closest to Cora.

Before She Was Found is a timely and gripping thriller about friendship and betrayal, about the power of social pressure and the price of needing to fit in. It is about the great lengths a parent will go to protect their child and keep them safe—even if that means burying the truth, no matter the cost.

And don’t miss Heather’s latest book, AN OVERNIGHT GUEST! You’ll be chilled and riveted from start to finish with this story of an unexpected visitor and a deadly snowstorm!

Check out these other riveting novels of suspense by bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf:

The Weight of Silence
These Things Hidden
One Breath Away
Little Mercies
Missing Pieces
Not a Sound
This is How I Lied

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781488095429
Publisher:	Park Row Books
Publication date:	04/16/2019
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	4,780
File size:	671 KB

About the Author

Heather Gudenkauf is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of Silence and Not a Sound.  Heather lives in Iowa with her family.

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2019

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

Library Journal

★ 02/18/2019

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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

[A] scintillating psychological thriller.... The stunning plot builds to a chillingly realistic ending. Gudenkauf is at the top of her game.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Eerily page-turning and wonderfully twisty, Before She Was Found is the riveting story of one troubled group of young girls struggling to belong, and the frighteningly blurred boundary between where urban legend ends and real danger begins." —Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia and Where They Found Her

“Dark and stylish, Before She Was Found is an entertaining read that thrills to the last page.” —Linda Castillo, New York Times bestselling author of A Gathering of Secrets

“Heather Gudenkauf has done it again. She manages to merge engaging characters and terrifying topics resulting in unputdownable suspense set in a small Iowa town. In Before She Was Found, Gudenkauf takes us into the lives of three young girlfriends as a sleepover turns into tragedy. Examining today’s realities of social media and the added pressure our connected culture creates, Gudenkauf has crafted a gripping thriller.” —Kaira Rouda, bestselling author of Best Day Ever

"Before She Was Found is a brutally honest and incredibly sensitive depiction of adolescence, loneliness and love in a small Midwestern town. The final twist is gut-wrenching." —Annie Ward, author of Beautiful Bad

“Creepy, claustrophobic and utterly surprising.” —Hannah Mary McKinnon, author of The Neighbors

"An intense, twisty read filled with complex characters whose actions will have you constantly switching alliances, and an ending that I guarantee will catch you off guard." —Kimberly Belle, bestselling author of The Marriage Lie and Dear Wife

From the Publisher

2019-02-03

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.

Kirkus Reviews