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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
A violent double murder in the backstory; ongoing threat and danger in the present; a child in danger
Language
Some
Some strong language in a thriller register
Sexual Content
Barely any
Adult relationships in the backstory; nothing explicit
Substance Use
Barely any
Moderate drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
A child's survival of extreme trauma; the long aftermath of violent crime; isolation during a blizzard with an unknown threat
What this book is about
True crime writer Wylie Lark retreats to a remote Iowa farmhouse in a blizzard to finish her book. During the storm she discovers a small child in the snow with no explanation of where he came from. The novel alternates between Wylie's present-day unraveling mystery and the account of a brutal double murder that happened at the same farmhouse twenty years ago. Heather Gudenkauf's thriller is a tightly wound puzzle box built on the question of how violence echoes through time — and what a child can survive.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
graphic depiction of a past violent crime
child in danger throughout
psychological thriller tension
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