Girl in the Walls: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Strange, outré--this remarkable debut novel is both of these and more. Consider its story: 11-year-old Elise walks away from the car crash that has killed her parents and returns to their old house, not the new one they had moved into only months before but to her true home. Once there, she enters secretly and, unbeknownst to its present residents, the Mason family, takes up her own sequestered residence in the walls of the house. Gradually, as time passes, the two Mason boys, Eddie, 13, and Marshall, 16, begin to sense the presence of something unseen in the house. Marshall summons a man he has discovered online who claims to be familiar with such a circumstance--a big mistake, since the man, Jonah Traust, turns out to be either a monomaniac or an outright madman, threatening the boys and fleeing only when the authorities show up. But then a hurricane arrives, and in its wake the monstrous Traust returns. The sense of dread builds as the reader wonders if Traust will find the still-hidden Elise. Gnuse has done a brilliant job of making the implausible plausible and of creating characters, especially Eddie, who are simply unforgettable. The Louisiana setting is evocative and a marvel of verisimilitude. The sui-generis result is haunting and, like the characters, unforgettable.

A young girl hides in her childhood home in Gnuse's disquieting debut. After 11-year-old Elise's parents die in a car accident, shortly after the New Orleans family had moved to a new house, she runs away from a foster home to her old house on the West Bank. There, she hides in various crawl spaces, surviving on dry cereal and snacks pilfered from the new residents, the Masons, while they are away or asleep. The two sons, antisocial, sensitive 12-year-old Eddie and gruff 16-year-old Marshall, suspect something is going on, but their busy parents rebuff them. Meanwhile, a younger boy, Brody, from the other side of the levee, shows up at the house one day. Initially Elise hopes Brody will be caught by the Masons, pinning their suspicions of an intruder on him, but eventually she befriends him. When the Mason parents leave for a weekend, Marshall and Eddie contact Jonah Traust, a man Marshall met through an online forum, to help them search the house. The shaky premise doesn't quite convince, but Gnuse builds a good deal of tension as the story reaches its climax, involving a dangerous Jonah and even more dangerous hurricane. This vivid if melodramatic novel is worth a look. Agent: Amelia Atlas, ICM Partners. (May)

DEBUT Elise lives in the Masons' house. It used to be her house; now it is theirs, but Elise lives there anyway, secretly, inside the walls. Mr. and Mrs. Mason don't know she's there, but their two teenage boys suspect as much. As Elise evades detection while spooking the boys, questions arise: Is she real? Is she the figment of someone's imagination? Is she a ghost? Gnuse's debut novel is an examination of place and belonging, among other things. It's challenging on several levels and leaves many loose ends: What's the meaning of the house that Elise can never leave, but that, over the course of the story (and partially because of her presence), comes apart, wrecked beyond repair? Who is the mysterious Mr. Traust, the deranged exorcist who, hammer in hand, deconstructs the house in an effort to capture the girl in the walls? And what exactly should we make of the relationship between Elise and Eddie, the Masons' 13-year-old? VERDICT Gnuse's writing is certainly artful and bodes well for future efforts, but readers may be puzzled or even annoyed that the work leaves them empty-handed.--Michael Russo, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge

After a tragedy, a young Louisiana girl returns to her former home, though there's another family already living in it. After a car accident leaves 11-year-old Elise on her own, she finds herself wandering off from the foster home where she's been placed and back to the beloved house she grew up in, a mazelike structure that her parents were always working on. She finds an unlocked door and makes herself at home again. The only problem? Elise's family had moved out a few months earlier, and the house is now owned by the Mason family: Laura, Nick, and teenagers Marshall and Eddie. While the parents seem oblivious to anything going on, Eddie notices a presence in his room while Marshall tries to track down who ate the food he put aside for himself. How long can a girl secreted in the walls keep her presence hidden, and who might seek her out? Split into five parts, Gnuse's debut tale is tense but not a thriller. There is always the threat of discovery hanging in the air, but the story focuses more on meandering meditations on Elise's coping (or lack thereof) with the loss of her parents, Eddie's vague differences from others his age, or Nick and Laura's marital problems. Gnuse explores interesting ideas about masculinity as Marshall and Eddie attempt to "man up" and take care of their hidden-person problem in the face of their parents' disbelief. As the situation spirals out of control for them, there are some genuinely frightening moments. However, despite the anxiety induced by the title, the plot is quite stagnant, mostly revolving around the fact that there is, indeed, a girl in the walls. A reader looking for more of a cat-and-mouse game will be disappointed. More meditation than page-turner, a coming-of-age tale with a twist. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* Strange, outré—this remarkable debut novel is both of these and more. Consider its story: 11-year-old Elise walks away from the car crash that has killed her parents and returns to their old house, not the new one they had moved into only months before but to her true home. Once there, she enters secretly and, unbeknownst to its present residents, the Mason family, takes up her own sequestered residence in the walls of the house. Gradually, as time passes, the two Mason boys, Eddie, 13, and Marshall, 16, begin to sense the presence of something unseen in the house. Marshall summons a man he has discovered online who claims to be familiar with such a circumstance—a big mistake, since the man, Jonah Traust, turns out to be either a monomaniac or an outright madman, threatening the boys and fleeing only when the authorities show up. But then a hurricane arrives, and in its wake the monstrous Traust returns. The sense of dread builds as the reader wonders if Traust will find the still-hidden Elise. Gnuse has done a brilliant job of making the implausible plausible and of creating characters, especially Eddie, who are simply unforgettable. The Louisiana setting is evocative and a marvel of verisimilitude. The sui-generis result is haunting and, like the characters, unforgettable. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Having lost her parents in a car crash, young Elise lives surreptitiously within the walls of her former family home, whose every creak, nook, and cranny she knows intimately. Soon, though, the new family's teenage sons get the sense that she's around and plan to out her. Debuter Gnuse, a former KenyonReview Peter Taylor Fellow, merits a 100,000-copy first printing.

DEBUT Elise lives in the Masons' house. It used to be her house; now it is theirs, but Elise lives there anyway, secretly, inside the walls. Mr. and Mrs. Mason don't know she's there, but their two teenage boys suspect as much. As Elise evades detection while spooking the boys, questions arise: Is she real? Is she the figment of someone's imagination? Is she a ghost? Gnuse's debut novel is an examination of place and belonging, among other things. It's challenging on several levels and leaves many loose ends: What's the meaning of the house that Elise can never leave, but that, over the course of the story (and partially because of her presence), comes apart, wrecked beyond repair? Who is the mysterious Mr. Traust, the deranged exorcist who, hammer in hand, deconstructs the house in an effort to capture the girl in the walls? And what exactly should we make of the relationship between Elise and Eddie, the Masons' 13-year-old? VERDICT Gnuse's writing is certainly artful and bodes well for future efforts, but readers may be puzzled or even annoyed that the work leaves them empty-handed.—Michael Russo, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge

A young girl hides in her childhood home in Gnuse's disquieting debut. After 11-year-old Elise's parents die in a car accident, shortly after the New Orleans family had moved to a new house, she runs away from a foster home to her old house on the West Bank. There, she hides in various crawl spaces, surviving on dry cereal and snacks pilfered from the new residents, the Masons, while they are away or asleep. The two sons, antisocial, sensitive 12-year-old Eddie and gruff 16-year-old Marshall, suspect something is going on, but their busy parents rebuff them. Meanwhile, a younger boy, Brody, from the other side of the levee, shows up at the house one day. Initially Elise hopes Brody will be caught by the Masons, pinning their suspicions of an intruder on him, but eventually she befriends him. When the Mason parents leave for a weekend, Marshall and Eddie contact Jonah Traust, a man Marshall met through an online forum, to help them search the house. The shaky premise doesn't quite convince, but Gnuse builds a good deal of tension as the story reaches its climax, involving a dangerous Jonah and even more dangerous hurricane. This vivid if melodramatic novel is worth a look. Agent: Amelia Atlas, ICM Partners. (May)