UNCW graduate's debut novel about a 'Girl in the Walls' is a solid, commercial thriller

If you're often awakened by creaking floorboards or odd noises you can't explain, "Girl in the Walls" may not be for you.

In his debut novel, A.J. Gnuse, who earned an MFA in creative writing in 2019 from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, punches a lot of uncomfortable buttons. (In his acknowledgments, Gnuse thanks a number of UNCW faculty members, including Clyde Edgerton, David Gessner, Philip Gerard, Rebecca Lee and particularly Nina De Gramont.)

The title heroine of "Girl in the Walls" is Elise, a 12-year-old on the outskirts of a New Orleans suburb. A quiet girl, Elise makes few friends and lives largely in books. She's developed a habit of slipping out of boring classes by hiding in closets and lockers.

Then, Elise's parents are killed in a car crash. Elise slips out of the window of a foster home and heads for the house where she spent most of her childhood — a large, rambling, pseudo-plantation manor with various added wings.

It has an attic, ample crawl space, a laundry chute and plenty of closets. Plus, Elise is tiny enough that she can squeeze between the inner and outer walls. So, she moves in.

"Elise wrapped herself in the house as if it were a winter coat," Gnuse writes. "One she didn't plan to take off."

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Of course, there's already another family in the house, the Masons. He's a teacher, she's a real-estate agent, and they have two sons, 16 and 13. 

So Elise avoids them. When they're in the house, she hides. When they go off to school or work, she comes out, even watches TV — though she's careful to leave everything as it was.

She borrows carefully from the kitchen so they won't notice, subsisting mainly on Raisin Bran. 

Only Eddie, the dreamy 13-year-old, suspects Elise's presence — but he thinks she's a product of his imagination. (Elise borrows his books; they share a taste for fantasy and mythology.)

It can't last, of course. First, Elise is discovered by Brody, another orphan in the neighborhood. Brody breaks into local houses, though he doesn't stay. He and Elise become friends of a sort, playing games, but Brody's propensity for "borrowing" stuff his foster family can't afford poses a grave threat.

Eventually, Marshall, the 16-year-old, rebels when his Pop Tarts and his switchblade vanish. On an Internet chat room, he gets in touch with a fellow named Jonah Traust, who claims that thousands of intruders are crawling around in people's homes and who offers to help evict them, for a price.

Of course, you can always trust people you meet on the internet, right?

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Gnuse speeds up his pace as the narrative proceeds, writing in bursts of two- and three-page chapters. The reader never has time to question the plausibility of Elise's situation before the tempo builds to a dangerous conclusion.

"Girl in the Walls" meets the test as literary fiction. (Some people might be reminded of Donna Tartt's "The Little Friend.") Yet it also works as a solid commercial thriller. Don't be surprised to see it in the drugstore or supermarket as soon as the paperback edition comes out.

Ben Steelman can be reached at 910-616-1788 or peacebsteelman@gmail.com.

BOOK REVIEW

'GIRL IN THE WALLS'

By A.J. Gnuse

Ecco, $27.99