The Guest by B.A. Paris is a domestic thriller about a couple, Iris and Gabriel, who return home to an unexpected house guest and the trouble starts there. At the same time, there is a fairly new couple to the neighbourhood, and Iris and Gabriel have befriended them, and they also have a house guest who raises some questions.
Told from the point of view of Iris, we watch as Laure sets up residence in their home, and seems to have no plans to leave any time soon. Iris and Gabriel have a lot more patience than I have because I think I would have tossed her out after the initial period she had indicated she was staying for.
While I found The Guest to be interesting at first, after a while I was just sick and tired of Laure, and wanted Iris and/or Gabriel to grow a backbone and throw her out. The saving grace of this book is that Gabriel didn’t fall into bed with the house guest, which is half what I expected to happen.
It says something that at one point, it felt like this story was wrapping up, only for me to realize I was only at 63%, and I wasn’t sure what was left to say. As it turned out there was more to the story, but I’m not sure it was necessary to do it in another 19 chapters (plus an epilogue). While there were some surprises, if you were paying close attention, it wasn’t hard to spot where the ending was going. If you aren’t paying close attention, then the ending may surprise you.
All in all, the story was entertaining, if a little long winded, and may be worth a read if you’re a lover of slower moving domestic thrillers.
The Guest will be published on February 20 2024.
Life, Tea, and Everything 