The House Guest by Mark Edwards
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 26th December 2020
Published: 3rd June 2020
★★★ 3.5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A perfect summer. A perfect stranger. A perfect nightmare.
When British twenty-somethings Ruth and Adam are offered the chance to spend the summer housesitting in New York, they can’t say no. Young, in love and on the cusp of professional success, they feel as if luck is finally on their side.
So the moment that Eden turns up on the doorstep, drenched from a summer storm, it seems only right to share a bit of that good fortune. Beautiful and charismatic, Eden claims to be a friend of the homeowners, who told her she could stay whenever she was in New York.
They know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers—let alone invite them into your home—but after all, Eden’s only a stranger until they get to know her.
As suspicions creep in that Eden may not be who she claims to be, they begin to wonder if they’ve made a terrible mistake…
The House Guest is the chilling new psychological thriller from the three million copy bestselling author of Here to Stay and Follow You Home.
MY REVIEW:
Whoa! This book is nothing like I thought it would be!
I've been a Mark Edwards fan since I read "The Magpies" and "Follow You Home", so I knew I would be getting an edge-of-your-seat thriller. But whatever it was I'd been expecting...it wasn't this! THE HOUSE GUEST is sinister, it's creepy but also puzzling and frustrating at the same time. Edwards has the ability to take an ordinary domestic situation and turn it into something bizarre...or even your worst nightmare.
British couple Ruth and Adam are house-sitting for friends Jack and Mona Cunningham in an affluent area of New York City. Ruth is an up and coming actress with a promising career, with the lead role in a Broadway play, whereas Adam is an aspiring writer sometimes living in the shadow of his girlfriend's career. After meeting Jack and Mona on a cruise, the couple are invited to house-sit while they embark on a summer retreat in New Mexico.
One wet and stormy night there is a knock at the door and Adam opens it to a young woman looking for Jack and Mona, with whom she is friends. Unfortunately for her she discovers they are away and feeling bad at having to turn her away, Ruth and Adam ask her in till the rain stops. And then invite her to stay. Any friend of Jack and Mona's... The three of them hit it off and despite my initial suspicions that Eden would seduce Adam into something compromising and Ruth would thereafter catch them in the said situation...I couldn't be further from the truth!
The story then takes a surprising turn that I didn't see coming and had I been told what had happened, I wouldn't have believed it either! It is that implausible. But extremely addictive. Like a car crash, I couldn't turn away and had to keep reading.
And so after a night of drinking tequila together, Adam awakes naked on the floor of the room he shared with Ruth to find that both she and Eden had disappeared. When Jack and Mona arrived home the following day, they didn't know what to believe after Adam regaled them with this implausible tale of a woman claiming to be a friend turning up and then disappearing along with his girlfriend. Enter their detective friend Dennis Krugman who assured Adam that Ruth was probably sleeping off a hangover to beat all hangovers, mostly probably ashamed of herself. Adam wasn't so sure but Detective Krugman saw this type of thing all the time. Then Adam overhears the three of them talking in the garden and he learns that they really don't believe him at all. So he decides his best course of action would be to leave and find somewhere else to stay.
Then things take a twist, or rather several twists, with surprises and revelations and a cult...yes, a cult. But to those within the inner circle it is not a cult, but a group of friends...very creepy friends, who help and protect each other. A somewhat diverse direction the story did take and I'm still not sure how I feel about that ending... But one thing is for sure. It is a fast, fun read that is addictive and entertaining.
THE HOUSE GUEST is a little obscure and yet an interesting read. I thought I was going to be reading a creepy stalker thriller but it was more than that on a whole other level.
I have to be honest, I'm not a fan of cults and stories surrounding them tend to frustrate me. THE HOUSE GUEST did and it didn't. Cults generally involve an egocentric narcissist who is good looking and charismatic and has learnt the art of reading people and using that to his advantage, claiming to offer a greater knowledge from a higher power or a sense of belonging. Thinking they have the right to brainwash people and taking advantage by targeting those who are vulnerable and searching for that something in their lives. And almost always, the leader or founder charms his way into the bed of every woman within their group, all the while making them feel like it was actually their choice to do so. They are nothing but predators.
In saying this, THE HOUSE GUEST is not a bad book. It is exciting and addictive and certainly a page-turner. But it did seem to be lacking something, though I'm still not sure what. I still enjoyed it and don't hesitate in recommending it. In some ways, it is a little far-fetched but then...aren't most psychological thrillers?
At the end of the day, THE HOUSE GUEST is compelling, it is addictive and it is a fast, fun read.
I would like to thank #MarkEdwards, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishing for an ARC of #TheHouseGuest in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers about ordinary people who encounter terrifying events. He has been described as ‘a can’t-miss king of psychological suspense’ by thriller author Brad Parks and ‘a natural born storyteller with the darkest of imaginations’ by crime writer Fiona Cummins.
He has sold more than three million copies of his books and topped the bestseller lists numerous times since his first solo novel, The Magpies, was published in 2013.
His other novels are What You Wish For, Because She Loves Me, Follow You Home, The Devil’s Work, The Lucky Ones, The Retreat, In Her Shadow, Here To Stay and The House Guest. He has also published two short sequels to The Magpies, A Murder of Magpies and Last of The Magpies, and six books co-authored with Louise Voss.
Many of his books have been translated into foreign languages including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Estonian, Thai, Lithuanian, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish and Russian.
In 2019 Mark won The Cat and Mouse Award for Most Elusive Villain at the Dead Good Reader Awards for Last of the Magpies.
Mark loves hearing from his readers and encourages them to contact him. He regularly interacts with readers on his Facebook page, where he hosts book release launch parties and lots of giveaways.
You can follow Mark on Twitter, like his Facebook page or take a peek at his pics on Instagram.
Mark lives in the West Midlands, England, with his wife, their three children, three cats and a golden retriever.
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