An Unwanted Guest: A Novel

It was a very easy read and I enjoyed that!! The characters were all interesting and the ending was unexpected.

An Unwanted Guest is such a thrilling read! It begins with various people arriving through a bad snowstorm to Mitchell’s Inn, a beautiful hotel in a very remote location. As the guests begin to settle in for a relaxing weekend away the weather really begins to close in. Then what appears to be a fatal accident occurs and suddenly the guests are trapped and there’s a killer among them!I’m going to start by saying that I read this novel in one sitting over an afternoon during this glorious hot weather and the writing was so good that I could sense the snow and I could feel the icy cold weather emanating from the pages. I was gripped from the beginning and got completely lost in the book. It really took me back to my early teenage years when I devoured Agatha Christie’s novels, usually reading one in an afternoon curled up in a corner hoping not to be disturbed by anyone.An Unwanted Guest is an Agatha Christie-type locked room (or hotel in this case) mystery and it is so well done. From the minute the guests drove up to the Inn I was mulling over their character and wondering who was going to be in peril and who the killer might be. I did think I’d worked out who the killer was and although I was on the right lines I was never absolutely sure who it was and I didn’t see the ending coming at all!This is such a compelling and gripping thriller; to have such a confined setting and a small group of characters but still to keep the excitement and the reader guessing all the way through is no mean feat. The tension builds from the start and as the book progresses I found myself increasingly on the edge of my seat wondering if anyone was going to get out of the situation alive!An Unwanted Guest is so gripping, thrilling and completely unputdownable: I loved it so much! I finished reading it a couple of weeks ago now and I still keep thinking of it, I think it’s going to be hard to be beat for one of my favourite reads of the year come December!

Another gripping story by Shari Lapena. This one had me reading at every spare minute, dying to know how the story ended (pun intended). As with Lapena's other books, there was a little twist at the end which was brilliant. The story is set in a remote hotel, in the middle of a bad snow/ice storm which traps the guests inside the hotel for a few days. That's when one of the guests is murdered. You get a good look at the psyche of people trapped and scared. You feel their fear and anxiety.I just couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it.

Absolute rubbish and boring. I bought this after reading The Couple Nextdoor and really enjoying it. However, I've reached chapter 7 and given up. So far all that's happened is a few guests have arrived at a hotel and got snowed in. We've been told repeatedly how beautiful the women are and how they know they're beautiful. That's literally it. Nothing of any interest has actually happened and I'm sick of reading about how beautiful the women are over and over again. The language used is very amateur and constantly reads "he said" "she said" "said Lauren" "said David". Surely the writer could have thought of an alternative to "said xyz" ?? I'm about to put it in the charity shop bag. Don't waste your money.

I flew through this book and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I read it over a couple of very stormy days and it completely added to the atmosphere and my enjoyment of it. Also, after a couple of heavy reads, I wanted a book like this- something to delve into that was a page-turner and a bit of a no-brainer. I would also mention that I didn't guess who the killer was which I oftentimes do so I was delighted to be kept guessing until the very end.This was my second Shari Lapena book and I very much look forward to reading more by her. I recommend this book but I would suggest trying to read it during the winter months over a couple of dark, wet, windy days (or ideally snowy!) for maximum effect.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This theme is right up my street, almost reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel. This was such an easy read, no extra fillers with useless background information or unnecessary details. It was straightforward and to the point. The only thing that was slightly grating was as this is told from the viewpoint of all the guests, sometimes it can get a little repetitive as each guest gives their interpretation of events, but that’s a minor point. It was so intense and gripping and kept me yearning for more right until the last page where the killer was revealed. Would love to see this on the big screen. Just brilliant.