Book Review: The Guest House

THE GUEST HOUSE | Robin Morgan-Bentley
09.13.2022 | Poisoned Pen Press
Rating: 4/5 stars

With a few weeks to go until their first baby is due, Jamie and Victoria head off for a weekend break in a small countryside guesthouse. The next morning, Jamie and Victoria awake to find the guesthouse has been emptied. Both their mobile phones and their car keys have disappeared, the owners are nowhere to be seen, and all the doors are locked. Even though it’s a few weeks early, Victoria knows the contractions are starting. And there’s no way out…

This book is so hard to talk about without the potential for spoiling anything, so I’m going to try to keep things as vague as possible. 

THE GUEST HOUSE is an exciting psychological thriller focused on the lengths that people will go to save those that they love and the effects of trauma. That’s what you need to know. What comes next is a whirlwind of deception, tension, and anxiety. Morgan-Bentley chooses to unfold this story through dual narration from Jamie and Victoria that shifts between present day and what happened at the guest house. I loved getting both sides of the story and feeling the emotional reactions from both characters. Finally everything culminates into a layered and twisty ending that left me thrilled to have picked this book up. While I guessed a few things, I certainly didn’t see everything coming and even the bits I predicted didn’t stop me from enjoying the way they were revealed. 

A huge thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for my gifted copy!