I consider myself a thriller book enthusiast and so when I read the premise of An Unwanted Guest, I immediately picked it up. On the surface, the book has a fantastic concept. A bunch of strangers get trapped in an isolated hotel during a snowstorm and a killer lurks among them. Very Agatha Christie esque (whose work I absolutely adore).
Unfortunately, that's where the similarities with Christie end. The major problem with the book is the prose. It is written in the present tense which I found a bit disconcerting but the real deal breaker was how bland the sentences were. The exposition feels too in the face and spoon fed to the reader. This is literally how every paragraph goes:
X sees that they are heading to the hotel. X is hopeful this would be a good weekend. X knows her friend Y is trying to make her happy. But. X is not happy.
Prose is very important to the book for me and such style of writing just ruins any mystery/intrigue. Coming to the mystery itself, unlike an Agatha Christie book (or any good thriller/murder mystery), the author does not leave any clues for the reader to find. The reveal of the murderer is probably the worst murderer reveal I have read in any book. It just happens out of the blue and is written in the same god awful prose. There is no build up, no excitement, nothing.
The most important of a thriller/mystery is the author drops little hints as to who the killer is throughout the book allowing readers to make their own guesses which is half the fun for me (even if I am wrong most of the time). But when reading An Unwanted Guest, I was given nothing to work with. I was just as clueless as most of the characters (who by the way, are very one dimensional).
I did finish the book, just out of curiosity or maybe blind hope that it would get better. It didn't. But at least it was a quick read which is a positive I suppose.
I guess I am in the minority here since the book has good reviews but I'd strongly advise anyone interested in this book to read a sample first to see if they can live with the prose. It's a shame, it has great potential but awful execution.
1.5/5.
by Ducard42
2 Comments
I’ve read two books by her (The Couple Next Door and Everyone Here is Lying) and that was more than enough. They were both just terrible. I have no idea why people like her books.
Agree, all her books are like that. I really wanted to like this one, because the actual plot is interesting, but it’s hard to re-read. I loved the twist that >!the rich woman was actually in foster care, and the other rich woman was also in foster care and then returned to her family.!<