“Charlie had only just been reported missing by his mother when Gabriel, out for an early morning run, had spotted him lying at the bottom of the old limestone quarry, surrounded by the tangled metal of his bike.”
The Guest, B. A. Paris
From the first page, this book has some deeply emotional themes. Gabriel, a sweet middle-aged dad, had been on a run one day and found a local kid, dying from a bike accident. Gabriel had sat with the teen as he died, hoping the paramedics would make it in time. Instead, Charlie had died in Gabriel’s arms. Since then, Gabriel has been in a spiral of depression that his wife Iris and daughter Beth haven’t been able to pull him out of. His office had given him an extended leave, and he’d been lying around the house in despair every day. In a desperate attempt to help him, Iris whisks Gabriel away on a holiday. But when they return, there’s an unexpected house guest.
“Embarrassed, Laure laughed. ‘Yes, yes, of course, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting you.’ Hitching up her pajama bottoms, she ran down the stairs, hugged Iris fiercely, then moved back, reproach in her liquid-brown eyes. ‘You said in your email that you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.’”
The Guest, B. A. Paris
Laure is one-half of Iris and Gabriel’s closest friends. She is married to Pierre, and the two couples met almost 20 years ago on vacation. They keep in touch, see each other as often as they can, and often let each other stay in their homes while they’re out of town. Iris had mentioned their vacation, and Laure had taken that as an invitation to stay at the empty house. Her catalyst was a revelation from Pierre. After two decades together, he’d announced that he had a child and wanted to be in the child’s life. Completely shocked, Laure had hid out at Iris and Gabriel’s house to collect herself.
She’d already been at the house for a week before Iris and Gabriel got home, and shows no signs of wanting to even see Pierre. Iris immediately starts to struggle with balancing Gabriel’s emotional distance with Laure’s emotional dependence, and is looking for every excuse to leave the house. She meets a new neighbor and finds herself fascinated with another family’s drama. But as the two households begin to merge, the tension continues to rise. Which secret coming to light will be the final blow?
This was a great thriller. The building sense that something was wrong was subtle and expertly paced. I got to know each character, and understand the secrets they were hiding. I was desperate to get to the final reveals and figure out exactly what was going on. For me, the ending felt a little out of place. While the storylines had been woven together for a nice and explained conclusion, it didn’t match what I’d learned about each character. Regardless, the twist still got me, and it didn’t ruin the story.
I’d recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed B. A. Paris’s other books or anyone looking for a suburban-based thriller that doesn’t include locking people in basements or child kidnapping!
Ready for my full review? Continue reading here!
Read with Fern 
Leave a comment