Thank you to Bibliolifestyle, William Morrow, #partner, for a finished copy of The Christmas Guest in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: October 17, 2023
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson pens a spectacularly spine-chilling novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.
Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.
But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?
Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.
My thoughts:
Peter Swanson has become a must-read author for me when it comes to crime fiction and I love that his books are so thrilling and binge-worthy and this latest one is no exception – especially as it is a holiday novella! It’s totally a one-sitting type of read and in fact, in the author’s note, that is exactly what Peter Swanson was hoping this would be.
This is a dark read that is completely atmospheric. It’s twisty and has characters that you just can’t be sure you can trust – all hallmarks I’ve come to love in a Peter Swanson book. I loved the format, where the first half brings us back to 1989 and is told using diary entries and the second half is told in the present and fills in the blanks. There is a sense of foreboding throughout, and I could not read this one fast enough. It certainly kept me on my toes and I was quite surprised when the final twist happened.
While this is a holiday novella, I loved the strong gothic undertones that are woven in, which makes reading it right now during spooky season perfect. This is the type of book that I could totally see being an annual reread each year to get you in the holiday spirit, bridging you from the dark, spooky reads to possibly more cheerful holiday reads. It’s definitely one I recommend reading and I’m glad to now have it as part of my collection!
