The Book:
The Guest by BA Paris
Published February 20, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press
Date read: January 11, 2024
The Characters:
Iris and Gabriel
Their houseguest Laure
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
This page contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this site.
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Iris and Gabriel seem to have it all: a beautiful home in the British countryside, a daughter happily working in Greece, and good friends Laure and Pierre from Paris, who they often vacation with. But when a young man has a tragic accident in a nearby quarry, Gabriel is the one to find him and hear his final words, leaving Gabriel with a guilty burden.
As Iris tries to help ease her husband’s trauma, they acquire an unexpected house guest. Laure has seemingly moved in after her husband’s revelation that he has had a child with another woman. Iris and Gabriel insist Laure stay as long as she needs. But Laure keeps wearing Iris’s clothes, following her every move, and asking her about the recent death of the young man.
Their only respite from the increasingly tense atmosphere in their own home comes from a couple new to town and expecting their first child. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past.
With fractured relationships and secrets piling up around them, can Iris and Gabriel’s marriage survive?
How did The Guest end?
The Reveal:
Halfway through, Laure died abruptly. Iris had overhead Joseph and Laure arguing (she suspected they may have been involved) and then Laure went for a run and never came back. Her body was found at the same place as Charlie, the child Gabriel found.
Maggie, Charlie’s mother, had gotten Joseph fired from the job at his school. Joseph had told Charlie that his mother was sleeping with his biology teacher, and he and Charlie fought. That was also why Charlie had given Gabriel the message to tell his mom he hadn’t forgiven her.
Joseph died in the explosion shown in the prologue. He’d been drunk at the christening, so Iris and Hugh brought him home to sleep it off.
In the epilogue, we find out that Iris had had an affair with Pierre. Beth had been Pierre’s daughter. Iris had killed Pierre to protect her secret and then framed Laure.
She was obsessed with Joseph and got jealous when she heard him hooking up with Laure. Laure also figured out that Beth was Pierre’s daughter, conveniently when they were at the quarry where Charlie died. Iris herded Laure off the cliff as well.
The Ending:
It turned out that Laure had told Joseph too. Iris knew she had to kill him, so this was her most premeditated murder. She put laxatives in the curry so Beth wouldn’t go to the christening, and supplied Joseph with the alcohol that got him started that day. When she and Hugh brought him back to the house, she turned on the gas and hoped for the best.
I hope these The Guest spoilers were helpful.
The Review:
The Guest was quite clever. These characters have so many secrets that there’s something new around every turn. I certainly was kept guessing!
Laure, the houseguest who overstayed her welcome, had me anxious for Iris and Gabriel. There’s nothing quite so uncomfortable as wanting your space back to yourself when someone just won’t leave! The storyline did get a bit bogged down with the day-to-day of these characters’ lives, but from the prologue the reader knows something fascinating is coming. It’s worth it to stick out the slow parts!
While not my all-time favorite from this author, I enjoyed the read and will certainly pick up her next novel.
Follow me on Bloglovin’!
1 Comment