Carol Goodman is one of those authors whose books I will immediately pre-order no matter what. While there was a string of novels a couple years ago that didn't quite live up to her usual storytelling, she has been making a massive comeback with her last couple reads.

...and The Disinvited Guest just keeps this trend going!

While not her traditional mythology/school setting/teacher as main character set-up, the storyline for The Disinvited Guest was a perfect post-pandemic read. Lucy and her husband, Reed are secluded on an island with trusted friends to ride out this new illness taking over the country and world. But *can* everyone be trusted?

This story was filled with twists and turns, and while I did figure out the killer before it was revealed, I was second guessing myself over and over until the very end.

For those who love anything Carol Goodman or just an overall fantastic thriller, I highly recommend The Disinvited Guest. Just know, though, you shouldn't make plans for at least 24 hours once it's in your hands because you will *not* be able to put it down.

Solid 4.5 Stars

This was a complicated story with a lot of back and forth and dual time periods. There were a lot of characters that I had a difficult time keeping them all straight. At first I didn’t care for the passages with the earlier time period, but it all came together in the end with a surprising twist.

Disinvited Guest is narrated by Lucy and centers on a group of friends who isolate themselves on Fever Island together after a new pandemic appears ten years after the 2020 pandemic. Lucy, a writer who has been unable to write in some time, is inspired by the history/legend of the island she finds in a long forgotten journal. As she delves into the mythical past of Fever Island, weird things begin to happen on the island. Is it Lucy psyching herself up while discovering the sketchy history of the island or is something really going on? Are the accidents happening to this group of friends really happening? Lots of atmosphere. A good quick read that had me guessing.

In The Disinvited Guest, a small group of Harper family members and friends still impacted by the lingering effects of Covid decide to isolate together on an island off the coast of Maine to ward off the arrival of a new pandemic. Despite having enough provisions and resources to safely survive another major crisis, they never anticipated the elements that will ultimately challenge their survival. The island itself has a dark history as the site of a former typhus hospital rumored to still be haunted by the ghosts of those who perished. And other tragedies occurred more recently, when the island was a sanctuary for a group of family and friends during the Covid pandemic.

Shortly after their arrival, the characters are enveloped in a sense of danger that dispels their security. As supplies inexplicably disappear and property is sabotaged, the group find accidents and tragedies waiting around every corner. What is responsible for the destruction that threatens their safety bubble? Is it because the island is cursed, or does the threat come from one of the group members?

Love, loss, and betrayal loom large in the novel's plot line. Goodman has created an eerily dark and atmospheric tale, where the island itself is a menacing character. The remoteness and stormy weather of the setting, the description of ritualistic symbols carved into trees and stones, and the secrets held by each of the characters make the book a page turner. Dual time lines further enhance the story, suggesting the theory of the island's history repeating itself in the worst ways. Goodman's latest novel is a compelling read.

I was so excited to read this new novel, as Carol Goodman is a favorite author of mine. I enjoyed the atmospheric setting of this novel, an isolated island off the coast of Maine with a creepy and foreboding past. The book introduces us to a group of college friends who are fleeing a pandemic in the near future and setting up housekeeping at the family home of one of them on this island. Each individual has secrets and baggage that set up the twists and turns to come. There is also much unfortunate history on the island that lends a lovely supernatural element to the story.

I found the story a bit slow to evolve, and wasn’t immediately drawn to the characters. I felt neutral about most of them. They are not very likable people. However, the historical elements are well drawn and intriguing and the island is so tangible that it feels like a character in its own rite. I stuck with this story and ultimately enjoyed it, although I have loved the authors previous books much more. This is an enjoyable summer read and I would suggest it to many readers. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

Escaping from yet another virus, Lucy and friends head to her husband’s family ‘haunted’ island. Her husband, Reed and his best friend, Mac try to protect everyone, but the superstitions and past is back to haunt Lucy and perhaps drive her insane. A chilling tale of sickness and hunger surfaces to destroy again.

This was a 24-hr read for me. Set in in the future - probably around 2030? - described as 10 years after the “first pandemic”, there’s now another pandemic that is causing widespread illness and death. A group of friends decided to ride this one out on a secluded island owned by one their families for generations. Since the last pandemic had such devastating effects on all of their lives, they’ve stayed prepared. The island is well-stocked with food and supplies and they should be able to survive for months. But the island has a violent history and when one thing after another starts to go wrong, the group doesn’t know who, or what, to suspect is behind all the strange happenings that seem to indicate history is repeating itself.

Once I started, I couldn’t stop with this book. I had to know what was going on. I didn’t really like any of the characters and never knew who could be trusted. There were a few important events that seemed to happen suddenly and unexpectedly and then were wrapped up a bit too quickly for me, but the pace and high level of tension / suspense throughout made up for those things. Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It was my first Carol Goodman read, but definitely won’t be my last!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Carol Goodman, and @williammorrowbooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I am a huge Carol Goodman fan so when I saw she had a new book out I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. book did not disappoint. Goodman does a great job of creating an ominous and eerie atmosphere that pervades the novel from start to finish and I loved it. I also loved the setting. An island off the coast of Maine - yes, yes and yes. This is a case of the setting becoming a character in its own right and that is one of my favorite things. The isolation and the addition of the pandemic builds suspense and generates feelings of claustrophobia and paranoia. What is going on here and will the mysterious island give up its secrets? This book basically a modern gothic and the locked room(island) setting and is masterfully done.

Lucy was a good protagonist- she is likable and sympathetic and I was rooting for her all the way through. Her friends, not so much . This bunch of characters were unlikable and several were not what they appeared to be, but that just added to the mystery as it appeared any of them could be capable of murder.

As with all of Goodman’s other books, I highly enjoyed it. A good mystery, setting and hints of the paranormal are all of my favorite things, so this one was a home run for me. I highly recommend this and all of Goodman’s other books. Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book might hit a little too close to home for some people at the moment, but I thought that this was a good book overall. It had all the right twists and turns, and I loved the historical/dual timeline aspect.

A new pandemic is sweeping the world 10 years after the covid pandemic. Friends who were in college during the first pandemic have decided that fleeing to the family island of one of them is the safest way to social distance and avoid infection. However, the unseen ghosts of those who have died in past pandemics are haunting them as secrets start to come to light. This is the first true pandemic themed book that I have read since the pandemic. At first I just didn’t want to think about the word anymore but I found myself being able to relate somewhat with the actions of the characters due to our recent experiences with Covid. I enjoyed the flashbacks to the past of the island through a journal. The way the diary is written into the plot made the different times easy to distinguish between. This was a satisfying thriller with enough twists and turns to keep you hooked and guessing the ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Set a decade or so after the 2020 pandemic, the scariest part of this book to me is that another go-round is not only possible, but probable. Would I pack up my family and go live on a deserted island until it all blows over again? It's doubtful, in large part because I, unlike Lucy Harper and her husband Reed, don't have access to family property nor money enough to keep us well fed for however long it took to ride out the storm. The Harpers, though, have no such problem - inviting a handful of their best friends (including Reed's not-so-sisterly sister Liz and her significant other, Niko) to tag along.

And therein lie at least seven problems - eight, if you count the bear of a guy who apparently lives on the island and serves as a sort of jack of all trades by keeping the machinery running and food in the pantry. That's because while on the surface they're all friends and lovers, nobody seems to really like each other very much (too much personal history, I guess, although I have to admit I didn't like any of them very much either). And speaking of history, the island itself has a sordid background, once serving as a drop-off point for typhus patients and Reed's family mansion a quarantine hospital a couple of hundred years ago. More recently came deaths with far more personal ties to Reed and Liz.

For the most part, while she's riding out the viral storm, Lucy plans to write a new book as a follow-up to her successful first one. She hopes to find a journal written by one of Reed's long-ago ancestors, thinking the content will kick the stops from under her writer's block. But maybe, just maybe, that's exactly what shouldn't happen; it could be that some of the dead would far prefer to remain that way.

And slowly, the whole group begins to feel the ill effects of togetherness plus something more sinister; important things go missing, tensions and suspicions among the residents grow to the breaking point and accidents turn deadly serious. Clearly, something other than a virus is on the loose and full of malicious intent. But especially when she has no idea who to trust (both among the living and the dead), can Lucy figure out what's going on before it's too late to save anyone?

While all that makes for exciting reading, the chapters that were pages from the centuries-old journal were a bit too long and boring. It was also a little hard for me to work up much empathy with or sympathy for characters who expressed virtually no reaction at the loss of their loved ones (but then, no one ever seemed to care much about any of the others anyway, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised). But despite that and my virtually nil belief in the supernatural, the story is a bit of a mind-bender and made for an enticing, enjoyable read that was hard to put down. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

This was my first book by this author, but it won't be my list! This was a twisty book. I thought it was a very unique story and I was pulled in right away. I loved the map of Fever Island included at the front of the book. I also though that the dual timelines were very well done.

Stuck on an island during a pandemic ( not this one…). Fever Islands has a dark past, once housing quarantined patients. Lucy and a group of people have gone to Fever Island, now owned by her husband’s family. Of course, creepy and unsettling things start happen. Great atmospheric mystery!

Carol Goodman's "The Disinvited Guest" takes place on Fever Island off the coast of Maine. Reed Harper, whose family owns the island and has a house there, brings his wife, Lucy, his sister, Liz, and three other people to shelter in place during a second pandemic. Mac, Reed's best friend, ferries over supplies from the mainland. At first, everything seems to be going well. There is plenty of food and everyone is busy with his or her favorite pastime. Lucy is a writer; Liz, an artist; Niko, Liz's girlfriend, is a photographer; Reed and Mac keep the machinery and boat in working order; Ada, Lucy's former college roommate, bakes and cooks; and Crosby, Ada's husband, confers with his colleagues online.

Legend has it that Fever Island has a dark history. It may be cursed and haunted by the spirits of the dead. At one time, patients with cholera and typhus were quarantined here, and a woman accused of being a witch was left to suffer a gruesome death. Lucy finds a journal, written by one of Reed's ancestors in the mid-nineteenth century, in which he records what he saw and experienced as a physician treating sick and injured patients on the island.

The author's description of this forbidding locale, with its thick fog, dense woods, craggy cliffs, and powerful storms, is chillingly atmospheric. However, Goodman does not back up her evocative setting with a convincing and compelling plot. There are discussions about supernatural beings, pagan worship, and the cruel treatment of Irish immigrants who fled their country to escape the potato famine. In addition, Goodman leads us to believe that unnerving and frightening developments are in store for the key characters. Sure enough, Lucy, Reed, Mac, and the others will find themselves in grave danger. Unfortunately, the novel's gratuitously violent and implausible conclusion is grim, melodramatic, and unsatisfying.

Bestselling author Carol Goodman returns following The Stranger Behind You with her latest chilling, atmospheric gothic mystery thriller —THE DISINVITED GUEST. A group of friends isolated on a remote island with a history of foul play.

Is the island haunted by the dead? Or is there something more sinister—someone among them?

Set in the future, it has been ten years since the 2020 pandemic. There is now a new pandemic to prepare for.

Lucy Harper is a writer that put everything she had into her last book. She had written her first two years after college about how lives changed when the pandemic hit. It had been successful enough that she got a job teaching creative writing at the local college and a contract for a second book.

But now, eight years later, she hasn't been able to write. She feels like she has not really lived since then. How can she write about a life not lived?

Now there is a new virus and Lucy is still thinking about her near-death experience with the first one in 2020. Her heart stopped in the hospital for three minutes and thirty seconds but not enough to cause damage.

So Reed and Lucy get tested and decide to take refuge on Reed's (husband & sister) family's private island off the coast of Maine with five of their closest friends. He is accompanied by his sister Liz and her girlfriend, Nikko, his wife Lucy, Lucy's best friend Ada, her husband, Crosby, and Mac, Reed's best friend from high school.

Many of them lost their parents, families, and friends during the first pandemic, and of course, the author does a great job of summarizing what we live through today with the pandemic. They all had been touched by the tragedies and high anxieties and fears since they are now going through it again.

The mansion/cottage is rather imposing located on Fever Island. Upon arrival not what Lucy expected. It is massive. They arrived by boat with their supplies. She had never been there even though Reed of course came without her over the years.

It is located on a rocky landscape, three stories high on a cliff, with a stone foundation made of the same granite as the cliff, cedar shingles and trim with peaked eaves. A columned porch runs across the front with a gazebo, tower, and widow's walk. It is massive and seems to say, Keep away, I protect my own.

Fever Island is located three miles off the coast of Maine. The island was used as a station for the sick arriving from Ireland in the 1800s before they could enter the mainland. Later the island became the property of the wealthy Harper family.

Narrated by Lucy, she plans to spend her time writing about its Celtic rituals, the ghosts, and tragedies. At first, all goes well, until things start happening. Do the seven really know one another? Does Lucy really know Reed?

Fever Island has its own sordid past. It was named this when used as a quarantine site in the 19th century. During the 1850s, the island served as a quarantine site for Irish famine ships overflowing with dying typhus-infected migrants.

The cliffside setting is remote and surrounded by water. On top of this, Lucy begins digging into the property and family secrets. The disturbing and unsettling journal entries. She becomes obsessed with the past and worries about her own sanity.

Strange things begin happening. Lucy feels unsafe. Her friend said she should write about the ghosts but is this making her fearful or is the island casting a dark spell on everyone?

Lucy immerses herself in the journals she finds that were kept during the typhus and Reed's ancestor was a physician. What family secrets is Reed hiding? Is the island cursed? Are there witches?

When accidents turn deadly, Lucy fears for her life. They are stuck on this island and in this house. Something dark and cold lives in the heart of the island.

This TWISTY one will make your heart pound! I have read several books by Goodman and am a huge fan. I loved the map of Fever Island included at the front of the book, which helps you relate to the locations referenced in the novel. Both timelines were equally as compelling, giving that eerie atmospheric feeling.

The author does a fantastic job of creating anxieties, fears, claustrophobia, and paranoia during the past and current pandemics. Cleverly written and blended with humor and mystery, THE DISINVITED GUEST reads like a creepy dark, cat-and-mouse locked-room mystery thriller.

There are past family secrets, the island, the college friendships, the indiscretions, the present, and ghosts which all give a sense of foreboding and darkness. The setting is vivid, descriptive, and alluring - drawing you in.

I was not warm and fuzzy or particularly invested with any of the characters, and the dark bold font used (for journal entries) throughout was bothersome to my eyes.

Overall a chilling mystery and scary ghostly storytelling. As always the author delivers an Agatha Christie/Hitchcockian vibe infused with literary sprinklings with her signature style. For fans of authors: Jennifer McMahon, Lisa Jewell, and Ruth Ware.

Thank you to #WilliamMorrow and #NetGalley for an ARC to read, review, and enjoy!

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@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pub Date: July 12, 2022
July 2022 Must-Read Books

Is it really over?

Ten years after the first pandemic, a new deadly virus has spread all over the world.

“We were a haunted generation—not just by the people who died in the pandemic, but by all the plans and dreams derailed by it.”

Terrified that this is happening AGAIN, Reed invites seven people to quarantine on his family’s historic private island off the coast of Maine. He is accompanied by his sister Liz and her girlfriend, Nikko, his wife Lucy, Lucy’s best friend Ada, her husband, Crosby, and Mac, Reed’s best friend from high school.

Many of the characters lost their parents, loved ones, and friends during the first pandemic. Therefore, they seek the safety the remote island provides from a society that has not completely healed. As a semi-permanent resident of the island, Mac makes sure they have the supplies they need to survive.

However, the island has its own sordid history. It was named Fever Island when it was used as a quarantine site in the 19th century. It was built in 1832 during the Cholera epidemic and used in 1848 by refugees fleeing the Irish Potato Famine as a quarantine site for Typhus.

Despite the promise of security, Lucy begins to feel unsafe. What family secrets is Reed hiding? Is the island cursed by a witch? Are those the devil’s footprints? When accidents turn deadly, Lucy fears for her life.

Is this the work of a witch, ghost, devil, or is it just a prank?

Carol Goodman cleverly and humorously examines the anxieties, fears, and paranoia people experienced during the 2020 pandemic by crafting a twisty, creepy, locked room mystery. She portrays our own human frailty and inability to learn from past mistakes and the devastation and detritus we left in its wake.

This is the way to write about the pandemic! While she does not name the new virus, Goodman gives us a peak into a frightening future, while we are currently living through this awful time. I enjoyed this well-crafted premise, but for some reason I had a difficult time connecting with the characters. This was a 5 star read for me until the 30% percent mark. I would have enjoyed this book more if it did not include the historical connection and focused more on the development of the main characters.

Nonetheless, if you don’t feel quite up to reading about the horrors of our current pandemic, this book provides a eerie escape into the future.

3.5/5 stars rounded up

Expected publication date: 7/12/22

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for the ARC of The Disinvited Guest in exchange for an honest review.

The Disinvited Guest
by Carol Goodman
Pub Date: July 12, 2022
William Morrow
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. From two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author Carol Goodman comes a new mystery, about a group of friends isolated on a remote island with a history of foul play. Goodman's descriptions of the island and its mysteries are alluring. It's a nice touch having a map of the island included.
Great escapist gothic, ghostly storytelling. I loved this book and the setting. It kept me reading!!
I am recommending this book~
4 stars

A number of years back, I read "The Lake of Dead Languages" (2002), "The Seduction of Water" (2003), and "The Drowning Tree" (2004) all by the same author. When I got the chance to read "The Disinvited Guest", I was delighted. Remember the advice about writing the book you want to read? For me that would be a Carol Goodman story. Great escapist gothic, ghostly storytelling.

FIRST SENTENCE: "We're here."*

QUOTE: "But what if those of us who survived really were haunted by those who didn't?"

THE STORY: Ten years after the first pandemic, with a second one expected, six friends plan to retreat to an island three miles off the coast of Maine. Fever Island was used as a way station for the sick arriving from Ireland in the 1800s before they could enter the mainland. Later the island became the property of the wealthy Harper family. The story is told by Lucy who plans to spend her time writing about its Celtic rituals, ghosts, and lives lost. Even though everything has been carefully accounted for, things quickly go astray or missing.

WHAT I THOUGHT: There is so much tension and unpleasantness among the group that the reader knows there will be problems. Lucy is highly susceptible to suggestion. As she reads a journal left behind by a young doctor recounting his experiences on the island years ago, she becomes obsessed and begins imagining things.

While one might not want to read about a pandemic while living through one, here it is merely used as a conceit to isolate the deftly drawn characters. Although some suspension of disbelief may be necessary, the roller coaster ride is worth it.

Goodman's descriptions of the island and it's mysteries are alluring. It's a nice touch having a map of the island included.

BOTTOM LINE: RECOMMENDED Past college friendships, youthful indiscretions, secret histories and suggestions of ghosts combine to cause suspense and a sense of dread.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-copy of "The Disinvited Guest" by Carol Goodman from NetGalley/William Morrow Paperbacks for my honest review.

*This is the shortest first sentence I can remember. Two books ago, "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus, was the longest, a whole paragraph!

Carol Goodman is the master of atmospheric suspense. In Disinvited Guest she uses the pandemic — our fears, the isolation, and the intensity of being with the same people in a small space — to great effect, especially when she adds in the historical aspect of plague ships coming from Ireland. There are also recognized references to And Then There Were None (Christie’s classic.) However, what this book really is about is jealousy, secrets, and guilt. The setting of the Maine island with its local reputation for witchcraft and ghost is typical of Goodman’s spooky places. Lucy, our heroine and narrator, is insecure and still in recovery from her serious bout with an early variant of the virus. Thus we only see everyone else through her questionable lens. Goodman keeps us guessing about who will get off the island until the last few chapters.

The Disinvited Guest is a post-pandemic novel in which a traumatized woman flees to her husband's private island when a new pandemic breaks out several years later.

On the island are five friends but things are not what they seem. Family secrets and questionable people are unwound and frightening as questions of trauma and even sanity are considered.