Have you been wondering where all the pandemic storylines are? Where here you go. Picking up 10 years after the pandemic with another one possibly coming, we are able to reflect some on the decisions made during this one. Three couples head to isolate on an island off the coast of Maine that was used to quarantine fever ships back in the 19th century. The Harper family owns the island now and had quarantined there during the first pandemic tho all were not survivors, This time they come back with two other couples.

This is a very tense and eerie book as it flashes back and forth between the historic time when the ships came in to the present time. Danger starts to build as strange things start to happen. Are they not safe with those they came with and trust? It seems like the dark and brutal history of the past is bleeding into the present. As suspicion builds you will be on the edge of your seat with some unexpected plot twists and what I thought was a surprising finish.

If you like books with a dash of feeling of Agatha Christie and Hitchcock than this is the one for you. Keep the lights on and make sure you know who you are isolating with!

Meet Lucy Harper, a young woman escaping with husband and friends to an island to “outlast” a pandemic. A pandemic after the 2020 pandemic and even after a typhoid pandemic years and years ago.
Enmeshed with family secrets and armed with a book of island history written by a resident from the former pandemic, Lucy encounters unexplainable murders and unusual tides of the ocean and of life. Can she be sure that hauntings of the former typhoid deaths are not real? Can she be sure that her husband Reed is faithful? Is there a murderer on the island? Will they survive the pandemic on the island?
Entwining the current pandemic with the typhoid epidemic with an underlay of haunting, leads to an interesting and suspenseful read. I’m not quite sure I was ready for a pandemic novel—there are some “lines” that resonated very closely with our recent experiences that made me observe the way a pandemic can uncover the best and worse in each of us.

Thanks to William Morrow publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy.

My favorite writer comes through with a pandemic tale that is both thrilling and chilling. Set on a remote island, five close friends choose to ride out the second wave of the pandemic together. All the friends have tested negative for the virus and believe they will be safer on this remote part island off the coast of Maine. An alternating tale of previous inhabitants of the island deal with the pandemic fever of the 19th century. I really enjoyed this out-of-the-box tale from Goodman that was exhilarating and historically interesting. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know it will resonate with mystery and thriller readers (as well as Goodman fans).

This is a cross between a thriller and kind of a locked room mystery. Friends escaping a virus locked down on an island with only each other. An ominous feeling settles on the group. How well can we trust each other? This book definitely feel similar to an Agatha Christie. I highly enjoyed it!

Carol Goodman never disappoints me. The Disinvited Guest was a fun creepy ride. Sea witches, selkies, stormy island isolation, and secret journals from the past! What’s not to love. Thanks to NG for the advanced copy I was able to devour this book in one day.

A perfect blend of domestic thriller and suspense. At this point in time, I was wary about another pandemic novel, but this was an interesting and gripping take.

The Uninvited Guest is a solid psychological from Carol Goodman. In a world going back into lockdown, a well-supplied island sounds like a haven. But this island- and it’s guests, may not be alone. Who do you trust when the world is ending?

I really enjoyed this novel set in the near future after the third pandemic. Three couples go to a Maine island to isolate. What happens to them there is standard isolated on an island tropes, but the author created such wonderful characters I couldn't wait to see how it all played out. The parallel in the story of the island being a hospital for fever victims a century before made the story even more intriguing.

Three couples isolate on an island with a dark history during a second wave of the pandemic in this effective blend of domestic thriller with historical suspense.

The island off the coast of Maine was used to quarantine fever ships from Ireland in the 19th century and is now owned by the descendants of the doctor who worked there. The Harper family quarantined on their island during the first wave of the current pandemic, but not all of them survived. Now those who remain have returned with a small group of partners and friends.

Lucy, a married-in who nearly died last time around, discovers old Dr. Harper’s journal, which reveals the strange events that befell the Irish typhus patients and their caretakers. These happenings are echoed in the modern storyline, as those isolating due to disease find danger coming from amongst themselves.

I enjoyed this take on the pandemic novel. The fever ships were an interesting historic parallel, and both timelines were equally compelling. The atmosphere on the island is tense and eerie as the characters end up trapped in a game of cat and mouse that kept me hooked to the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

A spooky story about 3 couples isolating on an island during the next pandemic in 10 years. It was a decent quick read especially since I just skimmed the historical journal entries which were a bit too long. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4/5

Don’t read this book before bedtime!

Reed and Lucy Harper — along with Reed’s sister Liz and her lover Niko, and Lucy’s best friend Ada and husband Crosby, and Mac, the caretaker — all head to a remote island off the coast of Maine in the year 2030 to wait out what appears to be an even more deadly pandemic. The island, now owned by Reed and his sister, was once a quarantine hospital for (mostly Irish) immigrants with Typhus back in the mid 1800s. It is a creepy place, with three generations of deathly illness — the Harper parents died there of Covid in the previous pandemic, and numerous Typhoid patients met their end there the century before.

From the tense start until the surprising finish, the plot twists and turns in a Lord of the Flies meets locked-room Agatha Christie meets part Hitchcock’s Rebecca unfurling. When bad things start happening and the brutality of the island’s history starts bleeding through to the present, Lucy feels her sense of reality slipping.

This is a mystery / thriller with a huge amount of character development. The interpersonal dynamics are nuanced and ever evolving with the threats of unknown origin inserting suspicion and fear where there was once cameraderie and friendship. Very difficult to put down or to get out of your head.

The last thing I wanted to read was a dystopian books about pandemics, so let me reassure you that pandemics really didn’t feature except as an impetus to get them on the island in a quarantine state.