This book was so fast paced that it almost read like a short story. Mysterious things start happening right away, and the scenes and chapters are very short, which really keeps things moving. I read almost the entire book in one day, which I am never able to do. That should speak to my level of investment in this story.

The whole book is full of fantastic horror/suspense vibes. So much tension builds throughout the story. One scene in particular would have made me had a heart attack if this was a movie.

The writing and story were both really tremendous. Unfortunately, the ending fell flat for me. This is one of those books that feels like it just kind of... stops. There was a "payoff" of sorts, but it was very rushed and unsatisfying. I would still recommend reading this though, because the rest of the book makes up for the disappointing ending many times over.

THE NIGHT GUEST by @hildurknutsdottir

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @macmillan.audio and @tornightfire for the audio-ARC and finished copy. This one comes into the world on September 3!

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Iðunn is exhausted. She goes to sleep every night for a reasonable stint, but wakes up feeling fatigued with sore muscles. As she works through her symptoms with a young, engaged female doctor after being dismissed by a male doctor, she is encouraged to start wearing a fitness watch to track her exercise, sleep and habits. When she wakes up to find that she has walked over 40,000 steps during the night without any recollection, her fears about what is happening to her body are wildly heightened.

This compact thriller translated from the Icelandic does not pack a punch so much as an icy cold hand that slowly closes around your throat, yet the build up is steep with a swift, satisfying ending. Many of the chapters were less than a sentence long which added to the suspense and propelled the story forward in short bursts. The cold, dark setting of Reykjavik in the winter months kept the book's atmosphere feeling chilly and spooky.

If you like thrilling fever dream books, unreliable narrators, sleep-deprivation themes, and a quick, pallet-cleansing read, pick this one up! Bonus that it is a translated title and it is #womenintranslation month and fun fact: I was in Iceland just a month ago, so this was fun to read on the heels of that.

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Do you ever intentionally seek out books set in places you love, places you want to visit, or places you have lived?

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I went into The Night Guest not really knowing what to expect, and having finished it, I have to say I’m still not too sure.

This was a quick novella that immediately introduced a creeping sense of terror and dread. This is what kept me reading, wanting to know what was going on, and what was happening to the main character.
The tension and dread just builds the farther into the story you get, as things become more and more sinister.
This is one I wish I would have read the TW for prior to requesting, because there are quite a few, many actually, dead cats. That isn’t contributing to my rating, although I do wish horror would move away from the shock factor of murdered animals.

Overall, I suppose I’m not too sure about The Night Guest. I was incredibly invested throughout but the entirely ambiguous and abrupt ending lost me. I understand the gist of things, and I enjoy some ambiguity, but just a shred of context would probably have changed my rating.

Thank you to the author and Tor Nightfire for this ARC via NetGalley.
Publication date 9/3/24

Luckily I looked at other reviews before I got too far into this and saw the trigger warnings provided by other readers - I cannot abide violence against animals, especially cats. I wasn't able to finish this.

The Night Guest is a horror novella that centers around a woman named Iðunn, who is experiencing exhaustion and mysterious bruises despite sleeping through the nights. With nothing showing up on any medical tests, she begins to feel helpless and finds temporary aid in pills. Though, it is only temporary as she starts to wake up with more injuries, more exhaustion, and her watch reporting over 40,000 steps overnight. All attempts to prevent herself from sleepwalking result in punishment.

This novella was a very quick read with short and compelling chapters that made it really easy for me to consume in a short period of time. It plays on the fear of losing one’s autonomy, feeling isolated, and losing a grip on reality. The further into the story I read, the more the sense of helplessness and dread intensified. Overall, I liked it! I think the ending is either gonna be a love it or hate it kind of thing for people, but it worked for me.

Thank you Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

3⭐️

This was wild. The Night Guest is a quick read, but things got dark pretty fast. I think this did a great job covering things like grief, medical neglect, and the paranoia around things like microplastics and location settings on your electronic devices that you hear from your conspiracy theory uncle on Facebook. And even though it covered so many things, it also made me regularly say WTF while reading it. The whole thought that you might know something is wrong with you that you can't explain and that things might be happening overnight that you have no control over is terrifying.

Massive trigger warning for animal death, especially if you like cats.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for providing this ARC to me!

This is an eerie story that starts off with what happens when a lady goes to sleep and wakes up with unknown injuries, messes, and loads of steps. Once she discovers a pattern to her sleep walking, she needs to determine why she’s doing this when she should be in her house sleeping. The ending with leave readers guessing.

Content warning: Animal cruelty.

The Night Guest is an unsettling story set in modern day Iceland about a woman who believes she might be sleep walking. Constantly tired and covered in cuts and bruises from nights before, Iðunn seeks help from a medical professional continuously dismisses her symptoms.

This is a quick and intense well written Horror Novella. It was super easy to finish in one setting. The Night Guest creeps under your skin and will make you wanting more. I will say I was disappointed in the ending, which is where my rating has dropped.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

The Night Guest is such a fast paced novella that I could not put down. You'll definitely be able to read this all in one sitting. Hildur's writing is fantastic. It sucks you in from the start. I wasn't sure where this story was going to go. It left me feeling very distraught. I really shouldn't have read this right before bed. It lingered in my mind for a while. Like other reviewers, I felt upset by the ending. I found myself reading that part a couple times and still haven't fully made sense of it. I do hope more of Hildur's work gets translated because I'd really like to read it.

Please note this book talks about death of cats. Thankfully you don't get any descriptions but it's talked about. :(

*Thank you so much to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Oh this was spooky! Iðunn lives in Reykjavik and has been suffering from chronic fatigue that she thinks may be a sign of some form of disease, but all tests show there's nothing wrong with her physically. She eventually gets a watch to track her sleep patterns and discovers that she's been walking thousands of steps in her sleep. What happens after that kept me furiously flipping the pages to figure it all out! The only thing I didn't like was the ambiguous ending, but I'm not a fan of those in general and I like to have some kind of resolution.

This is translated, and while I don't speak the original language this was published in, I thought the translation was really easy to follow. I read this easily in one sitting, and I really hope there will be more translations in the future of this authors works!

Also, there is a huge trigger warning here for animal cruelty, especially with cats. Lots and lots of cats. Mostly off page but it's pretty descriptive.

First I have to say - this might be one of the smoothest works of translation I've read in a while! I have no idea of the fidelity to the original text, but the reading experience was excellent. Second, this was unsettling in the best way. This is such a short novella, I think you should just go in blind and see if you like the vibes, but nice and creepy IMO. A very ambiguous ending, though, if that is a no-go for you

The Night Guest is a short novella that is easily read in a couple of sessions, but I have mixed feelings about the novella itself.

The first 90% is excellent. As the main character becomes more and more disturbed by her nightly wanderings, the reader definitely feels the tension rise. The author uses a variety of chapters lengths to keep our attention and up the dread as the story progresses.

But the ending left more questions than answers, as the story resolved in a way that wasn’t at all satisfying or effectively explained.

I loved the story, but the ending left me wanting more.

The Night Guest is a horror story set in Iceland about a woman who believes she may be sleep walking. She consistently feels worn out when she wakes up in the morning, having logged many steps, but she can't recall anything that may have happened.

This horror novella has a fast-paced plot that is eerie and unsettling. I am completely enamored with this bizarre story. I was reading nonstop because I had to know what the was going on with her. Iðunn's panic was skillfully captured by the author on the page.
I'm not entirely happy with the finish, even if I can see the use of a rapid and abrupt ending. I do like endings that leave room for interpretation, but in this one I wanted more of my questions to be answered.

Hildur Knútsdóttir created a universe and people that I adore, so I would definitely read more of her work. This book is a great choice if you're searching for something spooky and unique to read.

Short but compelling! Iounn is constantly exhausted and fears she has a horrible illness. After she starts wearing a fitness tracker and finds that she’s putting on thousands of steps after she’s asleep an even more disturbing thought occurs- where is she going and why does she wake up with blood on her, bruised and aching? Also why do the neighborhood cats suddenly hate her…and why are they disappearing?
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC- my opinions are my own.

Talk about creeppyyyy. This book really had me sitting there in daylight checking behind me.

Not only was the use of chapters very well done, the lack of background made the book somehow more creepy? It was fruatrating at some points, but I enjoyed knowing very little other then what the author gave us.

I do think the build up to the end was sudden and I wish we knew more past the end.

The Night Guest was a quick and entertaining read overall. The first 95% of this book I was completely hooked and all about the disorienting atmosphere the main character is put in. As we get closer to the end though I think it became a little too ambiguous and I personally would’ve enjoyed an ending with some of the loose ends tied up neater. All and all I do recommend this for a quick unsettling horror read. Thank you to the publisher for the free digital copy of this novel.

This was an excellent psychological horror about a woman’s descent into madness. The constant impending sense of doom was stressing me out, so I’m glad this was a short read 😂

I absolutely loved 98% of it. The translation was SO good. I feel like humor and emotion can sometimes get lost in translation, but I loved the dry humor/sarcasm of our main character. I also liked that the author touched briefly on societal issues related to women (healthcare, misogyny).

Despite that, I feel like the last 2% kind of came out of left field? No spoilers, but basically I thought one thing was going on… and it didn’t make sense for what showed up in the end. But a descent into madness can cause WILD stuff to “happen,” so I’m gonna chalk it up to that. I just have so many unanswered questions:

Like was the dirt on her body and under her nails from digging up her sister’s corpse!?
Before she turned GPS tracking on, was she digging up her corpse!?
Were the spirals necessary for a ceremony to reanimate her corpse?
Did the sisters hate each other or did they love each other?
Was the sister murdered by our main character because she could sense that she was evil!?
Who gave her the black eye? Herself? The reanimated corpse?
Was there EVER a reanimated corpse or was the body in the end just a figment of her imagination????

4.5/5 stars
What a ride! A story about a single woman with parents who could honestly do better by her. She has a love for cats and is very honest with herself, to a point. On discovering she is exhausted from unknown causes, she seeks help. I have met so many patients like this main character, and the author writes her spot on and completely believable. She is a feminist who wants to be responsible and well informed. She wants to be taken seriously and wants actual care. The things this woman experiences are bizarre, sad and so very disturbing. I could only imagine finding out that when I sleep, I completely lose control over my body no matter my efforts. The ending was truly bittersweet. You finally get the reveal and the cause still can be left up to the reader, but part of me yearned for an epilogue.

Despite this being a translation, the novel was fun and very easy to consume. There’s a bit of comedy that relieves the darkness. I will share a few things that stood out to me:

Because there is nothing worse than having unexplained symptoms. Feeling like there’s something terribly wrong- but nothing can be measured in exams, and you know the doctor thinks it’s all in your head. Ch2

I come to the realization that it’s not just twinkling stars ahead of me. There’s also the dark between them. Ch 17

He may sound like a domestic rooster, but this is not his domain. Ch48

Iðunn is a captivating character with incredible depth. It appears the author intends for the reader to psychoanalyze Iðunn in order understand the open ended last scene. With help from my fantastic friend, Katie, I believe we worked out the deeper meaning. If you are interested in her analysis, it is hidden in her comment below. I have updated my rating, as I knew I would when I finally understood it! I will be reading this one again!! The Night Guest would be a terrific book club read.

Like many people, Iðunn feels like she's not getting enough sleep. She's constantly exhausted and falls down a health anxiety spiral trying to figure out what's wrong with her. Despite reassurances from physicians that there's nothing wrong with her, Iðunn's sleep-deprived state continues. Soon she wakes with aches, pains, scratches, bruises, and substances under her nails. A smartwatch tracks her nighttime activity, showing she's walking thousands of steps. What is happening? Where is she going and why?