As a movie nerd I’ll watch anything, but horror is my happy place. As a reader I’ll TRY to read just about anything but again, horror is my happy place and like any art form the journey and its execution can either make or break the experience for any given watcher/reader. In the case of Hildur Knútsdóttir’s The Night Guest I’m at a bit of a crossroads.

I love a quick read and this is littered with “Chapters” that are merely a few words, so this is easy to devour in a single sitting. In some ways, I feel like this is a choice which I found kind of disconnected me from the experience as a whole, even though my ADHD brain appreciated the abbreviated length. The prose felt a bit stilted and unnatural to me at times, which I suppose could lend to the some of the fragmented reality of our main character and her lost time—but also could just be an ignorant criticism on my end as this was translated from its Icelandic origins. There’s a palpable “creepy” tone that builds to a divisive ending that didn’t entirely work for me.

If you like horror and you’re like me and love a brisk read to pad your Yearly Reading Challenge this will fit in nicely. Even if I didn’t find it as surprising or engaging as I’d have liked, there’s still nuggets of great genre ideas that just didn’t come together as I would have constructed them, which isn’t a fault of the author, just my own personal bias. There’s nothing offensively bad, just a mere divide from a style I would have preferred to the one that was presented, but I’ll still be intrigued to check out the next thing from Knútsdóttir moving forward!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group/ Tor Nightfire for providing me with a eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Tor Nightfire for the gifted copy!

This is an extremely short read that definitely built an eerie sense of foreboding but ultimately left me with more questions than answers. I think avid horror readers will probably enjoy it a lot more than I did, as I prefer endings tied up in a neat little bow, so that's definitely a case of it's not you it's me.

Ultimately this was entertaining and I'd say anyone who thinks it sounds interesting should give it a shot!

The Night Guest will be on US bookshelves September 3.

I LOVED this book — devoured-it-in-one-sitting level love. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the anxieties of the main character. That's why I think this book really works. There is SO much good commentary on how the healthcare system treats women and the chronically ill as well.

Short Terrifying Read . Iounn goes to doctor after doctor to find out why she wakes up with soreness and bruises. Constantly fatigued after a nights rest she tries to put the puzzle into place. Spine tingling and eerie you won't be able to put this down

Iðunn wakes every morning exhausted, often with bruises or signs of nighttime activities she can’t recall. The neighborhood cats, once friendly, regard her with suspicion. She buys a smart watch, only to realize she’s been sleepwalking to the harbor district. That’s when things get strange.

It’s a short piece, every word and moment used to best advantage. The suspense is exquisite. Some twists you can feel lurking just ahead and others blindsided me completely. I didn’t like Iðunn as a character, but still found her struggle compelling.

This was so well done and I hated it SO MUCH. It will probably haunt me. Kudos to Mary Robinette Kowal for what seems to be a wonderful translation of a deeply disturbing story.

I really enjoyed this novella. I read it in a day. It had nice, short chapters and it was intriguing.
Iðunn has been waking up sore and with weird bruises. She visits a few doctors, but doesn't get any concrete answers, so she gathers evidence to see what is causing her to be so tired. She decides to buy a smart watch and sees that she is getting 40,000 steps in. Where is she going when she is asleep? And worse, what is she doing?
This story was so interesting. I love the tropes that they dive into. I loved seeing our character try to live with her disease and fight against her disease. This book has some awkward sexual situations. There is also animal abuse.
My main gripe is that the ending felt abrupt and it wasn't really spelled out for us what happened. Feel free to feel unsettled at the end.

For readers who enjoyed Nightbitch, the Night Guest also features a woman questioning her life choices and who she is, but she also seems to be experiencing something beyond age-related changes. She wakes up tired and sore despite a full nights rest and begins to suspect that something is seriously wrong. Doctors and friends all give the same advice, take vitamins, get more exercise, seek out a therapist, but though she tries all of them Iðunn continues to lose sleep. When she discovers her pedometer reading an abnormally high number after having left it on all night things start piecing together. What is happening? Is she sleepwalking? And where is she going?

The pace of the novel steadily increases as the reader, along with Iðunn starts putting together the puzzle of her nights to reach a chilling conclusion. Easy to read in one sitting with the page count and the need to find out the end.

I was enthralled by the mystery of this book. Every time I flipped the page my heart would pound in my chest in anticipation of what would happen next. As it continues, it dives deeper from something seemingly normal (issues with sleep) to something much darker. I had a lot of fun and anxiety (as intended!) reading this book.

I love Iceland so reading a book set there was so fun! And I think it was translated extremely well. A few areas where I think it didn’t come across as well as it would in Icelandic but for a translated novel extremely minimal!

I really enjoyed the comments on women’s healthcare and in general how women are expected to conform to an idealized version that society expects. I thought the feminist commentary was very well done and really resonated with me as a woman.

I gave it 3 stars as the ending was more ambiguous than I would like, I wanted just a bit more of an explanation of the events that transpired and I do not think in this case that I wanted my own interpretation.

The Night Guest was a title I normally wouldn't pick for myself. It was a very short read, but the ending was not as satisfying as I wished. The novella could have been fleshed out a bit more for a fully engrossing horror story.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Night Guest, by Hildur Knútsdóttir (translated by Mary Robinette Kowal) from Tor Publishing Group | Tor Nightfire/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

I didn’t actually intend to read The Night Guest basically over lunch today, but saw a *notice from NetGalley* that it was going to expire in five days, so I figured I’d better get on the stick.

Before I write anything about the book proper, let me say first that I am now a huge fan of this author/translator team, and would happily read any- and everything else by them. This novella just whetted my appetite. (FTR, for some reason it didn’t register with me going in that this was a novella. If this matters to you, please take note.)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t as blown away by the story itself as many people seemed to be. It’s that pesky situation I often find myself in, being Of A Certain Age; I’ve read a lot similar before. In this case it was about women not being listened to, especially in healthcare settings, so their feelings manifest in ways decidedly other. Ergo, I wasn’t the least bit surprised at what was going on. Still enjoyed the story, though, even if I considered it be more of a suspense than horror novel.

What baffled me was how many people say that didn’t understand the ending. I truly think it had to be one thing or another, and was not as ambiguous as some folks think. I’m not a big fan of spoilers, but I’m going to share what I think was going on at the end of this Book Report. Would love to hear others’ thoughts on this.

*Notice From NetGalley*
Well, don’t I feel like an idiot. Turns out that “expiring” and “archive date” don’t mean the same thing. Why oh why did it take me until today to research and learn this? In most cases, when you see the notice about something expiring, you can renew a NetGalley ARC for an additional 55 days. Archive date is when the publisher plans to remove a book from the NetGalley catalog.

On the plus side of the ledger, I now feel like I’ve got some deadline pressure off me, LOL.

SPOILER ALERT
Scroll down.



Keep scrolling.




Keep scrolling some more.

Surely to goodness this has given anybody who doesn’t want to read a spoiler enough time move on?



Just in case not……



OK, here we go.

The Spoiler
The main protagonist was a vegetarian chick haunted by her sister’s death. She was socially awkward, and obviously not the world’s best when it came to sexual/romantic relationships, to say the very least.

OF COURSE she was slaughtering all the cats in the neighborhood because she was, for the most part, denying her body red meat, and also was being possessed—either by her alter-ego that murdered her sister OR by her dead sister herself. I’m leaning toward the latter because of the way the “she” in the shed at the end subsumed herself into the main character and they went out into the ocean to drown.

Just my 2 cents.


DESCRIPTION
Hildur Knútsdóttir's The Night Guest is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjavík that’s sure to keep you awake at night.

Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause.

When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same — have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.

Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .

What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?

Writing was beautiful but felt disjointed at times. Not sure if that is due to it being translated or not. Story was interesting and fast paced but the ending was lack luster. Too many unanswered questions and left me feeling confused. What happened to her sister? Why was she down there all this time? How/why was she walking down there each night?What did she discover under her sisters pillow the night she disappeared/died? i enjoy a bit of mystery ie wondering if it was truly our main character or her sister causing all this damage. Felt bad for the poor cats. And why the cats? Was she feeding off them? Was it some source of magic? I was glad to see Stefan get his comeuppance, he made for a good minor villain within the story. Read it in one sitting so there is something to be said for that. Would definitely pick up more by this author.

TW: Animal murder (background but still heavily described), and death of a family member

3.5 stars

This novella was a very quick read - finished it in a couple hours - that will keep you guessing until the end. Iðunn has consistently been waking feeling unrested, exhausted and often covered in bruises but with no understanding as to why. When she wakes to her smart watch reading over 40k steps after midnight the questions really start rolling. This story kept me intrigued and always wondering what’s next or why something has happened until the very end. I was a bit upset with the abrupt ending as it was very abrupt and left sooo many unanswered questions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC copy translated to English.

I truly enjoyed this novella. It grabbed my attention from the beginning. It follows the life of Iðunn who suffers from sleep deprivation and other ailments. She seeks medical care but is not able to successfully figure out what is wrong with her. She does not get a diagnosis and continues to suffer from tiredness, unexplained bruises, etc.
She tries to continue living her life as best as she can by going to work and having her weekly dinners with her family. Those family dinners for the most part are awkward as they are grieving the loss of someone close to them. She seems to just be going through the ropes just to get each day over with.
As we read on we start to get an understanding of why she has the bruises and why she is so tired. The book has some very short chapters but they work because it captures that day after day passes and weird, unexplainable things keep occurring.
I can't help but feel for Iðunn because she so desperately wants to know what is happening with her but when she finally figures it out she is in for the shock of her life.
The ending was a bit unexpected but I think that it went full circle with the grief that she experiences.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.

This felt… unfinished? Started very strong, a young woman with fatigue and possibly sleepwalking, waking up with mysterious injuries. The idea of your body being out of your control while sleeping is scary in itself, but the last 20% left me with a lot of questions. You need to go into this for the nightmare vibes and be OK with some open ended plot points. It’s gory at points and features one of my least favorite horror tropes: animal cruelty. I would be curious to read from this author again but might not recommend this book widely

This was a fun one! It’s more of a novella as despite the 200+ page count, there’s many super brief chapters. If you struggle with ambiguity with endings and major unresolved plot points, this likely isn’t the book for you. It’s a super fast read and addictive. We have Iðunn who’s inexplicably waking up exhausted every morning. She eventually is able to link it to sleepwalking and things get weird.

Definitely check trigger warnings as there is significant mention to animal death in this book. It’s nothing super graphic, but still may bother many.

I really enjoyed this one. Iðunn’s mother had me laughing and the bizarre nature of the book really hit the mark for me. The ending is speculative but I like going with my own interpretation at times.

It’s a very witty horror book and one that is absolutely a page turner. Recommend to those fast paced horror lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, I loved this book.

This had this overall doom feeling while reading it.

Iðunn has been feeling extremely tired lately and has been seeking advice from friends, colleagues, family, and quite a few doctors. Everyone gives her the usual advice of eating this or exercise like that, but nothing has been working. Every morning, she wakes up more and more tires but starts to notice dirt or bruises forming while she has been asleep. Even her smart watch is tracking insane amounts of steps. Is she sleepwalking, or is something else calling to her?

This is creepy and smart as hell. The MC has these inner thoughts you get to read, and it really broadens her character.

I need to read more by this author. 5☆

I was very intrigued by the beginning of the story, but was very disappointed in the ending. I felt like a lot more could have been done to develop the story and explain things in more detail. It felt more like the outline of a story.

The Night Guest brings you right into the action as we meet our main character, Iðunn, at the doctor's office seeking help for strange symptoms. She's increasingly exhausted everyday no matter how much sleep she gets. When she wakes up, her whole body aches and she is often covered in bruises. What is happening to Iðunn during the night and how can she fix it?

Iðunn must navigate the health system which is both confusing and frustrating as no one is able to give her answers. Friends and family weigh in with their ideas for remedies: stay active, don't be stressed, stop drinking caffeine, try essential oils, etc. I enjoyed some of the commentary that this book was able to provide on such topics - especially the way women are often treated within the medical field and are often dismissed by (male) doctors.

As things progressively get worse, the reader is strung along for a bloody ride while Iðunn tries to solve the mystery and loses more and more of herself each day. I think this could easily be compared to movies such as 𝘙𝘢𝘸 or 𝘑𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘺 or novels like 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 by Sara Gran - in which a woman is dealing with a gruesome scenario causing bodily/mental changes that she does not fully understand.

I enjoyed the writing, our main character is very likeable and easy to sympathize with and I liked the narrative style. This involves a lot of dark themes but also has its moments of humor and moments where Iðunn's personality shines through.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. It was extremely abrupt. I got to the end of the book and flipped the page to find out what happens next only to be hit with a page titled 'Acknowledgments' and I found myself asking out loud "Wait what? That was the end?" There are a lot of things up for interpretation and some things within the story that I wish we got more clarification on which means I have to lower the rating on this one a bit.

Overall, this is a short book that is easy to get into and definitely delivers on the horror.
*Content Warning: there is mentions of animal cruelty/death*

This is a very unusual book. I've finished it and I'm still not sure what to think. The main character is a woman whose older sister died sometime prior to the beginning of the story and we are led down a twisty plot of mysterious journeys at night and odd bruises and injuries. This is a short book, often terse, and that adds to the slow simmer of tension that builds in the book. It's well written and I find myself thinking about it all the time. Psychotic break? Spirit possession? The book itself is haunting, read it!

This ARC was provided by the publisher and NetGalley; the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

I did enjoy THE NIGHT GUEST. The beginning started off great! I had suspected what was happening but, after the last chapter, I was totally lost. The novella was spooky but not scary to the point you wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Many thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.