The Night Guest is a super short horror novel. This is what happens when sleep is lost then found. You might hear warnings of dead cats, which there are many, but very brief descriptions so that if that’s a trigger you can skip it. Your narrator is alone throughout the tale except at the end where their twin’s body of grief is found. At the heart of the tale, there is grief and if you’re not accustomed to it then you may miss it. The horror of the story is the loss of something that can never be found. ARC provided by Tor Nightfire via NetGalley.

So this wasn’t what I thought it was going to be and it sounded so interesting! It started out well and then it just went disturbingly odd and I’m wondering if something was lost in translation. Also there should be trigger warnings on this, it caught me off guard and I wouldn’t have read it if I had known certain things. This has no real ending and you don’t really find out anything. I still don’t know what to make of it and I was really looking forward to this novella.

*Provided a DRC (digital review copy) from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this ARC.

What a weird little novella this was! I really enjoyed the short chapters and the ominous tone throughout the story. This was my first read by this author and I’d love to read more from them in the future.

I definitely would recommend to The Night Guest to fans of creepy translated works!

Iðunn hasn’t been feeling like herself. Doctors and her family have no answers, yet every morning she wakes up feeling tired both mentally and physically. Fed up, she buys a watch to count her steps because everyone says exercise might help. So, why did Iðunn’s watch read that she walked over 40,000 steps even though she had reset it before she went to bed?

This eerie short story will leave you with goosebumps. I gravitate towards ominous storylines that leave you wanting answers, so you keep reading. What is happening when Iðunn falls asleep? That question will haunt you throughout this novel. One warning I will give is that cat lovers might not enjoy this one. If you want to read a creepy psychological short story, then pick this one up September 3, 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novella drew me in right away as I kept finding myself saying, “just one more page, just one more page . . .” Is this story about Iðunn’s descent into insanity or is there something more nefarious going on? I have my opinions, but I believe one has to read The Night Guest and decide for one’s self.

It all starts out pretty normally but the next thing you know Iðunn is waking with inexplicable bruises and wounds, and she is completely exhausted. And the more she tries to figure it out and return to an even keel, the worse things get.

The next thing she knows, her beloved cats are disappearing. She is also dealing with the somewhat mysterious death of her sister. What’s going on?

Her friends and doctor seem to think she’s being a hypochondriac, a psychiatrist wants to institutionalize her, men are afraid of her as she continues to doggedly pursue the root cause of why she is sleep walking and blacking out every night with or without the help of alcohol.

It’s all very intriguing and creepy and weird.

I would first like to thank @tornightfire for sending me a physical ARC to read and review!

The Night Guest follows Iðunn, a young Icelandic woman, and her frequent doctor’s office visits after she lost her sister. Day in and day out, she experiences excruciating chronic pain that seems to be unnoticed by doctor’s as they all seem to ask her the same questions.

“Has this been going on for a long time?”
“Have you had the flu recently?”
“Have you been under a lot of stress lately?”


Though after a while, she notices that she walked 40,000 steps in the middle of the night after she fell asleep. This leaves her confused and unsure how this is possible since she went to sleep and didn’t wake up to take a walk.

I really enjoyed reading The Night Guest. Knútsdóttir’s writing style reminds me of Eva Baltasar when I read Mammoth back in January. Both characters and stories have a very deadpan approach, are quick to be snarky internally towards others, and the stories are heavily centered on their flaws. I enjoyed the pace of The Night Guest and its ability to be straight to the point with the layer of mystery added. Throughout the story, it's hard to acknowledge why these mysterious occurrences take place until the reader reaches the culminating climax.

Though, I was not particularly a fan of how the ending was left off. I like open and interpretive endings but this ending was a bit too vague even if you can assume what truly happened. It felt a bit empty and lackluster even though the rest of the novel was really fun to get through. Overall, I really enjoyed the novel though I wish more time was spent on the ending.

3/5⭐️

This was a creepy story. I love a book that makes you feel like you're descending into madness. It had a very unconventional and unsettling way of telling a story.

I FLEW through this book. Right off the bat, it is intriguing and engaging, and as a woman who has experienced unexplained health symptoms and struggled with doctors and healthcare, I could really relate to Iðunn. I think the writing style made this easily accessible, very to the point, detailing our MC's day to day struggles, and as the book goes on, and Iðunn tries various things to combat her chronic fatigue, you can feel the anxiety and tension, like a spiral into madness. Some chapters are so short, a simple line, which really adds to that effect. I will mention for other readers there is a trigger warning for animal death/cruelty (specifically cats) but it was not done in a way that was bothersome to me. This would've been a five star for me, but I personally did not love the ending, it felt pretty abrupt. I could see this as a movie in the future! I would definitely check out other books in this same vein or by this author.

*Content warning: cat death and off page cruelty* Overall a fantastic horror novella! I had goose bumps multiple times will reading! Very spooky and tense fast paced read. I was a smidge is a pointed by the ending, but it wasn’t the worst outcome. I took half a star off for the car deaths and the ending, but rounding up for a five star.

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.

Iðunn has been grappling with persistent fatigue and decides to visit yet another doctor. Despite the usual tests and procedures, no new information emerges.

One night, she falls asleep while wearing her smartwatch and is stunned to discover the next morning that she has walked over 40,000 steps during the night.

What could be happening while she sleeps? Why is she waking up with injuries? And why does no one seem to believe her?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I should mention that it contains discussions of animal death and abuse. While these events occur off-page, they are detailed, and a significant portion of the narrative deals with them, particularly involving numerous cats. Despite this, I found the book to be a captivating, short, and engaging horror read. The pacing was brisk, and I was quickly absorbed in the story.

However, the ending felt overly ambiguous. While I appreciate a touch of mystery, this one was left too open-ended for my taste. Although I've created my own ending in my mind, it doesn't have the same impact as a definitive conclusion from the author.

On a positive note, since this book is a translation, I want to commend the translator for their excellent work. As someone who reads several translated novels each year, I've seen varying levels of quality, but this translation was flawless.

I honestly cannot quite comprehend what I’ve just read. It was an absolute mind fuck, but in the best way. It was so dark, and had me gripped from the first page. What a read!

This book is short, the chapters are quick, and you’ll quickly begin to wonder what exactly is happening.

The Night Guest is mildly disorienting, with what appears to be an unreliable narrator. If you’re a sad girl, who needs more unhinged women in literature… The Night Guest should be on your list.

I’ll throw a content warning at you real quick for cat deaths.

With that said, I devoured this one and left no crumbs.

lðunn wakes up tired. Her whole body hurts. Sometimes she even wakes up covered in blood with missing finger nails. She’s convinced that she has a neurological disorder but her tests always come back normal.

It’s not until she buys a watch that tracks her steps that she realizes that something is seriously wrong. Is she sleepwalking? And where is she going?

The atmosphere is eerie. I highly recommend this one for my spooky friends.

My only gripe with it was the ending. I feel like I *need* a mild explanation because my brain just doesn’t understand. It ends rather abruptly, and left me wanting just a bit more. That’s the only downside.

I was so excited for this book cause I have heard nothing but amazing things about it..

The beginning starts off strong and I feel this story had so much potential but there was no character development and the story seemed rushed in my opinion… the ending… what even was that?? I kept looking for more after the last page because it just felt so unfinished..

Thank you @netgalley , the author and publisher for this advance ebook.

Only giving this a four star because I wish it was longer! This was a wild ride, I kept wondering where she was going at night and I was totally grossed out at some parts. But I love translated works and this is the perfect, short, horror novel that checks all the boxes. Mystery, the grotesque, tragedy, and always that slimmer of hope that something will flip the script and something good comes out of it, but nope. I needed more story!

I'm not the biggest fan of novellas because most of the time I'm left wanting more. THE NIGHT GUEST was one of those stories.

I can't say too much without giving away a lot, so I'll just say it's kind of odd, creepy, a bit sad, very violent (animal lovers beware) but a page-turner.

I just had to get to the end to find out what the deal was! Why was this woman walking 40,000 steps a night only to wake up with bruises. What happened??

Also, I love the Icelandic setting

I thought the pacing was quick and that was exactly what was needed.

I wish this had been made into a full book with an ending that explains it all.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group / Tor Nightfire for an e-copy of THE NIGHT GUEST to review.

I rate THE NIGHT GUEST four out of five stars.

This book follows a woman named Iðunn who begins to suspect that she is not sleeping through the night. She tries any number of strategies to help herself sleep, but starts to suspect that her worst nightmare is coming true. THE NIGHT GUEST was somehow fast paced yet also a slowly unfolding horror. Knútsdóttir was able to make something absolutely gripping from page one and I absolutely needed to know why the MC was experiencing what she was experiencing. We see the structure of the book change along with the MC's state of mind through the structure of the chapters and paragraphs. I highly recommend this for a one-sitting read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!

I'm not going to lie - the premise for this novella sounded kind of cheesy when I first picked it up. But the narrator's blunt delivery and the slow build up made for a fast paced, enjoyable read! I read this entire thing in one sitting, and while I enjoyed like 99% of it the ending "twist" was kind of abrupt and not explained very well. It was as if Knútsdóttir needed to finish the story and wrote something that felt shocking in the moment, but is not very clear to readers what happens.

Iðunn wakes up every morning exhausted, as if she had worked out or ran a marathon the night before. She goes to a doctor, but all of her labs come back normal. Friends and family don't get it - they all have mundane suggestions like exercising more during the day, drink more water, eat healthier. Iðunn has tried it all with no luck. She then buys a nice smartwatch hoping to track her activity, and finds that she's walking thousands of steps after she had supposedly gone to bed. Where is she going at night? Why is she coming home injured and waking up bloodied?

Once I got goin I really liked the premise of this - and I think Iðunn is what really sells it. She's a normal woman suffering from an abnormal fatigue, and she explains everything exactly as she experiences it. ** TW ** - there is mention of animal abuse off page (specifically cats if it matters), and while we don't experience it first hand I think it adds to the chilling nature of this novella.

If you like short horror, or horror thriller in general, I recommend this. Just be forewarned - the ending is kind of abrupt and confusing, but to each their own.

Thank you to Hildur Knútsdóttir, Tor Publishing Group, and to NetGalley for the eArc!

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I think if it had been any longer, I likely would have given up, but since this novella was quite short, I powered through. I wish there had been more clues about what was really happening. There was a description of the map and where she was sleepwalking, but there was never any indication of why that place may have been important to the main character. She just kept saying that she didn't want to know what was there. I think it could have added another layer to the story if there had been some connection to, who I'm assuming is the sister she thought was dead, and the location where the men were found.

I was pretty disappointed by the ending, and I won't likely recommend this book. I've read some other books that are by Nordic authors, and I haven't loved those either, so I think maybe this style of writing isn't my cup of tea. I do hope it finds its audience!

Sometimes I feel like this woman too. I wake up feeling like I did all the work in the world overnight. I thought I need melatonin or other sleeping aid to have restful sleep. I got an Oura ring to follow my sleeping habits but maybe I have someone haunting me too. Who knows who gets under my skin make my walk/work every night?!

It must be horrifying to see that your watch is telling you you took 40000 steps when you were supposed to be sleeping or going to same place over and over again with missing kitten tally rose. Iðunn was truly struggling with her sleep. People suggest all sorts of "remedies" but none of them worked. She couldn't get over her sister's passing and probably sleeping with her ex did not make things better either. But no one know what exactly was wrong with her. How could she wake up with damp hair and blood under her nails?

Short but scary novella fitting to Nordic tradition. They don't beat around the bush. They hit you right in the face with crazy stories and you'll just have to take it.

Icelandic translation! Overall it didn't impress me, but the writing was engaging enough that I finished it in a day. It didn't maintain the suspense; it was either suspenseful or not at different times. The whole story was more creepy than anything, and the horror elements were very light. I cared the most about Idunn when she was trying to navigate her relationships, and maintain some semblance of normalcy. I do wish she'd been smarter at certain points, but in fairness to her she was pretty sleep deprived. I also loved that she was self-aware to a fault, and how uncomplicated her thoughts were. Because we were dealing with the big mystery of what was happening to her, if she was also extremely complex it would've gotten in the way of the plot, I think. The ending was not unpredictable, but there's only so many ways a book like this can end, you know?

This was a pretty new foray into thriller books for me, so it definitely is a nice gateway into the genre. I am intrigued to read other authors now and come back to this one.