I’m so bummed, this novella had all the potential. Quick short chapters, intriguing premise, unreliable narrator… that just left me hanging with all the questions. It wasn’t scary, but sets up some intrigue about losing control over your own body… man I really wanted to like this but in the end it was a waste of my time.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC of ‘The Night Guest’. Phew, so this book started out incredibly strong. I flew through this one in two days and would have been quicker if I wasn’t hosting parties this weekend. I absolutely loved the premise, especially being a women with strange ‘aches and pains’ that so often get dismissed by medical professionals (shout out to my PCOS and fibromyalgia girlies). However the ending, or should I say lack there of an ending …. Huh?!? I have never jumped back so quickly to see if I had somehow missed an entire chapter. I usually only take one star off for a great book but poor ending, but I gave three stars because there literally was NOTHING. I just don’t even understand. I need answers!

Iceland, horror story, pink aesthetic cover with a wine glass? I was immediately drawn to this book! It was tense and kept me guessing, wondering what was happening.

Reading The Night Guest left me feeling some type of way, y'all.

This is a super fast-paced and quick read. I finished it within a day and I couldn't put it down because I just needed to find out what the heck was happening. The premise is immediately captivating. Our leading lady is waking up every morning feeling like she ran a marathon during the night and it only gets worse as things progress, sometimes even waking up with injuries that she can't account for. Doctors say that there isn't anything wrong with her, so what in the world is going on?

The chapters are short (sometimes even just one sentence) which creates an unputdownable flow that I loved and the slowly escalating sense of dread propelled me forward through the pages. And then it just...ended. With very little explanation and a fever dream sense of "what did I just read?" I wanted so badly to love this one, and for the first 90%, I did. But I really needed more from the ending, there were loose threads that needed stitching and I finished disappointed and wanting more.

This had the potential to be a five star read for me. I can appreciate an ending that leaves you with questions, but I do need SOME answers by the time I turn the last page, and this one left basically all of them unanswered. That said, if you don't mind using your imagination and having lingering questions, I think this one is worth a read purely because the bulk of the novella was excellent.

TW for animal abuse (not actually depicted, just scenes afterward) and cat death.

This was a very interesting read for me. There is death with animals, so beware. Our main character is always tired. We know how that feels, right? Well, it seems she is super normal, and nothing is wrong, though her legs are killing her like she has walked a marathon. So when she forgets to take off her smartwatch, she notices she has walked way more than she ever should and to the same spot. What is causing this? Why can't she stop? This novella is creepy and does have you going. Hmm, what did I read? Overall, it is decent.

I really enjoyed this book! It was super creepy (in a good way) and kept me on the edge of my seat. I feel like there was a deeper meaning to this book too with an ending that was left up to interpretation. You definitely don't want to skip out on this horror book!

I did also include this in a YouTube video about my summerween TBR + NetGalley recs: https://youtu.be/_Zm0CgZY0ds?si=xwMx0U0JK_2TFQGc

Thank you to NetGalley, Hildur Knútsdóttir, and Tor Publishing Group | Tor Nightfire for an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review/opinion.

Imagine waking up each morning exhausted only to realize you aren't staying in bed once you fall asleep. That's the premise behind The Night Guest and only gets more and more startling as the story moves along. This tale quickly draws you in as the MC ponders where she goes and what she does after falling asleep.
Unfortunately, the ending was a little "meh" for me but I enjoyed the mystery.

Massive CW for animal death and abuse! I wouldn't have picked it up had I known the extent, so please be forewarned.

Firstly, thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the advanced ebook copy!

I’m going to try to do this WITHOUT any spoilers.
(If I sound a little repetitive, I’m trying to dance around spoiling something 😅)

Wow! Such a great read. I love a good unreliable narrator/MC.
Our MC goes through the emotional roller coaster of grief, anxiety, depression, being extremely self critical, sleep deprivation etc. She has laundry list of problems and I feel the author narrates her thoughts through them as well as everything that’s been happening to her/around her perfectly.
There were times I felt her anxiety and was anxious for her!

The real thrill comes from seeing every event unfold through her discovery of clues after the fact. This story relies heavily on our MC’s narrative and her narrating experiences to us, the audience, as well as herself - the MC.
Definitely worth reading and would be of particular interest for those who enjoy unreliable narrators/MC’s and don’t find stories with one point of view not indulging enough.
Curious to pick up something else by this author.

Talk about a book that grabs you and doesn’t let go until the chilling ending. I’ve never read a book this short, yet so memorable. The writing style kept me furiously turning pages well into the night. Read it if you dare, but be warned that simply turning in for the night will never be the same after.

The Night Guest is a short, sparse story set in Reykjavík, Iceland. Iðunn, our central character, wakes up each morning exhausted and covered in mysterious injuries. It is only when she starts tracking her steps that she realizes she is not only sleepwalking, but covering miles every night.

Iðunn also begins an ill-advised relationship with her dead sister’s ex boyfriend. Could this be the key to her night marches?

I love Knútsdóttir’s almost truncated style of writing; The Night Guest is all plot and no fluff. Things move incredibly quickly, and before the reader knows it, the book is over. And while the story is somewhat satisfying, I expected a little more. However, I do love an unreliable narrator, and I think Iðunn is a great example of this.

The Night Guest is a quick, interesting read, and I would love to read more of Knútsdóttir’s work.

I liked the voice of this book and absolutely loved the premise. Unfortunately, the plot didn’t hold up for me and fell flat. Content warning for animal death.

I found this neither scary nor suspenseful. I also thought that the ending was very abrupt and didn’t answer any of my questions. I think this book needed to be much longer to wrap everything up.

4.5 rounded up
Iðunn has been visiting doctors trying to figure out what's wrong with her. Suffering from fatigue, strange bruises she can't remember getting, and soreness in her arms and legs, yet blood tests appear normal. Her friends and family make recommendations about things to try like diet and exercise. One morning, she wakes up and her watch has registered over 40,000 steps in the night.

Umm, what?? Who knew that intermittent one sentence chapters could be so ominous. This is a slow burn thriller/mystery novella that would not let me go. I would say the less you know going in the better.

Content warning: some animal violence, bodily injuries, and attempted date rape.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire for an ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This book is due to be published 9/3/24.

OMG OMG!! Ok I'm hooked. After I reached halfway I couldn't put this down! The ending OMG the ending!!! I don't want to spoil this horror thriller for anyone but when I say I'm chilled to the bone, I'm fr in shock. Like just wow! My horror besties need a copy of this stat.
Thank you net galley for letting me read this!

An extremely short psychological horror-thriller where our main character Iðunn begins feeling chronically fatigued when she wakes up from sleep. Nothing she does can find or solve the problem - blood tests come back clean, sleeping pills don’t seem to work, and more and more often she is noticing injuries or blood on her person when she wakes. She decides to take up walking, as suggested by a friend, and accidentally leaves her watch on overnight - and it tracks over 40,000 steps that she has no memory of making.

Suddenly coming to the conclusion that she is sleepwalking, Iðunn is left with more problems than she started with - she knows what she is doing, but not how to prevent it from happening. Sleeping pills only worked once. Locking herself in her room results in her own bloody and mangled hands as she escapes into the night. Even attempting to stop sleeping altogether doesn't solve anything. What else can she do?

This is a very quick read, and if I had not known it was a translation I would have never known. We quickly get into the struggle of our main character as she fights to figure out what is going on with her sleeping life - and what she may be doing without her knowledge. I thought the buildup was extremely well done, and as our main character slowly begins losing her grip on reality you can never be certain what exactly is really going on here. Is it supernatural? Or is it simply a medical illness?

In all honesty, the only thing that kept this from being a five star read was the multiple [redacted for spoilers] deaths and the ending, which I found confusing and a bit rushed. Otherwise, this was a solid little novella that I would recommend if you wanted to read something quick for about only an hour or so.

Trigger warning for animal death. It’s not overly explicit, but it cannot be avoided and is a very prominent part. Also mild trigger warnings for: blood, gore, injuries, mild bodily mutilation, date rape, and attempted sexual assault (only implied through the date rape).

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Tor Nightfire for providing me this e-ARC for an honest review.

The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir

Translated fiction and horror are my two favorite genres so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it. The Night Guest is a novella following a woman who wakes up every morning with bruises and cuts on her body but no memory of what happened. Throughout the story we follow her as she tries to figure out where she goes when she’s asleep and what she gets up to. All she knows is something controls her body at night, and she’s scared to find out what this thing (herself?) does. This story left me with many questions and I feel like the ending can be interpreted differently based on the reader.

TW: there is animal violence within this book which is something I absolutely hate. This slightly reflected my rating of the book but I still enjoyed the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and TOR publishing for allowing me to read an ARC for this book!

Iðunn is struggling with fatigue. When she wakes up her muscles feel like she’s been doing hard labor and she’s starting to get weird bruises and a lingering taste of blood in her mouth even though her sleep is fairly normal. She’s finally found a doctor who will listen to her but bloodwork comes back normal. After accidentally leaving on a pedometer she’s using to see if being more active will help overnight she wakes up to it saying she’s walked 47, 325 steps. Surely it must be broken. Right?

I couldn’t put this down and ended up reading it in one sitting; it’s a story I can’t stop thinking about. The pacing is pretty perfect and gives the reader a feeling of dread and increasing anxiety as the story progresses and as we approached the climax I had chills. I also enjoyed the exploration of women’s experience in health and mental health spaces. The translation was really well done. Trigger warning however, some bad things do happen to cats. I really need to find more of Hildur Knútsdóttir’s work because this was fantastic.

This is perfect for people looking for a short horror filled fast past read that you will not be able to put down. I think this will also appeal to fans of Mona Awad as it gives a similar vibe to her work.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher. I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This horror novella is everything I loved — fast-paced, dreamlike, and something that plays with your mind. The descent into madness is so well done and the readers themselves will feel the chills alongside the narrator of this forlorn story. Powerful and dark, this is a book you can and will finish in a single sitting. Again and again Tornightfire proves that they come out with the best books.

This was a surprisingly short and fast paced read, even for a novella. I'm not quite sure how to review or describe this little story without spoiling anything...

Sleepwalking.
Cats.
Spirits.

I won't say any more! This was good, it wasn't great. In my opinion, novellas seldom are. Not enough character development for me to really get attached to anyone or care about them. Loved reading a novella set in Iceland though. My favorite country!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for my ARC!

Wow okay, so i read this in like 2 hours maybe 3. Super fast paced book that’s so bizarre I find myself questioning if i have sleep deprivation hallucinations from reading it!

Our main character suffers from strange aches and pains when she awakens each morning. She feels as though she doesn’t sleep and barely musters energy for her daily routine. Upon investigation she finds she sleep walks but..what does she do? Where does she go? Is something more sinister taking place?

This book leaves more questions than answers and, honestly, i kinda like that. I like that we aren’t truly given an answer to what happens or what’s going on. It felt like a folk tale or an episode from Tales From the Crypt. A weird story full of atmosphere and dread that I couldn’t put down till i finished it.