I was excited to receive a NetGalley ARC of The Guest!
I really liked Paris’s Behind Closed Doors and was hoping for a similar ride in this book. Overall, the story was exciting and unpredictable. Several times, I thought I knew exactly who had done what, and I found myself wrong in the end.
There were a handful of chapters that seemed repetitive, but their brevity makes up for it. I noted a few typos throughout that I hope the publisher will correct before the final manuscripts.
I would recommend The Guest to any reader looking for a mild thrill with some intense resolution. This one kept my mind spinning with possibilities and was easy to read and keep track of despite having lots of characters.
Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s, for the early reading copy!

This book had twists that I did not see coming!!! Great plot & storyline that had me interested throughout! Loved the characters!

Another engrossing story of domestic suspense from one of the best authors in the genre. A husband and wife return home from a trip to find that a friend, distraught over her collapsing marriage, has moved into the house. And she seems intent on staying. The consequences spiral outward in this beautifully plotted tale, making readers wonder what they would do in the same circumstances.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

B.A. Paris definitely earned her hype and is one of my auto-buy authors. The Guest is a little different from the other books that I’ve read by her though. It is a slower paced mystery and I thought it was cleverly written how in a few chapters we’ll start off in present tense but then we end up rewinding a few times. I enjoyed the story but had a hard time with a couple of main characters. I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy a nice and slow burn.

What a crazy and twisty story. The characters wee so good and well-developed. I never saw the end coming and was mind blown.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I've read most of B.A. Paris' books and am always excited to see a new one coming out.

Iris & Gabriel arrive home from a vacation, to find their friend Laure staying at their house. She recently fled Paris after finding out that her husband had fathered a child outside of their relationship. She does not have the details, but feels betrayed and needs some time away from him. Gabriel having long been friends with her husband Pierre is left wondering what happened. There is little to no contact from Pierre, Laure's not coming forth with additional information either.

This book was a slow start for me. I found it hard to find myself interested in the story. I did not like Laure's character and found her hard to connect with. I was vaguely interested in story, but it was just a slow going read for me, until I reached the epilogue. Man did that epilogue pack a punch. The epilogue alone bumped the book up 1/2 a star for me...3.5 total.

Wow, B.A. Paris does it again! I have to say I enjoyed this one a lot more than I excepted. It's funny because when I first picked it up I almost DNFed it. I wasn't really into it. I decided I would keep going and I'm glad I did. It's a slowburn book. but will leave you shocked by the end!

*Thank you so much to Negalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

Publication: February 20, 2024

Rating: 2 stars

Paris’ books are hit or miss for me and I struggled with this book. I’m not sure if it’s a me problem but I felt that this wasn’t necessarily a thriller but rather a drama. I just couldn’t get into it with how slow the pacing was.

I love BA Paris but unfortunately, this one fell a little flat. It was so slow and I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters.

A book with a good premise, but too slow pacing.
The beginning was too slow. The characters were dull.
The pages didn't come alive.
The big twist didn't get me. Maybe because I wasn't engaged anymore.

2 stars.

Iris and Gabriel have to be two of the dumbest adults. With each incident that occurs, they continue to act completely oblivious- I hope it is an act because I can’t imagine how they could not see what’s happening right under their noses! I could not relate to the characters and became increasingly frustrated with them up to the last chapter. The author did a great job turning things around and bringing everything to light for me at the end!

The book was so slow and not enjoyable for a good 50 percent. And even when the bodies pile up nothing makes sense. The final chapter/epilogue takes the wind out of the sails of the book and I just went good grief while finishing it up. I think that Paris has some interesting ideas for thrillers, but when the time comes for fully executing it with well developed characters and no plot holes you can drive a train through, it just does not work.

"The Guest" follows married couple Iris and Gabriel. They have recently gone away because Gabriel is still shaken for being by the side of a young man who died tragically. Iris is hoping the trip away would bring them closer, but it has not. When they arrive at their home, they find that their long time friend, Laure, has just invited herself into their home, their bedroom, and Iris's clothing since she has left her husband, and their friend Pierre. Laure is "The Guest" that the book focuses on. We start off in medias res (which does not help) before we work our way backwards to the things I have set up above. From there the book follows with you as a reader knowing that someone(s) have died but you don't know who or why.

So honestly, this whole book was so poor I had to come back the day after finishing and hit it with one star. There is so much mess to wade through I honestly can't think of the good at all.

The characters read so incomplete and flat. We bounce back and forth between Iris's first person point of view to Gabriel whose point of view was not written in the first person, but third person. It's jarring at first, but I just rolled with it. But honestly I am realizing that if they had both been first person point of view, maybe I would have felt more involved with Gabriel's side quest as it were. Instead it just felt like Iris was a doormat and Gabriel was keeping secrets that did not need to be kept from his wife. And there daughter Beth was just there....honestly. She comes into the story more later, but there should have been a lot more added there for me to care.

Laure and Pierre fell flat as anything. The epilogue actually made things worse because none of what we find out about even lines up with things we read outside of Laure being the most annoying guest of all time.

The new neighbors Esme and Hugh just felt like a plot device that did not work even a little bit. Once again flat characters that did not feel real.

The flow was awful. I don't know a way to fix that. Maybe Paris should stick to first person point of view and only follow one character around for the whole book?

The writing was painful after a while. I didn't know what was happening or why, but once the bodies started piling up I found myself not even caring who did what.

The setting of the book is mostly focused on Iris and Gabriel's home and walled garden and I still can't tell you anything about the home or how it's set up. It's just a blur to me and I even went back to see if I could pick out any details.

The ending made no sense full stop. It is just pages of an epilogue that I was like yeah that makes no sense, how did that happen and no one figured that out? What? Okay then.

I just know that the only other book that she's written that I have given 1 star was "[book:Behind Closed Doors|29437949] for the same reasons. Poor characters, a really WTF plot that made no sense, terrible flow, etc. Everything else, I have been firmly 3 stars on. If you loved "Behind Closed Doors" you will probably love this. If that was not your favorite, I suggest skipping this.

I didn’t totally love this one. My main issue was the pacing. It was incredibly slow and I feel like that wasn’t really necessary. I got the point early on that Laure, the friend, was over staying her welcome…but we really didn’t need a play by play of every day.
I will say I did enjoy the character depth. I had strong opinions about every character.
The pace picks up a lot at the end and there were definitely twists I didn’t see coming.
Overall, it wasn’t a terrible book. I would recommend it if you enjoy B.A. Paris’ writing

I thought that this would be better than it was. I felt like it was unnecessarily long. I didn’t see the twist coming but I don’t feel like any of the characters were particularly likable and everyone seemed kind of awful.

Iris and Gabriel return home from a trip to find their friend, Laure, staying in their home after a big argument with her husband, Pierre. What they thought would be a short stay for Laure, continued to get extended week after week. Gabriel was already dealing with the grief of being with a local teenager during the last minutes before his death when additional stressors keep piling up for him and Iris. How did Iris and Gabriel get so unlucky in the short period? Will Laure ever leave and go back to Pierre? When will their lives go back to the way they were? With the turn of events in their lives, it likely never will.

This book is 5 STARS! Read it right now. I couldn’t put it down. Finished it in two days. Every single chapter is a page turner. There are so many unexpected things that take place. Then the epilogue will BLOW YOUR MIND! My jaw hit the floor. BA Paris never ceases to amaze me. Top read of 2024 for me!

Iris and Gabriel return home from a disappointing weekend getaway only to be greeted by their good friend, Laure. Laure asks to stay with them while she goes through marital issues with her husband, Pierre and being close, Iris and Gabriel can’t refuse. It isn’t until Lauren starts to overstay her welcome that they realize they don’t know her as well as they thought. New neighbors, Esme and Hugh, and their handsome but troubled landscaper complicate the situation. Whether you’ve been friends for 10 days or 20 years… how well can you know someone?

The Guest had me hooked from the start. I adore BA Paris books and this was no different. The author is known for twists and this kept me guessing until the very end. The Guest is definitely a book that had me saying “just one more chapter.”

BA Paris is back with another thrill ride and more in line with her brilliant work of Behind Closed Doors. Iris and Gabriel have been married over 20 years and are living in the countryside. They return from a vacation only to find a friend living in their home - she separated from her husband and is dealing with some issues. As the story progresses, we discover that those issues are complex to say the least. And then we encounter an ending in which you don’t see coming. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the early read.

The Guest by BA Paris
Release Date: 2/20/24
Format: audio/ebook hybrid
Rating: ⭐️⭐️✨

BA Paris has always been a bit of a hit or miss author for me, but I’ve always found her books to be fun and quick regardless of if they’re a five star read for me. However, this book was unfortunately a struggle through and through for me.

I really had a hard time getting into the story. No one was likable and not much was happening other than people saying they were going to go a place and then maybe going to that place. There wasn’t much momentum in the plot and with insufferable characters, there wasn’t much to draw me in.

And then I got to the epilogue and decided this wasn’t just a slow read, it was an infuriating one. Whew.

If you’re going to read this one, I’d recommend picking it up in print/ebook format and forgoing the audiobook as I think that might have been part of my issue. The narrator did a fine job but wasn’t very engaging with a story I already struggled with.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is one of my favorite authors who wrote some of my favorite psychological thrillers: Behind Closed Doors, The Therapist, and especially Bring Me Back. But compared to those, this one felt very average. I wasn’t obsessed with the characters and it seemed to drag and get repetitive throughout it. It wasn’t until the epilogue that it started to pick up because it pretty much laid everything out for you. Every character was hiding secrets, but they didn’t seem to fit together until you read about them all trying together at the end. I’m giving it 3 stars out of 5 still because it was a quick read and made you guess throughout it.