I don't even know how to review this. I am disturbed and I am questioning what I just listened to. With that though I really liked it. I think it was done well and I really liked this type of horror

I recommend this for a quick horror listen.

First let me start by saying if you are a die hard cat lover you may want to skip this one because of the abuse inflicted on the cats. This was a good read right up until the end when I was like WTF did I just read. The ending was confusing,smh.

The Night Guest delivers a chilling, tense experience that will leave you on edge. Translated from Icelandic, this book masterfully captures the cold, unsettling feeling of being caught between wakefulness and sleep, where strange occurrences blur the line between reality and nightmares.

The story follows Iðunn, a young professional struggling with unexplained health issues that her doctor dismisses. Despite trying everything—exercise adjustments, diet changes, lifestyle overhauls, and various medications—she can't shake her persistent fatigue. When she starts using a step counter for motivation, she's shocked to find she's logging steps in her sleep. This is just the beginning of her terrifying journey.

As the story unfolds, Iðunn encounters a series of creepy, graphic events that keep you guessing until the end. The book's ambiguity leaves you pondering what truly happened, inviting you to come up with your own theories.

A word of caution: if you’re sensitive to scenes involving harm to animals, this might not be the book for you.

The Night Guest is quite the haunting tale that expertly toys with the reader's sense of reality, making it a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing this audiobook advance copy.

The chapters are short and suspenseful which, along with the stress ramping up with each chapter, propeled this story forward. I was transported right into the story up until the vague ending which left me feeling confused. I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator easy to listen to. I really appreciated a native speaker pronouncing all of the traditional Icelandic names and cities.

Woah, this was an intense horror novella!

Iðunn has been having medical problems and doctors can't seem to figure out what is wrong with her. While trying to find out what is happening, she experiences a quick descent into madness. This was my first book translated from Icelandic and possibly first set in Iceland? It was a flawless translation and the setting was great!

The pacing, the atmosphere, the absolute horror! I thought this was so well done and I just really need to talk to someone about the ending please!! I wish we had more of an explanation but the mystery and confusion of it puts you in Iðunn's shoes.

This short novel broke my brain in the best possible way. It is mysterious, dark, and the prose is excellent.

Iðunn isn’t sleeping well. Convinced sleeping pills are the answer she’s disturbed to realize she’s not more rested with their help. She begins to realize she is sleep walking. When she tries to ensure she stays in her apartment, she wakes up injured. Where is her night guest taking her?

The book is chilling and enigmatic. I loved it. I hope more of her work is translated to English.

I would like to thank MacMillan Audio for an advanced copy of the audiobook for review.

Having heard positive reviews of this book on a couple of podcasts I listened to, I was excited to get into this audiobook. It is a short book, 3 hours long. Despite this, I got through 5 chapters before having to turn it off. I don't know if it is the lead character or the narrator, but I just could not stand her. From the constant complaints about the healthcare system to criticism of politics and corruption in Iceland, and the nagging hypochondria- all made worse by the exaggerated, irritating over-the-top narration...
If this was someone who started talking to me at a cocktail party, I would just walk away. Which I did.

Admittedly, I didn't even get to the meat of the story. Will probably try a print copy. Maybe.

A tight 200 pages, 2.5 hour audio book, that packs a really delicious punch. Creepy as all hell, just toying with us in the most tense and uncomfortable ways. The Night Guest is translated from Icelandic and really masters that cold unnerving quality of being between wakefulness and sleep. When strange things are happening and you become unsure of yourself, what's happening to you while you sleep, and what you might be capable of.

The Night Guest is about Iðunn, a young professional that's been having health troubles that her doctor hasn't taken seriously. Being a woman trying to access healthcare, amirite? Smdh. She's tried everything--less exercise, more exercise, diet change, lifestyle change, all kinds of meds. But she just can't shake this fatigue. So when she gets a step counter to try and motivate her to walk more, boy is she surprised that she seems to be logging steps in her sleep. That's where it starts. And whooooo girl, strap in, because we are in for a RIDE. There are a lot of super creepy, graphic, scary things that happen to poor dear Iðunn and I for one, did not really know WHAT exactly happened by the end. But, I'm ok with that. Send me your theories.

WARNING: for anyone who can't handle harm to animals. You may want to skip this one.

I thought the narrator did a great job with this audiobook.

The book itself was so creepy. I liked the fact that it was short, and explored deep concepts such as sleepwalking, mental health and sleep deprivations without getting too deep into them.

There is a trigger warning if you are a cat person.

I recommend the book, but not right before bed.

This was a great debut novella from a new Icelandic author and a perfect pick for women in translation month! The chronic pain and mental health rep was my favorite part and I found it so relatable and well written. Horror isn't my fav genre but this was more horror light/psychological women's fiction. Good on audio too and perfect for fans of books like Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder. I look forward to seeing what this author writes next! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

CW: cat lovers might want to skip this one but there is no graphic on page violence

This was just underwhelming, the second after I finished it I forgot what it was about. The drama, or the twist doesn’t seem purposeful, and I just didn’t really care about the narrators motives.

I heard that this was written in a fever dream kind of style after I got it and I was a bit on the fence about it because that's not usually something I enjoy. However, this provides enough information for it to be okay for me.

I wouldn't say things make sense and there's no clear plot here, but it's an unsettling little story. The whole concept of your body being taken over in your sleep was very creepy to me. I also loved the short chapters and how quickly things moved.

That said, I wanted and expected more from this. It has creepy moments, yes, but I feel like this isn't the best or most complete execution of the idea. Like, a lot more juice could've been squeezed out of this with more development, more details, and more plot.

I don't think it works as a novella, not with this structure. The ending is too abrupt and there's just not enough there for readers to sink their teeth into. As it is, it's just 3 stars; I won't be thinking about this story beyond today, but I'm intrigued by this author. I liked the ideas!

About the audiobook: the narration is well done. Nothing spectacular, but it was delivered well.

This is a brilliant short novel. I loved the emotion of the narrator. The story is almost predictable but holds the reader/listener on the edge the entire way. The mc character build is perfect! Easily 5 stars!

Social media post to come.

I made the mistake of starting The Night Guest prior to trying to wind down for the evening and did not want to put this book down. The Night Guest hooked me in with Iðunn's first trip to the doctor to try and figure out why she is constantly exhausted and bruised. The initial encounter with the doctor and her the desire understand what's wrong *and* have it be easily fixable from a doctor is highly relatable as someone with a chronic illness. Similarly relatable was the results inevitably coming back normal and well meaning friends and acquaintances try to provide advice, including all of the alternative medicines and essential oils to try to fix you.

As the mystery with Iðunn's illness unfolds, we get hints into what is going on - her fitness tracker has her at 40,000 steps and when she eventually enables the GPS, she finds she's heading to the same place each night. Along the way, we meet her married coworker and ex-lover, Stefan, her dead sister's boyfriend, and plenty of neighborhood cats.

I really enjoyed the novel overall - it's very tightly written, and the increase in Iðunn's desperation gets more and more evident by the single line entries that we get within the book. I could feel the intensity ratchet up, and the writing was further animated by the incredible narrator of The Night Guest, Mary Robinette Kowal. Mary's ability to inhabit the emotional state of Iðunn was fantastic, and I also really appreciated having her pronunciations of Icelandic names so that I could better understand how to say everything myself.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me an advanced copy of the audiobook.

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 her 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 step-counting watch. Nothing helps.

Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch in, 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?

My thoughts: this novella was so eerie! There is something surreal and unsettling about not knowing what is going on with your own mind and body, and this book perfectly encapsulates that feeling. I ended it rating it 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟! I will definitely be buying a physical copy for my shelves!

This book publishes on 09/03/2024!

Thank you @netgalley, @macmillan.audio, @tornightfire for an advanced ALC!

Author Hildur Knútsdóttir is a new favorite! The narration, as well as the translation, by Mary Robinette Kowal, was beautifully done, delivering the most creepy story in just over 2 1/2 hours.
I love the way the author nonchalantly tells the story as the sense of dread increases with every page.
The ambiguous ending to the story may not be for everyone but it works for me.
Trigger warning about dead cats. All of it occurs off page but may be a dealbreaker for some.
All in all I give this book 4.5 stars as I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Thanks a bunch to Netgalley, MacMillan Audio and author Hidur Knùtsdóttir for the ARC. It was one of my favorite listening experiences of 2024.

I was captivated from the opening line and stay engaged throughout. This is a short novella, and its very brief chapters made the story progress even quicker.

As the reader, you accompany Iðunn as she descends into paranoid and madness. It starts when she experiences extreme fatigue, weakness and lethargy of unknown origins. No medical professional can figure out what is wrong with her. She begins investigating by filming her sleeping, and the results are horrifying.

There was a pit of dread that formed the longer I read this, and I shared Iðunn's heightening feelings of panic, frustration and confusion. The author did an amazing job of creating a circumstance where I was constantly questioning if our narrator was reliable.

Without spoiling anything, the ending was very ambiguous. For people who like clean thrillers that have a neatly spelled out ending, this is not for you. But for people (like me) who are fans of Shirley Jackson and other authors who write with some ambiguity, this was not a dealbreaker for me.

CW: graphic depictions of animal abuse and death

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Loved this one so much. This had me hooked from the jump and it was the PERFECT length. Shorter chapters like this are also enjoyable. My only wish/complaint is about something that I don't really want to say outright - it's a small enough thing that it's not worth the spoiler! The ending overall is outstanding; I just wish a certain aspect of it had been a bit vaguer because it would have hit harder. The narration was superb and definitely added to the reading experience. Loved it!

4.5 rounded to 5/5

I received this as an audiobook via NetGalley. Based on some of the names in the book I assumed it was written in a foreign country and language. I was pleased with both the translation and narrator. When things are translated sometimes sentences don’t flow the best, but it wasn’t the case with this book.
This book is short, at just over 200 pages and I listened to the whole thing within a few hours. I was pulled in right away, wanting to know what would happen next and what was actually happening with the main character.
I really enjoyed this book, but the ending has really thrown me off. It was sudden, and honestly I really don’t understand what actually happened. Looking through other reviews it seems others felt the same way. Definitely a bummer, as I really enjoyed it otherwise. Hoping a google search can help clarify for me.

What in the world did I just listen to!

What an absolutely chilling novella. Incredibly short audiobook especially when you listen at 2.5x speed like me!

I don’t even know how to describe this book. It creeped me out and definitely has some triggers you should check out if you’re an animal lover.
I don’t normally read books like this so I didn’t love it but it was written well! Narrator was great!

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my ALC!

#MacAudio2024