Genuinely frightening and expertly told. A masterclass in restraint and unease. I only wish it was longer and a little more developed.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

Iðunn has been waking up exhausted, despite sleeping through the night. She goes to doctors, tries holistic help, sleep medications, and realizes she’s been sleepwalking. She also wakes up with mysterious bruises and scratches.

To stop this from happening, she bolts herself into her room, but somehow she’s still able to get out. As she follows her GPS, she realizes she’s going to the same location each night.

She’s trying to live a normal life by dating a man, even though the death of her sister still weighs heavily on her. As her exhaustion takes an increasing toll on her, Iðunn realizes what horrors are happening every night. This book was excellent, short, and I read it in one sitting.

🩸 Book Review 🩸

This was definitely a different type of psychological horror for me. It kept me asking myself questions and trying to connect dots that were missing edges. I think maybe the author purposefully wrote it this way so that we let our imaginations finish out the plot for us.

A young woman keeps waking up exhausted and sore. She’s tried different doctors who tell her nothings wrong. She decides to get a watch that will count her steps and falls asleep with it on one night. She wakes up and sees that she has travelled over 47,000 steps in a night. Knowing that she must be sleep walking, she attempts to figure out where she is going and why. She also talks about this other person that she calls “her”, but we never find out who her is. Unless she’s our MC’s alter ego or she’s possessed? It’s completely open to interpretation. It was a quick read and the writing is compelling. It is creepy as hell to think that your sleep walking for hours and you have no idea where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing. 😱

Summary:

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?

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #horrorbookstagram #horrorbooks #psychologicalhorror #sleepwalking #readmorebooks📚 #nordic #iceland

Y’all, #spookyseason is officially upon us, and while I’ve been fairly quiet for most of this year, I’m hoping to use my favorite time of year to kickstart my account again. There are so many great books coming this season, as well as plenty on Mt.TBR, that I’m looking forward to sinking my literary teeth into.

Kicking things off is Hildur Knútsdóttir and her deliciously creepy THE NIGHT GUEST, translated from the Icelandic by Mary Robinette Kowal, out today from Tor Nightfire.

This book had me at page one, as our protagonist Iðunn is at a new doctor’s office, trying to discover the root of her constant fatigue. As someone with a chronic illness who suffers from mysterious fatigue myself, this immediately put me on edge. As Iðunn‘s sleep patterns become more and more erratic, it becomes less and less clear whether everything is in her head, or if there is actually something more to her restlessness. And where is Iðunn traveling to every night while she’s sleeping?

Knútsdóttir’s writing is concise and razor sharp via Mary Robinette’s translation, while also leaving plenty of room for the reader to imagine what horrors could be lurking around the corner. This is a fairly quick read (I read it in just a couple of hours), but nothing about the story feels rushed. This is yet another great addition to Nightfire’s growing library of fantastically creepy books they’re publishing.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an advanced electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

#TheNightGuest #HildurKnutsdottir #TorNightfire #NetGalley

It’s a quietly haunting story about loneliness and connection, with a slow but deeply emotional pace. The atmosphere is eerie and the characters feel real, making it a thoughtful, subtle read.
Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐

The Night Guest

Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3/5⭐️
Recommended: Yes

While this book wasn't for me, that had more to do with my interest in the plot rather than anything that the book is at fault for. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick spooky read.

Women in Translation Month 2025 #2

I get it. The animal killings bother white people. But this is fiction. And a horror. But I get up in arms about colonizer romances, so I'll let it slide. Ratings and reviews are for reviewers, and we're all allowed freedom of choice.

Tor Nightfire is usually a bit of a miss for me, so I've been holding off on this one, but I thought I should try to stay on theme this month, and this is translated. I'm ngl, the Pepto Bismol cover kind of throws me off.

Iðunn goes to the doctor a lot. She's very tired. It's not normal. She gets a smartwatch. 9,000 steps? Normal. 46,000? Is the watch broken? Spoiler alert: It's not broken. Homegirl has been walking around doing some nasty shit at night. There is caked blood underneath her fingernails. The neighborhood cats are scared of her.

I read this one day. Two sittings. I read fast, but also the novella kept me captivated. And because I'm allegedly a horror fan now. I cannot deny this anymore. I keep rating them so highly. I still don't think I love watching them, but maybe that's changed, too. I won't be testing that anytime soon.

Skál 🍻

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire

Whoa. What a short little creepy book! Make your own guesses as to what is happening to Iðunn (seems to be pronounced Eden?) Other countries' covers for this book are HORRIFYING. [bookcover:Myrkrið milli stjarnanna|59147614] This one is cute and pink. 😆 But the contents are a BIT unsettling.

Loved it all but the end, and I realize that can be a personal thing so it’s not a determining factor. I thought it was a fun read, kept me engaged!

solid beach read - fun - definitely something to get from the public library rather than purchase - plays off of an amazing fear - - -- what happens to us when we're asleep and unaware (sleep is a little death)

This book is deeply unsettling. The Night Guest follows a woman who’s being gaslit by her own body and literally everyone around her. It’s eerie, feminist, and totally claustrophobic in the best possible way. The real horror here isn’t just the mystery, it's the way our lead is treated. Eerie, eerie, eerie.

This was a pretty good book. It was such a chilling read, it had my attention from the very beginning. I love thrillers that you can read in one sitting which I could’ve. The only thing I hate was the animal cruelty which took out the enjoyment for me.

What an interesting novel. I enjoyed the mystery of it - where does she go at night? Where do all those bruises and injuries come from? Why do the animals shy away from her? There were some really creepy moments that I enjoyed immensely and I know some readers have said that they wanted more from the ending, but I kind of love that some things were left unexplained. This book would make a great movie adaptation. Really liked this one!

Did not get to read - have way too many books on the shelf. Need to clear some out. Hope to get to this one in the future though.

Spooky, suspenseful, and totally gripping! The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir is a haunting Icelandic thriller that pulls you into a fog of eerie happenings and unsettling secrets. With its creeping tension and moody atmosphere, it’s the kind of book that’ll have you checking your locks and peeking over your shoulder long after you’ve turned the last page.

A quick, intense read. It was interesting and I was captivated by the main character and trying to piece together what was happening to her. Overall this was a bit chaotic, but it added to the atmosphere of unease and horror for me. Definitely a unique voice!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love a possession book and The Night Guest was no exception.

When Iounn keeps waking up exhausted and her doctors can’t find anything wrong with her she decides to wear a smart watch to bed and finds she’s walking in her sleep! She is determined to find out what is “possessing” her to do this and she’s not happy with what she finds.

I was HOOKED on this book!!! I had to know what was happening with Iounn. Such an amazing literary horror.

This was an arc sent to me by the publisher but as always reviews are my own.

Iðunn awakes with unexplainable aches and bruises. We follow her investigation into her newly developing medical issues, eventually tracking them down to a sleep condition. Missing hours, missing pets, and missing people follow in the wake of this revelation.

I enjoyed the prose, the writing style, and the internal monologue. There were several moments that I really related to the main character, take this quote as an example:

"This always happens. Everyone will be having a good chat until I say something wrong and feel as though I’ve been exposed as the alien in the group. Ta-da! Did you think I was one of you?"

Moments of this also feel adjacent to the "good for her" category of books, of which I'm a big fan.

However, I think this book really struggles from the short length, both in character and plot. Even considering all of the relatable bits from the main character, there is an overall lack of depth. The moment of escalation to the final act of the plot is exactly the moment the book cuts off and ends. I enjoyed my time in the story but ultimately left unsatisfied.

My main takeaway, though? My opinion that cats should be indoor-only pets is 1000% reassured.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Night Guest is a creepy novel exploring what our subconscious does when we sleep. If our subconscious becomes mobile, what would happen? What terrible things could transpire? The ending is a little ambiguous.

4.5/5 star

A middle aged woman struggles with health issues and a persistent sleep problem. She strives to understand how/what is happening as her mental and physical health continues to decline.

This was an enjoyable and compelling read that does a great job creating an unnerving atmosphere with a look at a woman struggling to hold on to what's real.