WHAT?

okay, i feel like i don’t know what just happened, but in a GOOD way. this book was faaaaast. i’ve been struggling a bit with reading lately, but this one just kept kept kept moving. i usually feel too unsettled in fast paced books, but this one had enough, for the most part, to ground me.
the mystery of it all was good! i had some theories but largely kept an open mind. i gasped a handful of times and yelled a bit too.
i will say that, while i felt the side characters and subplots were supposed to feel underdeveloped, i was certainly left with a lot of questions. i love an open ended thriller, but i breezed through the end and hit the acknowledgments so abruptly, i wasn’t sure what happened exactly. i had to go back and reread.
but so good and so quick! easy and suspenseful. enjoyed very much. hearty fuck you to stefan.

Smart, fun read!

I devoured this in one night. It helped that some chapters were only a sentence but the main character, Iounn, was so engaging. I loved her humour and interiority.

Iounn is constantly tired and doesn't know why. She discovers the she sleepwalks and that she could be up to no good during her sleep walking escapades.

Great, quick read that delves into exhaustion and sleepwalking.

This is a slow burn plot that builds up to a rather predictable and unsatisfactory conclusion. I found the characters to be rather unlikable.

Rating 3.5

Readers of Come Closer by Sara Gran will enjoy this delightfully fast-paced thriller.

Every morning, Iðunn wakes up more exhausted than when she went to sleep. All her doctor’s tests are coming back normal, but still she feels fatigued. She’s tried all the tricks - her nights remain restless. Iðunn buys herself a pedometer hoping that adding more steps into her routine will tire her out some. All seems normal until one night she falls asleep with her tracker on and in the morning notices steps that shouldn’t be there. The path she walks at night is unfamiliar but it doesn’t deter her from tracking down where it leads.

Iðunn seems just as confused as the reader as she unravels the mystery of her late-night walks. The formatting of the chapters adds to Iðunn’s spiraling. The reader starts to feel entangled with Iðunn’s suspicions as she discovers more details. While I prefer fast-paced novels, the conclusion to The Night Guest did feel abrupt. More of the backstory of one of the supporting characters would have provided more context to Iðunn actions. The story does not have an unsatisfying ending by any means, it was just sudden. The Night Guest was a good first entry for Knutsdottir into the horror genre.

I binged this horror novella in a day and it was good. I don’t know if I would classify it as horror but more like psychological suspense. It definitely shows what the power of sleep deprivation can do to a person which is eerily creepy. The author has definitely mastered the ability to get under the reader’s skin.

A woman who wakes up exhausted with a watch that says she walked 40,000 steps in her sleep. What is happening to her? Why is she always exhausted? And how can she explain her sleepwalking? Where is she going? What would you do if you walked 40,000 steps in your sleep with no memory of it?

It truly is a bizarre concept that was executed well, I just felt the ending left me with more questions than answers. I can guess as time what happened but I honestly don’t know 100%. If that’s how you like your books to end then you should definitely read this, I just am selfish and want more lol.

I find that if an author ends the book like this they usually want it to stick in the reader’s mind which is 100% going to be the case with me after reading this. If you need a quick less than 200 paged book to read, this is the one for you!

_The Night Guest_ by Hildur Knutsdottir is a fast paced, dark, and nightmarish horror read. It follows Iðunn, who is suffering from immense fatigue and mysterious wounds when she wakes in the morning. She seeks medical help to no avail, and then discovers she is walking vast distances in her sleep. Strange and disturbing things plague Iðunn until she discovers the truth behind her night journeys. This short and engaging read will leave the reader delightfully disturbed.

Do not read before bedtime. I repeat: Do not read before bedtime.
‘The Night Guest’ is a super suspenseful, intense and fast paced horror story.
Some of the biggest advantages of this novella, in my opinion, are the short chapters and definitely the beyond eerie ambiance, which is very nicely done. 👏🏽
Although I found the ending a little predictable and unreal, along with the fact that I really needed more explanation; I genuinely enjoyed this book!
— Rating: 3★

The Night Guest will hit the shelves in September.

Thank you @tornightfire for providing this book for review consideration via @netgalley. All opinions are my own. 🩷

I wanted to love this book, however the ending felt so abrupt and incomplete. This felt like a first draft of a novel and needed more development.

This was a creepy little read! This novella tells the story of Iðunn, a woman experiencing extreme exhaustion despite being relatively healthy. She tries everything from exercise to supplements to sleep training to fix her problem but every morning she wakes up and feels like she hasn't slept at all. The exhaustion escalates to scratches and bruises on her body, making it clear she's going somewhere at night. I think the first 75% of this book does an excellent job ramping up the tension and stakes for Iðunn. I'm not sure if it 100% stuck the landing but it's a quick, entertaining read. I don't think I've ever read a book that takes place in Iceland either, and the setting is perfect for this kind of story.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher, I loved this book so much and I highly recommend. It’s a 4/5 stars for me! It was very suspenseful and had me pleasantly surprised.

This nasty little novella mesmerized me over the two hours I read it; at under 200 pages, the hook is a killer: Iðunn is exhausted despite sleeping all night. No one in the medical industry is taking her seriously. What's happening to her at night?

Despite some overt scares and blood, this is a restrained little book: its conclusion is eerie, unexplained. Some readers may find it underbaked. I did love how it didn't explain everything - but oof the animal violence (cats! I love cats!) was tough to take.

The animal death was a bit much for me, but the vibes were on. Kind of combines my normal weird girl genre with my love for horror.

As a fan of horror I was so excited for this one. And it delivered on every front. It was creepy, unsettling and I had a general sense of dread the entire time! If you are a horror fan like me definitely give this a try. Thank you to the publishing company for sending this ARC

Scandi fiction normally doesn’t tie things up in a pretty box with a bow. But this narrative didn’t even make it into a box of any sort and got a flat tire before it made it to the Dollar Tree to buy a bow.
I’m not even sure what I just read, but I’m glad I knew it was a novella going in.
Scandi “horror” (I use quotes bc that’s how the publisher is describing it, but it was more like a thriller)
Eye-opening (read perfect) narrative on just how poorly the medical system is set up and treats women.
Loved it until 97% when the story simply dive off a cliff.
So many questions and not in a good way.
Give it a try if you want, it’s a quick fast paced read. Maybe you will get what I missed.

This was a quick read, it was not at all what I was expecting. But it kept my attention and I wanted to know how it was going to end.

Creepy concept which resonates a little too well with modern readers who use tracking devices…. I loved the premise and could see how this could actually happen. Also really enjoyed the setting and felt the writing style was top notch. Some of the themes are pretty confronting and I had to skim through some of the gore, but what a story!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Because there is nothing worse than having unexplained symptoms. Feeling like there’s something terribly wrong—but nothing that can be measured in exams, and you know the doctor thinks it’s all in your head."

The Night Guest is a thriller/horror novella set in Iceland about a woman who thinks she may be sleepwalking. She keeps waking up each morning feeling exhausted with lots of steps on her watch, but with no memory of what may have happened.

This was a really entertaining and quick read! It didn't blow me away or shock me by any means, but it was gripping and strange.

Major TW for animal deaths!

*Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review

3.5 stars
This was a nice short read that kept my attention. It you need something to get you out of a reading slump I would 100% recommend this. In terms of horror this is quite light, but still enough to give you the creeps. I liked how quick and snappy this felt.
That being said there was a lot left unfinished. I genuinely think this storyline could've been made into a fully fleshed out novel rather than novella. It had a lot of potential but a lot of questions were left unanswered and some parts felt rushed/underdeveloped. It was an easy and enjoyable read but I think it's very forgettable unfortunately.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Bizarre but utterly enthralling, The Night Guest was a quick read that kept me in suspense from page one. Ominous and eerie and rich with mystery, this book left me feeling unsettled in the same way bizarre horror movies leave me. It does end quite suddenly with a climax, and I was able to infer who was “the night guest” early on— however it didn’t stop me from wanting to finish. I wish there was a little more explanation and conclusion than what I was given, however I feel the intention of the story was more about the ride we were on as a reader rather than having a character motive or clearly explained resolution. This is one that I may have to reread to pick up more subtle details, but overall I enjoyed the writing and how the story kept building suspense and anxiety.

This novella has been translated as the author is from Iceland.

It was a fast pace, unexpected book! I went completely blind beside the fact I knew that Iðunn felt like she couldn’t sleep.

Iðunn suffers from clinical fatigue and her muscles always feel so tired when she wakes up. Sometimes, she also find bruises and blood on her body but can’t remember anything from the night. She’s trying different ways to make sure she actually gets a good night of sleep but fails to do so.

One day, she get curious enough to a new watch with GPS to know if and where she goes every night to could warrant so much muscle fatigue. She discovers that she sleepwalks but always end up going to the same place.

Why that location? What is she doing when she’s there?

It is a bizarre ending but it does leave it open for interpretation!

TW: dead cats

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group/Tor Nightfire for providing me a digital copy in exchange for my review.