Wow…wow…wow…B. A. Paris has done it again! I could not put this read down and stayed up half the night to finish it. What a rollicking ride at the finish line! So many connections between characters that are peeled away and revealed so very slowly. So many secrets and relationships kept secret that affected almost every single character, except Hammish, the infant.
Iris and Gabriel’s relationship must have been faltering before Charlie in order for it to be totally decimated. The future does not look rosy for them, particularly Gabriel. Loved the addition of Esme and Hugh, but most especially Joseph. Every story needs a gorgeous bad boy. The perfect number of characters that twist, turn, and intertwine carrying their secrets with them.
My expectations for this read were high given my total enjoyment of her earlier books and this read did not let me down. Keep writing B. A. Paris! Readers do not miss out on this domestic drama/thriller.
Many many thanks to B. A. Paris for another thrilling read, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this engrossing read to be published on February 20th.

The Guest is a domestic suspense novel that focuses on Iris and Gabriel, who are both adrift in their lives and marriage. They are parents to a college aged daughter, Beth. They have a close set of old friends, Laure and Pierre who are facing their own issues.

Gabriel is left reeling after being the one who finds a young man, similar to his daughter’s age, who has fallen to his death in a quarry. Gabriel witnesses the last words the young man speaks, and must deal with the aftermath of what he is told. Iris struggles when Laure moves in with them amidst troubles in her marriage.

B.A. Paris weaves a narrative of intertwined secrets and motives that kept me intrigued throughout this novel. This is more of a slow burn than some of her more intense novels, such as Behind Closed Doors. I typically really enjoy this author’s writing and The Guest was no exception. I especially enjoyed the epilogue at the end of the novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I definitely did not see any of that coming! This book started off innocently enough, letting you get to know the characters and their history. You will definitely form some opinions, but do not hold on to them too tightly because, once all is revealed, you will definitely see some people very differently! I really enjoyed this book! It kept me engaged and flying through the chapters to see what was going on.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

The Guest by B.A. Paris is out tomorrow, February 20th!

I loved the premise of this one and was drawn in by the mystery.

However, I found nearly every character to be insufferable!

Iris and Gabriel end up with an unexpected houseguest, Laure. She is having marital issues with Pierre. Laure overstays her welcome and is on Iris' last nerve. And mine as well. Another family in town has a mysterious guest as well.

The big twist took forever to get to and was a bit unbelievable. Yet, I still found myself invested and continued on. I did enjoy the narration on the audio.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for an ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

BA Paris is a master of the pyschological thriller! This book had me on the edge of my seat and I took my time reading this book because I did not want it to end. If you have enjoyed other books by BA Paris this needs to go at the top of your TBR pile. I do not want to give anything away but the ending of this book... well you will just have to read it for yourself. Awesome book, highly recommend!

The Guest, by B. A. Paris, is a dramatic psychological thriller that takes you on a slow-burn journey to a riveting, explosive conclusion!
The prologue introduces most of the cast of characters—couples Gabriel and Iris, and Hugh and Esme—who are neighbors and friends. They enjoy living in a peaceful village in the English countryside. When an old friend from Paris, Laure, drops in unexpectedly and takes up residence in Iris’ home, everything becomes unbalanced by her presence and personality. The ripple effect on their lives plays out in sinister ways!
This is a long, winding story, with strong themes of parenthood, planned and unplanned, its joys and complexities, and its effect on partners and friends. I really liked the slow-burn buildup of relationship tension and the limited number of characters that were well-formed. Some were devious, some mysterious, and all were intriguing in their own fashion.
There are plenty of complicated plot twists and a conclusion that left me stunned! I recommend this to readers looking for mysteries with character-driven plots. This is another great suspense novel by the talented B. A. Paris!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

The Guest
By B.A. Paris

4/5 ⭐️

After reading Behind Closed Doors, I was psyched to get my hands on an ARC copy of B.A. Paris’ newest book, The Guest (thanks Net Galley!).

Synopsis: Gabriel and Iris are on the rocks. They return home from vacation to find their friend Laure has been staying at their house. Turns out, her husband Pierre has admitted to having a child from a previous affair and Laure left him. With nowhere to go, Laure overstays her welcome and starts to get on Gabriel and Iris’ nerves. With even more people involved, secrets spill out and some find themselves dead - all for a coverup of the ultimate deception.

Review: I love the plot twists and tell-alls that occur at the end of Paris’ books. The plot of the normal tale keeps you on your toes and has you questioning “who’s done it” and “what happens next”. While some of those questions become answered predictably, there’s always some sort of twist around every turn and everything connects back in the end.

For your next thriller/suspense/mystery novel, check out The Guest (out tomorrow!)

The Guest is my first read from B.A. Paris, and I really enjoyed it.

Iris and Gabriel return home from a vacation to find their friend, Laure, has moved into their house. She says her husband, Pierre, has a secret child and she needs to stay with them until she figures out what to do.

The weeks go on, and Laure still won’t leave. Iris and Gabriel start to doubt her story.

This book gave me so much anxiety.  I’m an introvert and the idea of having someone in my house who won’t leave is my personal nightmare. 

I’ve been bored lately with domestic thrillers that all feel the same, but I had no idea where The Guest was headed.  There are three major plot lines (in addition to Laure’s marriage, one involves creepy new neighbours, and one is about the death of a teen boy that Gabriel witnessed). I buddy read it with a friend and it was a blast trying to figure out how the stories all related.  

I’m not sure how I feel about the epilogue and how the mystery resolved — in places, it seemed a bit implausible — but I really enjoyed the novel overall, and will be checking out more of Paris’s writing in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my review copy of this book.

Whew ok I really enjoyed this one, note that it was slow to get going, and I wasn’t sure what to think but then... By the second half bodies start falling and it gets Ca-Razy as I started to wonder what in the sam hell is going on here?! I did almost figure it all out and my goodness that epilogue was WILD! Each of these characters definitely has something to hide, and it was interesting to figure out just what it was.

I have read all of Paris' books and this is now one of my favorites. I listened via audio and thought the narration was great as well, definitely enjoyed reading it this way.

This one comes out tomorrow and you do not want to miss! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the copies to review.

Hmmm….how to write a review for this book without giving anything away? I had some definite ideas about what was going on with Pierre & Laure but I was oh so long. I really didn’t like Laure and her inability to realize how much she was imposing on her friends by assuming she could stay indefinitely. When she rearranged the cabinets in the kitchen I was offended for Iris. I liked Gabriel and felt bad about the secret he was holding in to his detriment. Esme & Hugh added some variety to the cast of characters as did Beth. It seemed like a nice story of an unwanted guest but then people started dying and the story got wild. The epilogue blew all my theories out of the water. I can’t really say more without giving away the twist but it was so good.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the free ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Iris and Gabriel return home from a trip to discover their friend, Laure making herself comfortable in their home. Although Laure is overstaying her welcome, Iris and Gabriel feel too guilty to make her leave due to her recent discovery of her husband, Pierre, having a child with another woman. Throw in some overly welcoming neighbors and their mysterious gardener and we have a story about drama and secrets.

Thrillers are my favorite genre and usually I’m a fan of B.A. Paris’ books from the beginning but unfortunately The Guest didn’t captivate me until about 50% of the way through. The conversations and secrets between the characters felt a little repetitive and I struggled with the pacing. However, once the mysteries started unfolding, I didn’t want to put the book down. I was able to predict the secrets but not the details from the epilogue. Overall, I felt the ending was very well wrapped up. While this wasn’t my favorite book by this author, I will continue to pick up more of her future work. Get your copy of The Guest by B.A. Paris on February 20, 2024!

Excellent! Kept me guessing till the end. Very twisting and an unexpected ending. I love this author and B.A Paris never disappoints always takes me for a guessing game thrill ride..

Gabriel Iris, Laure, and Pierre have been friends for years, ever since they met while vacationing at the same beach. They're close enough to let each other use their homes when they're away. Gabriel and Iris come home from a vacation to find Laure in residence in their house with a wild story about her child free husband Pierre having fathered a child during their marriage.
 
I've not not loved BA Paris' last two novels (they were more written like a James Patterson novel), but this one was on the way to redeeming itself. The characters were well written, the story intriguing...and then you get to the abrupt ending of the book and LE GASP no twists have been revealed, no loose ends tied up. What the heck? There are multiple deaths, a paternity to determine, what the heck is going on with the new couple down the road? And that mysterious man who gardens? What's his deal? The boy who rode his bike over the quarry edge, why is he such a big part of the story? Is this...like The Breakdown, which wasn't a thriller (I, btw, loved The Breakdown so I wasn't opposed to the book not being a thriller, but there were soooo many loose ends).

Then.

You turn the page and oh, there's an epilogue!

Where all is revealed.

No thank you. It just felt...lazy to reveal all the twists at the very end in an epilogue. That one twist that never got tied up during the story? Cool, epilogue that. But literally EVERY TWIST? IN AN EPILOGUE? *rolls up newspaper* No, no, bad! Ugh, how many hands did this book go through that said "oh yes, this is great! People will love this!" No we won't. I hate it. I hate it so much. Where is BA Paris' early works careful crafting and manipulation, getting us to believe one thing while the exact opposite is true? Instead, it's all shoved into a ridiculous epilogue. Ugh, no thank you. No thank you at all.

While this book had a slow start, by the halfway mark the twists and turns were quite good and had me turning page after page to find out what the next twist would be.

The book starts off with us meeting Gabrielle and Iris; a married couple coming back from a holiday only to find their friend Laure staying in their home after receiving some devastating news from her husband. This is not unusual as Laure is one of their very best friends; however the length of stay is quite undetermined. Gabrielle has his own demons that he is struggling with and has taken a leave from his job to deal with this.

The characters are very well developed, and all have their own secrets, which is quite interesting.

You certainly can’t go wrong with a B.A. Paris book! Always a delight to read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

This was a 3 star read for me. It fell flat in the suspense area and I was a little let down that everything came together in the epilogue. I also noticed some grammar/spelling issues. Incorrect use of the word their on page 251. And missing a name on page 260 “iris watched as ______ went to esme…

This is my first read from this author. I dug in knowing nothing about the novel itself. Maybe my expectations were high.
The title is a good choice. The story is plot driven. It is written through Iris's perspective. It begins with a bit of mystery that's intriguing.
Without giving any spoilers away, I wasn't pleased with character development. However, I understand why it was done this way. My least favorite part was at the end. I'd rather a mystery unfold instead of taking a whole section to explain what happened. It is sort of explaining a joke you just told. The explanation was a little far-fetched to me. I rate it 2.5 stars.
I'm glad I tried it and will try another by this author regardless of this novel alone.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, i enjoyed this book. I felt it was a little slower paced than i would've liked but the pay off at the end was worth it. It was written nicely and kept my attention throughout. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I really hate to write this. I didn’t like The Guest. It started off annoying. The characters all cloying and obnoxious. Then it started in on the mysterious parts. Who was this Charlie and why had he died? Is there really a secret love child? Will marriages survive this? Is so and so sleeping with so and so? It piled on like that until it seemed more like a soap opera than a thriller/mystery.

I think I could have still been OK with that. But the mysteries themselves were so darn predictable. After reading the hour or so long epilogue that meant to tidy the whole thing up (what happened to “show not tell”?) there were no actual surprises. There was one part that I hadn’t already thought about but it wasn’t an important part of the story, in my mind and could have just been left out.

I will still read this author in the hopes that this was just one that wasn’t for me.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read an advance copy of The guest by B.A. Paris.
I always jump to read this author's books (ever since I read Bring me back). I usually can't put down her books, and am always shocked with her twisty endings. The guest just wasn't a hit for me. I found the beginning slow, and I knew the ending half way through the book. If I can figure out the twist at the end, it is obvious. Although I wasn't crazy about it, I still recommend this book for its plot and definitely recommend B.A. Paris.

4.5 ⭐️

i absolutely enjoyed reading this book. this is my first book of this author and it did not disappoint. 👏

the characters were all brilliantly written, and the way the story unfolded from start to finish was just perfect. and that twist? mind-blowing! i did NOT see it coming at all, my jaw was on the fr*aking floor. 🤯🤯

the ending was so satisfying, it made me want to applaud. 👏

why isn’t it a 5⭐️? there were too many characters it was difficult to keep track of all of them, but asides from that, it’s an incredible read. 🥳