Have you ever had a non-family member show up to live with you for a while? It happens in the appropriately named - The Guest by B. A. Paris.

"Iris and Gabriel get back from their holiday and find an old friend has moved in. Laure has left her husband, Pierre, in Paris, (after he confesses an affair and secret daughter) and moved away to find herself. Days turn into weeks and Iris feels torn between helping her friend and getting her life back. She's desperate for some time away from Laure.
A new neighbor moves in - with a gardener who has a checkered past.
Soon dangerous secrets will unravel...with deadly consequences."

This is more of a domestic thriller. There's plenty of tension with Laure overstaying her welcome, and being oblivious to any hints about moving on. She is a pretty self-centered character with zero boundaries. (How would you like it if a guest rearranged your kitchen cabinets?) Iris struggles with having an unexpected housemate the whole time. Her method of dealing with it will surprise you.

The book moves along at a slow burn until Paris starts killing off characters. The epilogue makes for a wild ending.

Fans of Paris's previous books will enjoy this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC.

I love B.A.Paris and for that reason I pushed through the first half of this book. I was disappointed as it felt more like a rough draft that hadn't been sprinkled with magic yet.
I did find any of the characters likable, the twist was great and the Epilogue made the book.

I however wish the entire book had been written in the same pace and tone as the epilogue.

I had really high hopes for this book because I have really loved all of the B.A. Paris books I have read before. I did enjoy reading this book and at no point was I bored with it, but it just didn’t quite live up to what I have come to expect when I pick up a B.A. Paris book.

Iris and Gabriel are surprised when they come home from vacation to find their friend Laure has invited herself to their house unannounced. Laure’s husband, Pierre, told her he had an affair that resulted in his having a child with another woman and Laure needed some space from him. It is not long before Iris and Gabriel are feeling stressed from the invasion of Laure into their lives and the only bit of reprieve they seem to have comes from befriending their new neighbors.

This was a very tense and engaging book, but it felt like more of a domestic drama than a thriller. It was not until the epilogue that there was enough of a twist that it even really felt like it was a true thriller. In all honesty, the epilogue saved this book for me and otherwise I likely would have rated it a little lower.

I am still glad that I read it because I was engrossed in the drama of this story, it is just that as a mood reader I picked it up really wanting a thriller and did not feel like that it what I was reading until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the published for a copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily.

This book was unbelievable great. At first it started out with a bang. Then it got better about half way. It didn't happened the way I excepted but it was great. I loved it ! Great job.

If you want more be sure to grab a copy of this amazing book!

I think this might be my last B.A. Paris book. The first 90% is great, mystery, trying to figure things out despite very little to go on and thinking you must be missing clues. But then there is the "reveal" chapter where the responsible character lays it all out like in detail. I truly dislike this approach. It relieves the author of any need to sprinkle that information in during the course of the book, robs the reader of figuring it out short of randomly guessing it, and for me is a anti-climactic way to end a book. If this had been the first time she employed this trope, I might give the next one a try. But that is what happened in the previous book. I'm moving this author from a "must read" to a "let someone else read and then ask them before I maybe read it."

B.A. Paris always delivers a psychological thriller. The Guest is a heart pounding story filled with plenty of twists and turns. I highly recommend.

I think I am falling out of love with thrillers because I should have loved this but I could not finish it. Quite honestly I was bored

This story really kept me guessing and wanting to read more. I thought the suspense was built up very nicely. There are a lot of characters, but I found it easy to follow each character, and was never confused about what was going on. However, I just did not like how it all wrapped up in the end. But I still think this is a very suspenseful book, and I know our patrons will really enjoy it. I think this book would be better to listen to rather than read.

The Breakdown was one of my favorites when it came out, so I was really excited to get this arc. Unfortunately, The Guest didn't work as well for me. It's a slow burn domestic drama with lots of secrets, but the pacing was a bit too slow and not intriguing enough. The characters were all a little odd and unlikeable, but the relationships between them (and their deterioration) were well done. A lot of the mysteries seem resolved along the way until the final twist. I'm not sure how I feel about the reveal, or epilogue confession style reveals in general. Overall, an okay read but a bit slow.

CW: murder, suicide, infidelity, alcoholism

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an advance review copy of this book.

what a great book and i loved reading this author. . loved the romance and how the couple came to be. Loved that they worked through their issues and found love. Loved this mystery

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I've read several books by this author and overall I feel like this fell a bit short of my expectations. I was irritated with Lauren for taking over Iris's life and the way Iris and Gabriel put up with it. There were too many conversations between Gabriel and Iris about their feelings towards Lauren, however, they just tolerated her. Lots of questions as to why Pierre, Lauren's husband. Why isn't he working to patch things up with Lauren? Their new friends that moved nearby and their guest added some much needed mystery. Overall I really enjoyed this book I'd have liked to have seen a bit more conflict with Iris having to deal with Lauren.

I was looking forward to reading this book and preordered it about a year ago. B.A Paris has sucked me in since Behind Closed Doors, and I have read all of her books. This book however was slow to start, and didn't pick up much in the middle. Iris and Gabriel have a troubled marriage after Gabriel witnesses a boys death and when return from vacation, their friend Laure is in their house. Laure is unlikeable from the beginning and overstays her welcome. Laure's husband Pierre has cheated on her and has fathered a daughter. Pierre has mysteriously not been answering Gabriel or Laure's phone calls and isn't confessing to his wrong doings. Gabriel and Iris find comfort in their new neighbors and form a quick friendship. The book was slow and took forever to get to the epilogue. The epilogue was fantastic and worth finishing the book for. It was true BA Paris writing and kept me wanting more! All in all it was an ok book but the ending will have me preordering her next book.

I’m not really sure that I would categorize this book as a thriller. It was certainly mysterious, and I didn’t know how all of the storylines would come together, but I didn’t find it particularly “thrilling”. I was very surprised by the twist, however I found the ending very abrupt and almost confusing compared to the rest of the book. The pacing felt a little off. It was still an enjoyable read, and I look forward to more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book.

I could not put The Guest down! B.A. Paris is one of my favorite mystery/thriller authors, and I was hooked from the get-go with this one. And there was a major twist that totally blind-sided me. (I just love when that happens in books!) Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for this arc. I'm a huge fan of B.A. Paris, but this one is not a favorite.

Maybe I've read too many psychological thrillers but there were so many "fillers" that were irrelevant and only meant to confuse the reader, so they couldn't guess the twist.

There were a few times, I felt conversations wouldn't have taken place in the manner they did, felt too jaded, or the person would never have brushed the comment away. It's only after reading the epilogue, which is the longest chapter, that you learn everything, but the foreshadowing didn't sure well with me. I feel that if the secrets were revealed throughout the story it would have read better and actions of characters would have made more sense.

I'm a fan of B.A. Paris and was excited over receiving the arc of The Guest. It was a good read but lacked some of the suspense as her other works. It was a little too slow to get to the exciting stuff. I kept asking myself "where's the mystery here?". But then that ending tho! Mind blowing! I just wish it had been that way throughout the book.

I received this text as an advanced copy by NetGalley.

The Guest is Laure, who unexpectedly is at Iris and Gabriel's house when they get back from their vacation. She showed up unannounced and with news. She has left her husband, Pierre, after finding out that he has a daughter. This turns out to be a HUGE deals since the two couples are close friends. As Iris and Gabriel attempt to console Laure and assure her that despite appearances, her marriage is not necessarily over - Pierre's silence over the passing weeks begins to worry them all.

After Laure attempts a visit to talk and Gabriel does the same, it appears that Pierre just wants to be left alone to figure it out on his own. So, Laure decides to move on with her life and quickly finds somebody new to occupy her time. This upsets her friends, who believe she may be moving too quick, despite what Pierre may have done to cause their marriage to end.

Iris and Gabriel become increasingly suspicious about the whereabouts of Pierre as time continues to pass and they still haven't heard from him. But now Laure has fallen for somebody whom also has a questionable past. Is it a coincidence that Laure and Joseph crossed paths at their house? Or was it planned all along?

This was a pretty good read, lots of twists and turns. However, I wasn’t as invested in this one as some of her others. It was still enjoyable and comes with a shocking ending.

This story has a lot of surprises and shocks that I did not figure out. Iris and Gabriel live in England and good friends Laure and Pierre live in Paris. Iris and Gabriel return from a brief vacation to find Laure in their home, angry at Pierre and settling in for a long stay. By the end there are multiple deaths and mysterious behaviors that lead to quite an earth-shattering epilogue that explains everything. I did get a bit impatient towards the end, trying to fit together all the pieces, but overall, I enjoyed the suspense. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC.

Thank you Netgalley, St-Martin’s Press and B.A. Paris.
This mystery was slightly too long for me, but I enjoyed the beginning and the end.
Secrets over secrets.
Laure drama was more than I could take.
Overall rating 3 stars