Iðunn is sleep deprived, but wakes with bruising, blood stains, etc. on her. Through the story we kind of learn what is happening, but this story just wasn't for me. There were killings involving cats and the ending was just so odd I was left trying to figure out what I just wasted my time reading.

"There's nothing worse than having unexplained symptoms."

"If I walk into the darkness there is no turning back...I walk into the darkness."

Chronic fatigue has never been so frightening after listening to The Night Guest by creative Icelandic noir author Hildur Knutsdottir.

Opening with the line, "Can you describe your symptoms?" The Night Guest, a psychological horror thriller, hooked me right away. Iounn is so relatable as she tries to get help to explain away her exhaustion after waking up in the morning, the black and blue marks that appear over night and the constant paranoid anxiety it is causing her. But tests are negative and the next step is a psychological evaluation.

As we get to know about her life, her family, friends, and lovers we see a pattern of uncomfortableness with all her interactions. It really starts to get eerie when her watch, which counts steps, has over 40,000 steps overnight while she's asleep. Must be defective! Then there's the weirdness of the neighborhood cats running away from her, and why are so many of them missing? (Trigger Warning)!

As the creepiness builds voice actress (and this book's talented translator) Mary Robinette Kowal heightens Iounn's realistic tension filled inner dialogue with uncanny fear and confusion in her performance. It's obvious she knows Iounn.

For such a short story, less than 3 hours, there's a clever amount of undertones about women's health being minimized, misogyny in the workplace, depression and grief. I have my own interpretation on the ambiguous ending, and wished this story was longer and more in-depth, but on the other hand, The Night Guest doesn't over stay it's welcome.

QOTD: Ambiguous Endings, Yes or No?

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This audiobook packed a punch in its 2.5 hours! I immediately connected with our main character as she fought to have her concerns taken seriously by many different doctors — been there, my dude. And, of course, I was hooked by the mystery of what was really happening to her every night. The story is short, so I'll keep any further plot musings to myself, but I'll say I found it satisfying overall! I also enjoyed the translation and narration work by Mary Robinette Kowal. This would make a great travel read for thriller lovers — but please note that pets ARE harmed in the telling of this twisted tale!

First, HAPPY PUD DAY!!!!! (9/3)
Second, big thanks to both NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC copy of this one.

Listen, the audio for this one was done really well. My favorite part? How quick this one is! This started out so dang well and I truly enjoyed it so much, right until the last 5-10 minutes. It was so intriguing and I could not wait to figure out what was going on with our MC, only to be left with SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!!! The ending was way too open ended for me that I feel like I am left so lost and like there is just an entirely other book somewhere that has the ending we need for this.

Had the ending been more clear, I would have likely rated this 4/4.5
Do with that what you will! You may enjoy it and love the ending, it just was not the type of ending that works for me at all.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

What in the world did I just listen to?

This novella was an absolutely chilling experience. The audiobook is incredibly short, and the suspense kept me hooked from start to finish. Iðunn’s sleepwalking mystery is creepy and unsettling, and the Reykjavík setting adds an extra layer of eeriness.

However, I have mixed feelings about this one, especially because of the ending, which left me totally confused. And a heads up—there’s a tough trigger for animal lovers, with some disturbing scenes involving cats. I wish I had known about that beforehand.

Overall, it’s a well-written, fast-paced story, but I didn’t love it as much as I hoped. The narrator did a great job, though!

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my ALC!

I loved the fast pace of most of this story. Our MC was losing it, quite literally. Every time she slept unexplainable things would happen. I wouldn't say I was ever freaked out though. Which is what I expect from a horror. I was more puzzled. It was building up and I was expecting a killer ending, but it wrapped up so quickly. Too quickly in my opinion. It had me confused. I feel like with a change of the ending it would have definitely been bumped up for me rating wise.

The audio was quick and easy to listen too. The narrator portrayed the character well throughout the book.

Thank you MacMillan audio for the ALC!

Iðunn wakes exhausted everyday. Multiple trips to doctors show nothing abnormal. Her friends say, "You need to get more exercise." At their behest, she get an activity tracker, and wakes up to 47k steps.

She films herself. She leaves. Where does she go? Iðunn gets a GPS.

The premise of this novella is interesting. The setting in contemporary Reykjavík sets a moody scene. Unfortunately, the plot contained multiple loose ends, and it also contained unnecessary animal violence that was never addressed.

It's hard when a work is translated, and I had to wonder if the language change made the story seem incoherent and untethered.

Thank you again NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the review audiobook copy. The Night Guest releases Sept 3, 2024.

Iðunn has been battling constant fatigue and body aches, yet visiting her doctor for her symptoms has only yielded completely normal blood test results. While continuing to stuggle with exhaustion and finding more and more random injuries that she doesn’t recall receiving, a decision to track her sleep one evening leads to a frightening realization.

The Night Guest is a tense, gripping and eerie novella that explores the incredibly common tribulations that surround the diagnosing of an unexplained illness, while also dealing with the chronic symptoms in your everyday life. The Night Guest is very relatable, as some woman are quite familiar with having their medical issues dismissed, blamed on something unrelated or viewed as something that is purely psychological.

The Night Guest takes an unexpected turn with the revelation that Iðunn has been spending many of her nights sleepwalking-amongst other things-and while the reasons behind her behavior and the conclusion of the novella are very ambiguous, little details and interactions scattered thoroughout provide interesting fodder for speculation.

Although I wished for something slightly more concrete for a resolution, the audiobook narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal does an excellent job of drawing you in with a seemingly normal woman relating her medical struggles and then portraying the ever-increasing uncertainty and panic as Iðunn’s life unravels around her.

Mary Robinette Kowal is a captivating narrator and the very short length of certain chapters helps to make you feel as though you are truly witnessing Iðunn’s deterioration in real-and unreliable-time. In terms of content warnings: there are brief mentions of cruelty to animals-specifically cats.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for access to this audiobook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 208 / Genre: Horror
Audiobook Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal
Duration: 2 hours 42 minutes

Iðunn is so tired. She can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep. When she wakes up in the morning, she feels like she’s been walking all night. And most disturbing of all, many of the neighborhood cats she loves to greet every day have gone missing. She also has a dead sister who she thinks about often.

While this was a quick little novella, it was a little too quick. It needs a proper ending. I have some guesses as to what happened, but I’m not exactly sure and not sure why it happened. And what’s the deal with the sister? This book had a nice creepy feel and definitely held my interest, but it left me feeling frustrated, confused, and in need of closure.

Mary Robinette Kowal translated the book from Icelandic to English and was also the narrator of the audiobook. She did a great job on both fronts.

Thank you, @NetGalley and @Macmillan.Audio for my gifted copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Tor Publishing, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this creepy novella by Hildur Knútsdóttir, absolutely perfectly narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up because I just couldn't stop listening!

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. Everyone tells her to eat better, get more sleep, exercise more but nothing helps. One night, Iðunn falls asleep with her new step-counting watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night. Just what is happening when she's asleep?

I was pulled into this book right away. A woman goes to the doctor with symptoms, only to be dismissed. After just going through something very similar, I could definitely relate to her, as most women probably can. I also loved the way this story was written. Some chapters only had a few words or one sentence. It just kept pulling me further and further in. If you want a book with an ending tied up neatly with a bow, this is not your book. But I thought the ending just added to the creepiness of the book, the unreliable narrator, and just felt right. The narrator was perfect and added to the overall mystery of the book. I loved it!

This horror novella was creepy and unsettling. The premise was really intriguing, and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on.

A woman wakes up every morning extremely tired and doesn’t know why. After wearing a step tracking watch to bed one night, she realizes that she’s been walking around at night with one night logged at over 40,000 steps. What has she been doing in her sleep and where has she been going?

Told in extremely short chapters, this book is a quick novella you can breeze through in a couple of hours. Also, the audiobook was amazing - highly recommend!

I uhhhhh idk about this one! The beginning was interesting. I was invested in what was going on with our main character. She seemed unconcerned with her life at the beginning and then increasingly paranoid as the strange things continued to happen. I thought the build was good, the decent into madness felt authentic. However, for such a short book I felt like the ending was too rushed. When the big drama ending started, I looked at the time left and realized only 10 minutes were left in the book. I thought how can we wrap everything up in that amount of time. It just felt rushed to me. And honestly I didn’t even understand the ending. Which don’t get me wrong I think was the point. I just wanted to know what was in the cave and have more of a solid resolution. That’s personal preference though bc I know lots of people love an ending that’s up for interpretation 🤷🏻‍♀️

ALSO I felt unprepared for the killing of all the cats. I did not like that at all!

This novella had great potential. I was so intrigued and creeped out by the mystery of what was happening to the main character at night. I love an unreliable narrator and I really started to suspect she was insane, especially when she started staying awake. The ending wasn't satisfying for me though, which is why I knocked off a star.

Thank you to MacMillan audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen!

This story takes the cake as one of the creepiest I've read this year. This is narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal and she does an excellent job of bringing Iðunn to life. I think the narrative talent shines as the story progresses and events become more chaotic.

TW: There is animal abuse in this story. It's done off-page but does involve dead cats. I didn't know that going in, and it would have affected my choice to listen. That said, it's only mentioned a few times, and it's near the end. This isn't a story where it's done overly gratuitously, or occurring throughout the story.

Our story starts with Iðunn , who is at a doctor's appointment, desperate for help after she's been experiencing fatigue, and aches and pains for months. Tests have been run, but nothing is coming back abnormal. She's let herself become riddled with worry, thinking she has ALS, leukemia, or worse.

As the story starts, things appear fairly normal. Iðunn has dinner with her parents, girls night with her friends, and even meets a man and goes on dates with him. As she received minimal medical support, she took matters into her own hands and purchased a fitness watch. Iðunn is getting her 10,000 daily steps in, and one morning, she wakes up with the watch on and 40,000 steps logged. This leads her to more self-diagnosing (sleepwalking) and Iðunn asks for sleeping pills to help her stop sleepwalking. It works...at first.

This story is considered to be part of the horror genre, and I would say that's accurate. There is some suspense/thriller aspects but I'd classify it as horror. The chapters are fairly short, and it's easy to continue reading/listening. However, this book is short. Approximately 208 pages, and less than three hours via audiobook. I have a great appreciation for authors who don't overdo the story, but in this case, I wish there had been some more explanation of the area, Iðunn's sister, and more character development. I think it would have truly enhanced the story.

The ending is left up to the reader's interpretation. Depending on your perspective, the ending could take on a few different meanings. This doesn't necessarily bother me, but I do love seeing how the author intended it to be, it sometimes can pull the rest of the story together because you see incidents in a different light.

As a horror novella, I would recommend this book. It kept me hooked, and I kept wanting to listen to one more chapter to get answers, which led me to devour this book quickly. The narration brings the scariness to life because you experience Iðunn becoming nervous, but knowing something else is happening, but can't find anyone to help her.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this alc.

This is the first book I read from an Icelandic author. It’s about a woman, Iðunn, who has trouble sleeping. Every time she wakes up she feels tired, like she has run a marathon. She starts to wake up with her body covered in bruises, dirt, and eventually blood. She then buys an Apple Watch and realizes she walked something like 40,000 steps while she was sleeping. The problem is that she can’t recall where she went or what she did.

The whole book is about the protagonist trying to figure out what’s wrong with her, what she is doing while she’s supposed to be asleep. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal, who really captured the despair of the protagonist to know what exactly is going on, and delivered a well-paced story. The more Iðunn knows what she is doing at night, the darker this story gets. Check trigger warnings before reading this one.

This was a good quick read. I really enjoyed it. It kept me interested and I read it in one sitting. I felt bad for the main character and what she was going through. I was disappointed in the ending. I feel like it stopped too abruptly leaving questions. I did enjoy the narrator.

I absolutely devoured this book. I tore through it in one evening.

Iðunn keeps waking up with unexplained pain, bruises, and other injuries. Is she sleepwalking? Is it something more serious? She tries seeking medical help, but that's a dead end, as is often the case for women.

For a brief period, sleeping pills seem to help, but when those are gone, she has to find some other way to deal with what's happening to her.

I promptly fell in love with the main character in the first chapter and just became more and more invested as the story progressed. Iðunn is quirky and smart, and she loves cats, but there's definitely something a little off about her. Even she sees that. "It briefly occurs to me that it's not normal to have no one close enough to share such a feeling with."

I could see myself in her shoes so many times during this story. It is definitely going to stay with me for a long time. You might even say it will haunt me.

* Trigger Warning for animal mutilation. *

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review. I was really looking forward to this one and I must say, I was quite disappointed. While I did enjoy the pacing and unique structure of the story, I do not tolerate animal cruelty in books. So for that reason, I just cannot rate this well.

The Night Guest was a creepy novella that was so captivating I read it in one sitting. I loved that the narrator felt so unreliable and in the end we really didn't get a concrete answer on what was happening but I found that almost more intriguing than if everything had been spelled out. Iðunn was a fascinating character and I feel like the author used her as a way to show what happens to women in healthcare without being too heavy handed with it. Iðunn is still as much of a mystery to me as she was in the beginning. We never really learn more about her or her motives and that adds to the unsettling nature of this novella. The narrator of the audiobook was fantastic and I really enjoyed being able to hear the characters proper pronunciations. She kept her pitch and tone constantly interesting and it really added to my enjoyment of this novella.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. Receiving an advanced gifted book copy does not impact or influence my review in any way. #MacAudio2024

4.5 rounded up to 5!

The Night Guest is a horror/thriller novella that is insanely fast paced and hooked me from page one! I was so impressed by the amount of things that happened in this book in such a short amount of time.

The slight mystery throughout the story kept me guessing, and I love dhow the author sprinkled in just the right amount of clues and subtleties about the character. You start piecing together what might be the truth, but it's still open to interpretation, which adds to the eerie atmosphere.

This book is a great reminder of how fantastic-and challenging- novellas can be. Packing so much tension, mystery, and character depth into a compact form is not easy, but the author does it so well!

I definitely recommend it for spooky season, especially if you're looking for a quick, fast-paced read that's perfect to devour right before bedtime. Just be prepared to sleep with the lights on- or not at all! hehe.