The Guest by B.A. Paris

 The Guest in the latest from B.A. Paris due out February 20 is Laure, a long-time friend of Iris and Gabriel, who has left her husband Pierre in France having learned he has fathered a child by another woman. Welcome at first, Laure is soon trying her friends’ patience as all she talks about is Pierre, and she is making no plans to leave their British countryside home and return to Paris.

Gabriel is already stressed having left his medical practice suffering from burnout and trauma as his father has just died, his dog followed suit, and Gabriel could not save a young man named Charlie who Gabriel encountered on his daily run. Charlie had crashed his bike at the nearby quarry, and his last words before dying weigh heavily on Gabriel. Added to his burden is the guest who will not go home after weeks and weeks of staying with Gabriel and Iris. As Benjamin Franklin once said, ““Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”

Having left Paris with nothing, Laure continues to borrow Iris’ clothes rather than go shopping,  follows Iris around like a lost puppy dog, and interferes with Iris’ interior decorating business. Worse, Laure quits her job in Paris with no plans for the future. Plus, Laure’s constant questions about Charlie’s death are unwelcome as Iris is doing everything she can to pull Gabriel out of his depression.

A new couple in the neighborhood brings some relief as they welcome Laure to visit. However, the downside is that Laure takes up with their gardener Joseph, a young man who was sacked from his previous gardening job at a school after becoming too friendly with a student, giving her his phone number and planning a trip to Thailand with her.

Before the thriller plays out, more characters will wind up dead, Pierre is indeed a father, and everything readers thought was true turns topsy-turvy thanks to an unreliable narrator.

B.A. Paris, known for her page-turning plots, does not disappoint with The Guest. The author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back, and The Dilemma, she was a bank trader and teacher in France before turning to writing fiction. She  lives with her husband in a cottage in Hampshire, England.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 6, 2024.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.