An Unwanted Guest
A Novel
-
-
4.0 • 1.7K Ratings
-
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
Another thrilling domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door and Not a Happy Family
“A gripping mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.” –Good Housekeeping
“Another nail-biter perfect for an all-nighter.” –Entertainment Weekly
A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the perfect getaway . . . but when the storm hits, no one is getting away
It's winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing--maybe even romantic--weekend away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery.
So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity--and all contact with the outside world--the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.
Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead--it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.
Within the snowed-in paradise, something--or someone--is picking off the guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm--and one another.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
An isolated setting, a killer on the loose, and an eclectic cast of secretive suspects—this engrossing murder mystery has all the hallmarks of an Agatha Christie classic. As the bodies and plot twists pile up, our fingers pointed in all directions. Adding to the fun factor of Shari Lapena’s wickedly clever whodunit is an unrelenting storm, a power outage—and (gasp!) a wifi blackout.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This disappointing thriller from bestseller Lapena (A Stranger in the House) riffs on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. A small group of people arrive for the weekend at Mitchell's Inn, deep in the snowy Catskills, where they hope to enjoy the seclusion and natural beauty of the mountains. The first evening, a young woman, Dana Hart, is found dead at the bottom of the stairs. To lawyer David Paley, it doesn't look like an accident, and he suspects Dana's fianc , Matthew Hutchinson. The problem is that there's a winter storm raging, and the inn is without power and a generator. Since they can't contact the police, the guests settle in for a long wait, and the presence of a dead body only exacerbates the mounting tensions. Each guest is hiding a dark secret, and as the secrets are revealed and accusations are hurled, the body count rises, and it seems that no one is safe. The pace picks up in the third act, but it's not enough to save a narrative populated with emotionally distant characters and paint-by-the-numbers murders.
Customer Reviews
Good mystery
I liked this book a lot. It was almost like an old fashioned who done it. All the characters in a bed and breakfast and they start being killed off. The ending is out of left field, which I loved. No one will guess who, and especially not why. Definitely a good read.
What a HUGE disappointment
This had all the makings of a great locked room mystery. And the author sustained that promise through the first 80% of the book. But then a just pathetic deus ex machina, in the form of a single clue, prompts the killer’s private confession. A cheap cop out. I feel cheated.
An unwanted guest.
Awful writing. Simple plot that seemed to never end.