The Christmas Guest
A Novella
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4.1 • 95 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Delicious…I defy you to stop reading The Christmas Guest once you begin.” — New York Times Book Review
New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson pens a spectacularly spine-chilling novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.
Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.
But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?
Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Swanson (The Kind Worth Saving) does more with less in this punchy thriller that packs all the potency of his longer works. In 2019, an unnamed narrator decides to spend Christmas cleaning her New York City apartment. In the process, she rediscovers an "immediately recognizable" diary written by an American grad student in London named Ashley Smith, and flips to December 1989, a "murderous year" the narrator is hesitant to remember. The action then shifts to Ashley's diary entries, recounting her invitation to the country home of her colleague, Emma Chapman, for the holidays. En route, she wonders if her time at the estate will feel like "a romance novel, or maybe a murder mystery." It quickly becomes both: she's met at the rail station by Emma's hunky brother, Adam, and falls for him immediately, only to learn that he's the prime suspect in the recent murder of a girl who looks exactly like Ashley. Swanson has plenty of knockout twists up his sleeve, but they never feel cheap, and he manages to build three-dimensional characters despite the brief page count. This is a perfect introduction to one of the cleverest talents in contemporary genre fiction.
Customer Reviews
Charming Murder!
If you like your Christmas with a little murder, this is for you. Super short novella, goes down easy and a pleasure to read. Had elements of stories you’ve seen before but Swanson always manages to find a fresh spin to it all! A charming little murder story! Happy Holidays!
I love all of the authors book…
Well I guess my expectation was too high. I always enjoyed having my stomach flipped reading his book - it’s the first time that didn’t happen.
Clever concept but failed in delivery
I’ve loved his books prior so was excited for this one. Without saying too much, i think the premise of the book is solid. But the storyline just fell flat. As a proud Gen-X’er I laughed out loud how he referred to 1989 (like it’s ancient). And laughed even louder when the teen girl referred to the diary in each post as, “Oh, my dearest diary!” Sir. She would’ve been my age in 1989. We were wearing neon mini skirts, listening to punk rock and copying people like Madonna. It just felt so out of touch how he wrote these characters. Disappointed because it could’ve been a clever read