The Guest Room
Ratings11
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings11
Average rating3.5
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant comes the spellbinding tale of a party gone horribly wrong: two men lie dead in a suburban living room, two women are on the run from police, and a marriage is ripping apart at the seams. When Kristin Chapman agrees to let her husband, Richard, host his brother's bachelor party, she expects a certain amount of debauchery. She takes their young daughter to Manhattan for the evening, leaving her Westchester home to the men and their hired entertainment. What she does not expect is that the entertainment—two scared young women brought there by force—will kill their captors and drive off into the night. With their house now a crime scene, Kristin's and Richard’s life spirals into nightmare. Kristin is unable to forgive her husband for his lapses in judgement, or for the moment he shared with a dark-haired girl in the guest room. But for the dark-haired girl, Alexandra, the danger is just beginning.
Reviews with the most likes.
Richard wanted to do something nice for his brother Philip upcoming nuptials; have his bachelor party at his beautiful quiet home. What he didn't expect was chaos and murder. Great writing about murder, sex traficking and infidelity.
Maybe 4 and a half stars. My timing with this book wasn't great. It's about international sex-trafficking and the horrible book I just finished reading was about domestic child sex-trafficking. I would not have started this novel if I'd known what it was about. Nonetheless, it's a compelling read for several reasons. First the book begins with big trouble–two deaths are revealed on page 2–and the stakes for the male protagonist just keep getting higher. Second, one has instant sympathy for the sex slave who is at the heart of the trouble. The alternating points of view (with the protagonist's wife thrown in for good measure) keep the story humming forward. Third, it seems hyper-real. While most of us won't encounter people like this Russian sex-traffickers, it's unfortunately not a surprise that they exist, and their tactics are both believable and horrific.
Fabulous writing, a subject ripped from the headlines, a surprising but not unexpected ending. So well-written, I've ordered three more of Bohjalian's previous books to read.
