An unwanted guest by Shari Lapena
Transworld, 2019. ISBN: 9780552174879. 320pp.
(Age: Adult) Recommended. What a thrill to try and work out 'who
dunnit' in this nod to the locked room mystery genre. Instead of a
room, Lapena has put a group of guests who don't know each other
into a luxurious boutique hotel in a remote forested area. Then a
blizzard causes all roads into the hotel to be closed and the
electricity is cut off, and it becomes totally isolated from the
outside world. Suspense and tension grows as the guests begin to be
murdered, one by one, suspicion falling in turn on each one of the
guests, leaving the reader desperately trying to figure out who has
committed the crimes among a myriad of red herrings and alarming
back stories of the guests.
Easy to read in one or two sittings, Lapena has developed her guests
so well that the reader feels that they know them and their fears
and feelings. It is very difficult to work out just who could be the
murderer as each character has strengths and flaws which Lapena
skilfully describes as the body count grows. Each murder has
different characteristics - a fall down the stairs, a drug overdose,
and a bashed head, all of which makes it hard to know if there is
more than one person on a killing spree or a stranger lurking in the
hotel picking off the guests. And that twist at the end! What a
well-constructed and satisfying finale to a great read.
I really enjoyed this book and will be sure to pick up other books
by this best-selling author. Fans of Adrian McKinty and Ruth Ware
may enjoy this book.
Pat Pledger