A review by salreads
The Other Guest by Helen Cooper

4.0

Helen Cooper is so adept at setting off multiple stories, with several POVs which leave you puzzling as to their connection. In the Other Guest Leah is in Lake Garda at her sister’s family owned resort. A year earlier Leah’s niece, Amy drowned.. In Derby Joanna is a counsellor. She is struggling after a recent relationship break up and an attempted suicide on the university campus where she works…Added to this Cooper weaves in the story of Amy’s last hours and a mysterious bartender.

This is the perfect summer read. The Italian setting is beautiful..glistening waters, boats cruising the lake, sunshine and a resort you wouldn’t mind booking into. But underneath secrets and tensions are simmering and thunder storms are brewing literally and metaphorically. At the heart of the story is Amy…the tragedy and mystery of her death haunts the story..

I had no idea how these individual stories would fit together and my curiosity added to the tension. I was happy with each part of the story but probably more so with Joanna’s story which felt most relatable. As the story progresses each story line gathers its own tension - Leah’s efforts to find out how her niece died are bringing her into danger; the bartender has moved into Joanna’s flat, but he isn’t who he says he is….and Amy is in her final hours and minutes…I found myself rushing to the end..