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terrimisu's reviews
111 reviews
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I would first like to thank @tornightfire for sending me a physical ARC to read and review!
The Night Guest follows Iðunn, a young Icelandic woman, and her frequent doctor’s office visits after she lost her sister. Day in and day out, she experiences excruciating chronic pain that seems to be unnoticed by doctor’s as they all seem to ask her the same questions.
“Has this been going on for a long time?”
“Have you had the flu recently?”
“Have you been under a lot of stress lately?”
Though after a while, she notices that she walked 40,000 steps in the middle of the night after she fell asleep. This leaves her confused and unsure how this is possible since she went to sleep and didn’t wake up to take a walk.
I really enjoyed reading The Night Guest. Knútsdóttir’s writing style reminds me of Eva Baltasar when I read Mammoth back in January. Both characters and stories have a very deadpan approach, are quick to be snarky internally towards others, and the stories are heavily centered on their flaws. I enjoyed the pace of The Night Guest and its ability to be straight to the point with the layer of mystery added. Throughout the story, it's hard to acknowledge why these mysterious occurrences take place until the reader reaches the culminating climax.
Though, I was not particularly a fan of how the ending was left off. I like open and interpretive endings but this ending was a bit too vague even if you can assume what truly happened. It felt a bit empty and lackluster even though the rest of the novel was really fun to get through. Overall, I really enjoyed the novel though I wish more time was spent on the ending.
3/5⭐️