Reviews - The Christmas Guest

2.69k reviews for:

The Christmas Guest

Peter Swanson

3.56 AVERAGE

typographic_whimsy's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jaberpony's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

laurenyawney's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

never_go_that_way's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Author definitely delivered on his aims which was to write a one-sitting book. The Novella does this with a major twist half way through, although delivered in such a throwaway style - I was left responded with a lowercase “oh” - rather than a “woah”. Regardless, I feel as if I just finished a Saltburn meets Johnathan Creek, meets Midsummer Murder Christmas special. And that’s a winner in my eyes.

lil_kitty_bit's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

darlingdesi's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Definitely putting spoilers in here, since I am planning to go to a book discussion group about the Christmas guest. I found it annoying that half the book is written in italics, simply because it's harder for me to read and slows me down. The story itself was quite interesting: I liked how the murderer tried to justify her behavior and change her life entirely. I was certainly surprised that the diary was not written by the main character. Or maybe two main characters? I actually had to go back and reread that part.
I especially enjoy books written in the first person.
It felt like Emma was being killed over and over and over again. Super creepy.