Day: February 4, 2022

The Guest Room by Rona Halsall is just one of those books. It starts slow but does just enough to keep the reader interested before heading off into crazy territory. In other words, stick with this one!

The premise is familiar: a woman (Steph) is determined to stay in the family home (of 30+ years) while her ex-husband (Andy) and daughter (Bea) want her to move due to the change in the neighborhood.

Anyone who has to make a difficult decision against the wishes of family will relate to Steph’s dilemma.

That does not mean that Steph is an entirely sympathetic character. She is stubborn and thinks that she knows what is right even as she doubts her own choices. Her wishy-washiness is distracting.

When strange things occur in Steph’s house, things move along fast enough. There are just enough hints to make the reader question whether Steph is losing it. Or is there a nefarious plot to get her out of the house?

Given that her ex-husband and daughter want her to sell, it is not out of the realm of belief that one of them is behind some of it. But the author also wisely throws in another possibility in the form of a homeless man who Steph takes in as a boarder.

What a perfect fall guy. Or is he?

The second half of the book moves along much faster than the first half. I am grateful for that because parts of it did drag. And there are times where Steph should have been smarter.

Ultimately, there are enough red herrings and false clues to keep it all interesting. And the ending does really go gonzo, which I actually appreciate. The author keeps the guessing going right up until the very last paragraph – and I love it when that happens.

As I said at the outset of this book review, stick with The Guest Room because the pay-off is worth it.

For more from Rona Halsall, please check out my reviews of the following books: The Liar’s Daughter, The Ex-Boyfriend, One Mistake, Her Mother’s Lies.

Author Bio

Rona is the author of bestselling psychological thrillers published by Bookouture. Her challenge in writing is to find domestic storylines with twists that her readers will never guess.

She was born in Nottingham, grew up near Blackpool and went to college in Leeds and then moved to Snowdonia, North Wales where she brought up her family while working as a business mentor. Now, she lives on the Isle of Man with her husband, two dogs and two guinea pigs.