The perfect family. The perfect chance. The perfect lie. A stunning novel about motherhood and betrayal, for readers who love Sarah Vaughan and Louise Candlish. 'Deliciously dark and totally twisted' ERIN KELLY 'Very acute on class, aspiration, women and status' SARAH PERRY, author of THE ESSEX SERPENT Kate trusts Della, and Della trusts Kate. Their downfall is ...
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The perfect family. The perfect chance. The perfect lie. A stunning novel about motherhood and betrayal, for readers who love Sarah Vaughan and Louise Candlish. 'Deliciously dark and totally twisted' ERIN KELLY 'Very acute on class, aspiration, women and status' SARAH PERRY, author of THE ESSEX SERPENT Kate trusts Della, and Della trusts Kate. Their downfall is each other. When Kate moves to London after the disappearance of her sister, she's in need of a friend. A chance meeting leads Kate to Della, a life coach who runs support groups for young women, dubbed by Kate as 'the Janes.' Della takes a special interest in Kate, and Kate soon finds herself entangled in Della's life - her house, her family, and her husband. It's only when she realises that she's in too deep that Della's veneer begins to crumble, and the warnings from 'the Janes' begin to come true. Why is Della so keen to keep Kate by her side? What does Kate have that Della might want? And what really lies beneath the surface of their friendship? A twisty psychological thriller for fans of Louise Candlish and Harriet Tyce. 'This twisty thriller is jam-packed with tense moments and a growing sense of unease' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Dark, smart and classy' GILLIAN MCALLISTER 'Northedge is good at portraying the distinction between the real insecurities of some young women and the minor problems of the privileged type' DAILY MAIL 'Charlotte Northedge turns the psychological thumbscrews with relish' THE TIMES 'Full of twists, The House Guest spirals towards its dark conclusion, wrong footing the increasingly uneasy reader at every turn.' THE OBSERVER
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New. Glued binding. B-format paperback. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Glued binding. B-format paperback. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
The House Guest felt like a very typical thriller to start off with. There's a girl down on her luck, a creepy self-help group run by a mysterious woman and plenty of intrigue and confusion along the way. It' only told from one perspective and in one timeline which is quite against the grain from the usual thriller books being published at the moment. It's quite a slow build to start with -the action doesn't really get going until well over halfway and I couldn't actually guess where it was going until this point either which was a refreshing change! I didn't like the fact that most of the chapters finished with an ominous foreshadowing though (eg: 'if only I knew then what I knew now' etc). Although this can really help to keep a reader hooked into reading more, it felt very overdone here and it got tiring very quickly.
The twist reveal as to what was happening was shocking and took the book in a very different direction. I couldn't help thinking how many mistakes Kate made along the way though and I'm not sure this made her completely realistic. One or two bad decisions is fair enough but I don't think she made a single good decision after she went to France. I also really struggled with Della's motivations, although the author tries to spell them out towards the end. It just didn't feel real and I struggled to understand why she did what she did to get something she didn't really want in the first place (apologies for being vague - I'm trying to remain spoiler free!)
The ending confused me further. There's a sub-plot running through the book about Kate's lost sister and we get a bit of a tenuous link and things explained in the climax along with a shock reveal about who Della might be. However, this didn't really explain anything, in fact it sort of left the book open to a sequel to explain things further. I'm not really sure if this is what the author intended and I don't really think I'd be too interested in reading another book with the same characters - I just wished more had been explained in this book to make a satisfying ending.
Overall, The House Guest is a creepy thriller but with unrealistic characters and a unsatisfying ending, I was left a little disappointed. Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK - HarperFiction for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
