The Perfect Guests Review

"The Perfect Guests" by Emma Rous is a mystery thriller set in two time periods. In 1988 Beth Soannes is an orphan left at the isolated Raven Hall by her aunt to stay with the Averell family, quickly forming a friendship with their prickly daughter. In 2019 struggling actress Sadie Langdon is offered a job pretending to be a guest at a murder mystery in a recently reopened estate. But as day turns to night and guests start disappearing and acting strangely, the remaining guests realize something strange is going on...

General Impressions

This was a very straightforward tropey "strangers with a secret stuck in a mansion" story but the characters and stories inside it were original and easily drew the reader in, particularly when it came to Beth's chapters, which were my absolute favourites.

Raven Hall and the Anglian fens were a big part of the book and liked not only the originality of the setting but how much the author knew about it and how that bled into the story. At the end of the book, there is even a small note with more information about the fens that I really enjoyed learning about.

I liked the writing and kept getting surprised by the plot and plot twists after plot twists, particularly as the ending neared. The ending itself was jaw-dropping and I would love to see this adapted.

Conclusions

If you are looking for a quick thriller, filled with discussions about class, family, gender, and plenty of secrets, this will be a couple of afternoons well spent.

Thanks to Piatkus and Little Brown Books for sending me this proof.

Rating: 3.3/5