| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 16 June 2022 |
| ISBN-10 | 1529330130 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1529330137 |
| Format | hardcover |
| Pages | 400 |
| Price | £ 22.00 |
The Other Guest
by
The perfect Italian resort, dripping with opulence, elegance – and a casual indifference to the tragic drowning of the owners’ daughter last year.
Review
Leah has avoided visiting the opulent, elegant Lake Garda resort that her sister and brother-in-law own. Perhaps she is selfish, but she could not face the pain of treading in the footsteps of her beloved but now dead niece. Until now.
Yet, to her absolute horror, it seems that she is the only one who hasn’t moved on. It is as if Amy has been forgotten, or at least any memory of her has been wrapped up, mothballed, and hidden in a dusty trunk in the family’s mental attics.
Amy’s younger sister, Olivia, is, like the dazzling backdrop, part of the resort in body and soul. And it reminds Leah of the sibling chasm between her and her sister, almost as much as that between Olivia and Amy, who desperately wanted out because she just couldn’t relate to the fake finger-nailed, diamond-encrusted guests.
In central England, Joanna is still reeling from the shock of being dumped by her boyfriend. Perhaps it is a rebound thing, because a thousand warning lights are flashing, but it doesn’t stop her from buzzing about the local barman. Until she finds out he is running from his past. And maybe, just maybe, her chance meeting with Mr Perfect was not quite what it initially seemed.
Leah and Joanna are strangers. They have nothing in common. But soon Lake Garda will throw them together if they survive the next few days, playing hide, seek and trying to stay one step ahead.
The Other Guest has its flaws, but the moment I cracked open the book and sank into my chair, it was ambrosia to my reading appetite.
Plain English, with a good sprinkling of sensory writing allowed me to immerse myself in the story, and I could almost feel the chilly water lapping on my naked toes. The milieu absolutely paints the saying that all that glistens is not 24 carat. There is darkness that intrudes, leaning against the beauty, threatening its destruction.
The characters are vibrant, three-dimensional, weighted down by almost unforgivable flaws. They are not necessarily likeable but they’re definitely relatable, even Joanna, with her blundering stupidity over a man she doesn’t know from the original sinner! The sibling differences twisted in and around the flaws are convincing and managed to worm at a little hole in my chest.
The ending is rather wishy-washy, even though it is believable. But I can forgive that, because other than that, Helen Cooper has cooked a satisfying three course meal.
Reviewed 17 December 2022 by Kati Barr-Taylor
Kati Barr-Taylor lives in her ‘cosy pigsty’ in the Dordogne. She satisfies her literary cravings by translating, writing, editing and reading.
