It’s the last days of summer on Long Island, and Alex is alone with a bag of clothes, a water damaged phone, and no place to stay. Determined not to be sent back to the city where she’s burned all her bridges, Alex decides to out wait out the six aimless days until Simon’s Labor Day party—her absolute last chance to get back in his good graces—by using her charms and talent for reading people to keep herself afloat.

The Guest is tense, measured, and morbidly gratifying in the ways Alex easily wins people over and just as easily cuts them loose.

For more quick stats and observations, I wanted to include a Storygraph-Style Q+A, with a little more added detail:

• Mood? Tense, Mysterious, Reflective.
• Pace? Fast. I think it’s deceptively slow-to-medium paced because there are many moments where Alex languishes in comfort and safety, but these moments are very fleeting. Alex is mostly never in the same place for more than two or three chapters, and the closer she gets to Simon’s party, the more mistakes she makes.
• Plot- or character-driven? Character. Alex’s desire and desperation to stay in Long Island is the driving force of the novel, and the question of if she can actually do it makes this a really focused, fun read.
• Strong character development? No. Alex is very memorable because she does the same things over again and hopes for different results up until the very end. Those who want tragic origin stories and definitive conclusions will not be satisfied with how everything pans out, but it’s kind of delightful to see the many ways Alex can crash and burn.
• Loveable Characters? No. There are definitely characters I feel sorry for and characters that are horrible, but no one feels truly loveable or “good.”
• Flaws of the characters the main focus? Yes, absolutely. While Alex herself is very flawed, it’s also intriguing to read about the flaws she sees in the supporting characters.
• My rating? 4.5⭐️ out of 5