I sat down to write this review and didn’t know where to begin because I couldn’t remember what the story was about. That should give you some idea how this review will go.

A weekend retreat at Mitchell’s Inn, a cozy mountain lodge, is supposed to be the perfect getaway. But when the weather takes a turn for the worse and guests start turning up dead? That perfect getaway feeling goes away quickly.

I love a good mystery/thriller/suspense, but this wasn’t one. There was no impending sense of doom, no anticipation (unless you count me anticipating the end coming so I could be done), no butterflies in my stomach. Something was missing here, but it certainly wasn’t a cast of characters. There were so many that at times I had difficulty keeping track. Told from the varying characters points of view, I often found the transition awkward because the transitions are not designated with a nice heading. You have to read a sentence or two to figure out which character you’re back with. I HATE THAT! And the dialogue? There wasn’t much, simply a lot of the characters thoughts, which weren’t all that believable most of the time.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. A book may be lack luster throughout, but if you give me an excellent twist at the end, then I’m happy. Lapena didn’t deliver on that either. I closed the book with a feeling of that’s it?! to the big reveal. There is a smaller reveal that I found surprising, but it wasn’t enough to save this book.

After enjoying the two previous novels by Lapena, An Unwanted Guest left no lasting impression on me and was ultimately a disappointment. However, that won’t stop me from giving her next book a try. We can’t love every book an author writes, right?

My thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

 

Rating: 2 stars

Reviewer: Jennifer

Title: An Unwanted Guest

Author: Shari Lapena

Release Date: August 7, 2018

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