An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

Shari Lapena is just oh so wonderful, I was beyond myself when I got a copy of her latest book, An Unwanted Guest.

A huge thanks to Pamela Dorman Books and Viking Books for the book in exchange for my honest review.

Come to Mitchell’s Inn, where there are leather club chairs by the fireplace, a bar made entirely out of ice, old fancy wood paneling, a good company. Or so we assume? A large snow storm has hit Mitchell Inn and snowed in half the staff and the guests. They all get acquainted with one another during cocktail hour and converse over dinner. Every one eventually heads to bed, with not a trace of complaints when the next day, they awake to find a guest, the most gorgeous of them all, dead at the bottom of the staircase. This story takes place in three days where we learn more truth behind these guests and what truly happened. If you loved Clue, you’ll devour this one.

I adored this! I could not stop reading! Ironically enough, I read Lapena’s A Stranger In The House while rocking my newborn to sleep, and this while rocking that same child, now a teething one year old, to sleep. I was upset when she woke to say the least. It’s a fast paced read that captures your attention at each beckoning hour of their weekend snowed-in. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but Shari does an amazing job sharing such intricate details about their life where you won’t ever get lost. I love how the names are bolded every once in awhile when she switches focus of the story (that may just be in the advanced reader’s copy, but I hope it stays that way). It keeps you engaged with who’s who and what’s going on. I’m a super huge fan of the movie and board game Clue, so I completely and utterly bought in to this storyline and loved every minute of it. I can’t wait to read it again!

5/5 Stars