leah's Reviews > The Guest

the guest is a hazy and gripping novel following alex, a twenty-two year old woman who finds herself aimlessly drifting around long island after ending things with the older, wealthy man she’s spent the summer with. in typical emma cline fashion, the languid summer setting is written perfectly, and despite the slow pace and relative lack of plot, there is a vague sense of foreboding simmering beneath the surface which keeps you turning the pages.

i do think this would've sufficed as a short story, in fact i think it would've slotted well into emma cline's short story collection daddy which came out in 2020, but i am above all an emma cline stan so will read anything she writes, and i did have fun reading this.

thank you @vintagebooks for the advanced copy! the guest publishes in the uk on 18 may 2023.