They weren’t invited. But they refuse to leave…

Tamsin is being haunted by unwelcome visitors in her house she calls The Guests. 

Nobody knows about their presence but her. After confiding in her husband, he left, and she won’t make that mistake again.

Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Bloodhound

But now her relationship with her teenage daughter Summer is starting to suffer.

As each day passes, the presence of The Guests becomes harder to bear. They have infected her life and Tamsin needs help.

But just what do they want from her?

Will she be able to face the disturbing truth and banish The Guests, or is she destined to be haunted forever?

My Review

If I said I found the ending hilarious, you’d think I was really weird. I actually told my son about it and he laughed and said ‘I get it.’ However, the opening chapter with the baby crying at the end of the bed was heartbreaking and not one bit funny.

The book was nothing like I expected. The ‘Guests’ are not real in the sense that they are actual living flesh and blood. They haunt Tamsin, but they are not ghosts either. There are three of them and she knows they want something from her, but she has no idea what it is. She knows who they are, but not why they won’t leave her alone. Her answer is to drink every night and get totally smashed.

Tamsin’s husband Alex left her when she tried to tell him about the ‘Guests’. He just thought she’d gone bonkers and walked out, leaving her and teenage daughter Summer to get on with it.

In the meantime, we know that Tamsin’s dad was a really horrible person. He exercised such a degree of control over her mother that they both breathed a sigh of relief when he died. Her sister Hetty is disabled and he found her irritating and embarrassing. He also taunted Tamsin and made her feel responsible for his ‘unhappiness’. Now Alex has made her feel that she is entirely responsible for him leaving. She can’t cope with the guilt.

Tamsin has had enough of being drunk all the time, and wants to be a good mum to Summer, so she visits a psychiatrist called Dr McCabe. He of the colourful socks. He gradually helps her to unpick the truth about her deeply hidden past, and the revelations are shocking. In spite of all this, I still found humour in the outcome. It’s brilliantly written, suspenseful and engaging. I loved it.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheGuests blog tour.

About the Author

Charlotte Stevenson is an author born and raised in North West Cumbria. Charlotte studied Medicine in Scotland and continues to work part-time as a doctor. She writes dark, twisty psychological thrillers with elements of psychological horror. She is fascinated by the complexity of human behaviour and the dark depths of the mind. The Serial Killer’s Son was her first novel.

Charlotte now resides in Greater Manchester with her husband, three wonderful children and two rambunctious dogs. When not writing or working, Charlotte is a voracious consumer of audiobooks and has an ever-expanding TBR pile that she has no desire to control. Follow and connect with Charlotte Stevenson on instagram @stevenson_charlotte

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