This book was a slow burn for me. I didn’t love it, but it in the end, it was a decent thriller. I’m not sure if I found that characters too annoying to give the book a fair chance; I spent a lot of it shaking my head and criticizing their decisions. I’ve heard wonderful things about the author, so I am going to give his other books a try.


Adam and Ruth, a British couple, agree to housesit in New York for a couple they meet on a cruise. During their sitting, a stranger by the name of Eden shows up and says she is a friend of the homeowner. They told her she could stay at their place whenever she was in the area. Against what seems to be common sense, they invite Eden to stay with them. Cue creepy music…. This is when things go sideways.

I really enjoyed this book. Not like anything I've read before in terms of the actual story which was refreshing. Keeps you guessing with who is linked to who and how. I also really liked how the book ended. Was it a cliff hanger, or wasnt it!? Who knows! I will be looking for more Mark Edwards books to read following on from this and would definitely recommend.

Wow what a book, I have just read this as an ARC. It is the best I have read in this genre. The way it's written is so smooth and flowing. Some of the characters you like turn out to be awful people and the some of the characters you don't like turn out to be heroes. It's brilliant. There are twist and turns in every chapter. One minute I'm smiling the next I gasp with shock at the next twist that I in no way saw coming.
Fantastic book and I will definitely be reading another of Marks books.

I absolutely LOVE Mark Edwards' books!!! He has such a knack for bringing characters to life and gaining a reader's attention immediately. I was constantly trying to guess what was going to happen next but was consistently wrong. Overall, a great read!!

Fantastic! Absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good psychological thriller.
This book is not what you think it’s going to be, you think you know.....then it blows you out of the water and sets you on a different path completely! Very fast paced, excellent array of characters and it keeps you questioning to the end. This was a fast read as I was gripped and struggled to put it down!
A 5⭐️ rating from me and please add it to your reading pile as you won’t regret it!!

I loved this book, only the 2nd I have read from this Author and it won't be my last!

The two main characters Adam & Ruth house sit in New York for friends who they met on a cruise. A stranger appears at the door soaked and looking for the owners. Adam & Ruth invite her in. And that's where the drama starts!

The characters are written into the story in a well believed manner, you can sympathise with the individual situations they all having going on in their lives.

As you get deeper into the book there seems to be a twist every chapter that left me thinking surely not! No way! But in a good way! I would never have expected the book to turn out the way it did, it was fast paced and surprising, everything this genre should be.

Well done Mark! Looking forward to the next one!

This was the first Mark Edwards book I have read, but it certainly won’t be the last. It was fast paced and intriguing throughout. A British couple meet an American couple on a cruise. The American couple will be going away to some sort of retreat and are looking for a couple to look after their home. In steps British couple Adam and Ruth who are delighted to look after a fabulous house in a trendy area while Ruth starts her acting stint on Broadway.

Adam is a writer and (as expected from a writer) he becomes the only infallible character in the book. One night a girl called Eve knocks at the door, hoping to be greeted by the owners who have invited her to stay there anytime at all (according to Eve). Finding out they are away, she starts to leave, only to be encouraged by Adam who invites her to stay.

One fateful evening when they are partying on Tequila, Ruth and Eve disappear, leaving Adam with the worst hangover of his life. So starts a journey into the unknown for Adam as he meets characters and situations far beyond his experiences to date.

The book is a fast read and difficult to put down once started. The end of the book is expected in one way as you hope for a positive ending, and surprising in others. It’s an excellent read, very satisfying.

Adam and Ruth, a couple from England, have landed on their feet. After meeting a wealthy couple they’ve been invited to house sit for them whilst they need a place to stay in New York. During the last week of their stay a captivating stranger appears on their doorstep – a friend of the house owners, why wouldn’t they invite her in and let her stay, too?

However, all is not what it seems, and this story follows the young couple, who quickly learn you shouldn’t always trust strangers. But, in this day and age, who can you trust?

I’m glad I took a leap of faith with this book, as I enjoyed it more than The Magpies. Whilst that did have a fantastic story, and Edwards clearly has a way of creating a huge amount of tension (not to mention a lot of creepiness), this was infinitely better.

The characters were believable, and I admire the way the main character of Adam wasn’t some big, hulking alpha-male. In fact, he was quite pathetic and wimpy, and at times I wanted him to grow a backbone and stop being so sad, but it worked.

The story was well-written and pacey, with the right amount of twists and turns to have you second-guessing yourself throughout. However, I felt the end was just a little too rushed. I know it’s hard to come to a nice gradual stop, but it felt like there were only so many pages he could dedicate to the story, so, quick, here’s a resolution. It’s a shame, and the reason I can’t give it a five stars.

The House Guest By Mark Edwards.

Wow, this book is a rollercoaster ride, and I was not expecting it at all! As a huge fan of Marks books I was delighted to get my hands on this book. I read it in two days, only putting it down when I had to do important life stuff!
I loved the New York setting for this book, it really added to this story.
I liked the characters, and I was second guessing them all for the whole story. I enjoyed the storyline, it was different to anything I've read previously, with a great thriller vibe.
A good solid 5 star read.

I usually love Mark Edwards and I was really looking forward to reading this . It started off really well , fast paced and gripping as usual . Adam & Ruth are housesitting for a wealthy couple that they met on a cruise , one night during a rainstorm Eden knocks on the door , says she is a friend of the owners and had their permission to stay any time . All goes well until they all get drunk , Adam wakes up and both Ruth and Eden are missing . When Mona and Jack return they claim to not know Eden and the weird cranks up a notch . Who is the stranger watching Jack , do Mona and Jack really have no idea who Eden is ? The last third of the book was a bit of a let down for me , I found it all a bit over dramatic and predictable . Still an enjoyable read though !!

Mark Edwards’ books are always very easy, escapist reads.

Ruth - an actress on the cusp of success - and Adam - an aspiring writer - are house sitting in New York for a couple they met on a cruise. When a young woman, Eden, turns up claiming to be a friend of the owners of the house and persuades them to let her stay, it’s not much of a spoiler to say that things quickly get a bit weird. Given the title and the setup, I don’t think any reader would be at all surprised to learn that Eden is not exactly who she claims to be. However, where it goes from there is a bit harder to predict, as both Ruth and Eden go missing...

Although the plot sounded promising - I love a mysterious cult - it didn’t totally grab me. I didn’t really engage with Adam or Ruth (the best character was Wanda, who was awesome - I’d have happily read a whole book about her). The story is mainly told from Adam’s viewpoint, as he tries to find out what’s happened to his girlfriend, and Adam just isn’t that interesting. The cult itself isn’t, either. Although a couple of characters from previous books did make brief appearances - Mark Edwards seems to like doing that, and it’s fun to spot.

It’s an enjoyable enough read, although the plot becomes increasingly preposterous. Mark Edwards does have a lot of devoted readers (in an endnote to the book, he suggests jokingly that they should form a cult, and honestly it doesn’t sound that far-fetched) and I’m sure this book will be enjoyed by many. I don’t think it’s his best, though.

This review will go live on the link below on 20 May:

Hi and welcome to my review of The House Guest!

There I was, a Tuesday night after a horrid day at work, feeling drained, wanting to read to take my mind off things but the book I’d planned on reading suddenly didn’t interest me anymore, and the one I picked instead couldn’t hold my attention for longer than a page or two. Peering at my physical TBR shelf, scrolling through my e-reader, no title jumped out, and I felt more drained by the minute. And then I remembered: I had just been approved on NetGalley to read Mark Edward’s latest novel, and I thought: if Mark can’t snap me out of it, no one can!

So I started reading The House Guest and it did exactly what I’d hoped it would: it drew me in and made me forget about everything and everyone, until I looked up and noticed that I had devoured a third of the book in what felt like one single breath. And I was feeling a lot less drained and a lot less sad to boot. Such is the magic of books, especially those written by your favourite authors, your auto-buy authors, the ones whose minds might work in scary ways, but who know how to glue you to their pages regardless of your state of mind at the time, and Mark Edwards is definitely one of those authors for me.

The House Guest is set in New York City, one of my favourite cities in the world and one I have very fond memories of, and Mark’s vivid writing transported me right back there. I’m hesitant to tell you more about the story than what’s in the blurb, as I feel it’s been deliberately kept vague, and I loved the journey The House Guest took me on, finding out what was going on, which turned out to be a plot that I hadn’t expected at all and that I enjoyed tremendously, probably to a greater extent because it caught me by surprise as much as it did. So I won’t ruin that experience for you, I’m just going to tell you that if your interest is piqued, you should go ahead and pick up a copy of The House Guest!

The House Guest is a solid psychological thriller with a highly original and intriguing plot, thrilling action scenes and interesting and well-rounded characters (some likeable, some a lot less likeable). Highly recommended to all thriller fans!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC! All opinions are my own.

The first half of The House Guests reminded me of how I felt when I read The Magpies, one of my favourite books. It drew me in from the first page and I couldn’t put it down. Then it changed direction and although I still devoured it as I wanted to know what happened, I didn’t feel the same excitement. Overall a very good story, I think maybe it was the subject matter of the second half that I didn’t enjoy..
Definitely worth a read. 5 stars for the first half and 3 for the second.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I look forward to reading more from this author.

My third Mark Edwards book and just as grippinh and unputdownable as the other two. Ruth and Adam are capulated into a suitation where it's impossible to know who to trust. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who reads this review but I loved the ending as, it leaves you not knowing what could happen. I would like to thank the publishers and netgalley for letting me have the book to review and the opinions expressed are entirely my own views and are completely unbiased

I appreciated getting an advanced copy as I’d never read a book by this author before. This was a mystery/thriller that kept my attention throughout and had a twist somewhere around the middle that I didn’t see coming!

After having read and absolutely loved Here to Stay, I was immediately ready for this book. While I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, once the story showed it's true direction, it became a little too far fetched and the more disinterested I became. I did finish it but I really did not enjoy the story.

Another great Mark Edwards creepy, but very satisfying thriller. Are we just too trusting of people when we are in our safe environment, when people tell us things we want to hear ? Can you always tell when people are lying to you? Adam and Ruth , boyfriend and girlfriend meet a lovely older couple , Jack and Mona ,on a cruise. They befriend them and share details of their lives. They become friends and later ask Adam and Ruth to housesit for them while they are on vacation. While housesitting a stranger rings the doorbell . It is raining and this sopping wet stranger asks where the owners are and says she’s a friend of theirs . She says they told her she could stay there if she was in the area. She said things about Jack and Mona that made Adam and Ruth think she really did know the house owners. They felt guilty because she was dripping wet and invited her in. Somehow she then became “the houseguest” and things slowly got strange and creepy and the twists and turns kept me guessing and wondering how this could unravel! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

Ruth and Adam, a British couple consisting of an upcoming actress and a writer, meet another couple on a cruise named Jack and Mona. They instantly click, and agree to house sit for their new friends in New York. Ruth is supposed to star in a big Broadway play, so the opportunity is perfect for the young couple.

A few days before the homeowners return, a woman named Eden shows up on the doorstep. She claims she is a friend of Jack and Mona's. Eden convinces them that Jack and Mona told her she could crash at their place whenever she came to New York. But soon, Jack realizes they made a grave mistake by inviting her in.

I've read several other books from Mark Edwards before and all truly enjoyed them. He knows how to set the stage for his characters, and makes them seem real. Sadly, this book just wasn't all that great. Let me say that the premise for this book was really good, and I was expecting a lot. Yet, a lot of it felt so unrealistic that it was almost ridiculous.

Let's be honest, would you really let a stranger stay in the house you're only house sitting? In our day and age of social media, you can pretty much find out everything about some people. So, it's not too far fetched, that a young woman like Eden can find that information, and then pretend to be someone else. Also, the way Ruth reacted to Eden and the things she said to Adam about her in the beginning are very unbelievable. I can't give too many examples, because I don't want to give the plot away.

I will give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for the arc Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK.

I have read Here to Stay by this author and have heard of The Magpies series by him also(tho it's on my ever growing TBR list) so I was hopefully that this one would be a great thriller.

A couple, Adam and Ruth, an actress and a writer in Williamsburg, home sitting for friends they’ve met on the cruise. Adam is a struggling writer who hasn't accomplish his dreams, as Ruth climbs the careers after her indie movie unexpected success.

As they house sit Jack and Mona's house, a young woman named Eden appears at their door step, soaking wet, insisting that she is friend of the couple, adding she is always staying at their place when she is in New York. Without second guessing the couple believes her story and welcome her in. She seems friendly, talkative, respecting their boundaries. Adam is so stressed out after getting rejected several times for his writing gigs, he befriends her going to the swimming and hanging out at the pubs.

The day the home owners are set to arrive back, Adam, Ruth and Eden had a tequila shot party going wild ending with dancing in the rain. The next day Adam realizes Eden disappeared and Ruth is also nowhere to be seen, the worst part is as soon as Jack and Mona come back, they insist that they don’t know anyone named Eden. They start to think Adam is lying about Eden and he is involved of disappearance of his own girlfriend.

I recieved this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The House Guest starts out pretty promising. Eden shows up to the house Adam and Ruth are house sitting and says she knows the owners. They invite her to stay and then things go sideways. The story in this book is “ripped from the headlines” and it’s news I had a lot of interest in when it came out. Unfortunately this book just didn’t do it for me. It was constantly trying to one up itself for the next action packed twist and ended up being kind of silly. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the book.