WHATEVER THE COST…
Jamie and Victoria are expecting their first baby.
With a few weeks to go, they head off for a final weekend break in a remote part of the North Pennines. The small and peaceful guesthouse is the ideal location to unwind together before becoming parents. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Barry and Fiona, the older couple who run the guesthouse. They cook them dinner and show them to their room before retreating to bed themselves.
The next morning, Jamie and Victoria wake to find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen. All the doors are locked. Both their mobile phones and car keys have disappeared. Even though it’s a few weeks early, Victoria knows the contractions are starting.
The baby is coming, and there’s no way out.
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THE GUEST HOUSE is a taut, incredibly tense psychological thriller which cleverly builds suspense by releasing little bits of information to the reader through the first person narratives of Jamie and Victoria, the expectant couple who visit the titular guest house for some relaxation prior to the birth of their first child. I listened to the the audiobook version of the novel, read expertly by the narrators, primarily playing Jamie and Victoria. And I was completely drawn in from the start.
The narration alternates between the couple, and between THEN, at the guest house, and NOW, several weeks later. It is clear that something terrible happened during the couple’s getaway; Victoria is no longer pregnant, but there is no baby. It also becomes increasingly clear that something is very wrong in the relationship. Jamie, the more sympathetic of the two, and not just because of his cerebral palsy, is haunted by whatever happened at the guest house. Victoria seems certain that, if the truth was to come out, she would be in serious trouble because of something she did.
The couple’s meeting with their hosts is strange right from the off. Barry and Fiona are an odd couple. There is a really creepy atmosphere and Robin Morgan-Bentley’s writing in these scenes reminds me of something out of a John Wyndham novel, or of one of the better Hammer Horror movies; there is something very English and very wrong; we are not sure exactly why but there is something very disquieting about the house and the hosts.
It would be unfair to give anything away beyond the set up. There is a lot more happening than we might originally think and Morgan-Bentley keeps us guessing throughout, teasing plot points and dropping little pieces of information through Victoria’s and Jamie’s accounts, and they often don’t fully tally with each other. It is quite a way into the novel, through several chapters of anxious, hair-standing-on-the-back-of-the-neck tension, before the reader begins to suspect what is actually going on. And, even then, Morgan-Bentley ramps things up even further with unexpected twists.
THE GUEST HOUSE is a pleasure to read, or to listen to. An uneasy, uncomfortable pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless. Thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers, @Tr4cyF3nt0n, @orionbooks and, of course, the author, @rmorganbentley for the opportunity to experience THE GUEST HOUSE.
About Robin Morgan-Bentley
Robin Morgan-Bentley was born and grew up in London. After studying Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University, he went on to work for Google before moving to Audible, where he has been working since 2014.
His debut thriller, The Wreckage, was nominated for the CWA Dagger John Creasey New Blood Award, the CrimeFest Specsavers Debut Crime Award and Capital Crime's Debut Book of the Year Award.
Robin lives in Buckinghamshire with his husband and son.
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