The vacation house wasn’t flashy—it was disturbingly perfect. Muted wood, glass, and stone gleamed with quiet elegance, a reminder of lives Karin and Kai could never quite measure up to.
At first, there was nothing to mock, nothing to laugh at—only the faint, prickling awareness that they were out of place.
Reluctantly, they accept the offer to borrow the luxurious house by the Oslofjord. What should have been a brief escape quickly becomes a game of appearances. When they meet the neighbors, a celebrated writer couple, Karin tells a small white lie — and one fib soon multiplies into another. Trapped in a spiral of polite deception and subtle social maneuvering, Karin and Kai must navigate the thin line between charm, ambition, and embarrassment, all while the house watches silently.
It’s a well-crafted examination of the pressure to succeed and what success actually entails. … Ravatn cleverly capitalises on our innate self-doubt that our accomplishments are less than they appear. … The Guests is a thought-provoking read, and it’s possible that, like Karin’s life story, this is a story about the journey to something bigger, if not the finished product.
Nordic Watchlist, UK
Ravatn takes situation comedy to a whole other level. … And even if I believe that the truth will prevail, the lie is much more fun. The Guests made me laugh out loud.
Bok 365, Norway
… extremely witty and clever, both thought out and executed. The story, the characters, the time lapses, everything fits perfectly.
Adresseavisen
Hilarious and spine-tingeling about human frailty.
Dagbladet
There’s prime Nordic noir from Agnes Ravatn, whose The Guests boasts a satisfying vein of psychological intensity. The beleaguered Karin is a strongly drawn character, and this is an economically written study of burgeoning paranoia.
Financial Times, UK
