The Guest Room

A Novel

By: Chris Bohjalian

Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò, Grace Experience

From the New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls comes the spellbinding tale of a party gone horribly wrong: two men lie dead in a suburban living room, two women are on the run from police, and a marriage is ripping apart at the seams.

When Kristin Chapman agrees to let her husband, Richard, host his brother’s bachelor party, she expects a certain amount of debauchery. She brings their young daughter to Manhattan for the evening, leaving her Westchester home to the men and their hired entertainment. What she does not expect is this: bacchanalian drunkenness, her husband sharing a dangerously intimate moment in the guest room, and two women stabbing and killing their Russian bodyguards before driving off into the night.

In the aftermath, Kristin and Richard’s life rapidly spirals into nightmare. The police throw them out of their home, now a crime scene, Richard’s investment banking firm puts him on indefinite leave, and Kristin is unsure if she can forgive her husband for the moment he shared with a dark-haired girl in the guest room. But the dark-haired girl, Alexandra, faces a much graver danger. In one breathless, violent night, she is free, running to escape the police who will arrest her and the gangsters who will kill her in a heartbeat. A captivating, chilling story about shame and scandal, The Guest Room is a riveting novel from one of our greatest storytellers.

Blah, Blah, Blah

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Just an average story. I am sorry to have, again wasted my money. I rely on all audible land
reviews. I have listened to so many audio books that average just doesnt hold my attention anymore. The premise promised a great story. Again, average, blah, blah, blah. Couldnt get me to care about the charactors even though they had a sad story.

Mesmerizing

I really enjoyed this book. There is a great bond you form with the characters.

Harrowing Tale of Human Trafficking

A bachelor party goes awry when the girls hired to "entertain" the men turn on their body guards, kill them, and go on the run. Told from several points of view, most importantly from the first person perspective of one of the girls, The Guest Room primarily examines human trafficking, but also has a lot to say about the privileged life of the partygoers and their families.

I chose to listen to this book after seeing the HBO Max series The Flight Attendant, based on a different novel by Chris Bohjalian. That seems to be a love it or hate it series, and some on the hate it side hated it because they said it wasn't as good as the book. Shortly thereafter, this Bohjalian title appeared in an Audible sale, so I decided to give him a try.

This story is, like The Flight Attendant, catalyzed by a graphic bloody murder that forces its characters to confront their past while dealing with a present that has been completely upended. But this story is less complicated, straight ahead, totally reality-based (no one talks to dead people). In short, it's good, but not great.

Maybe it would have come across better if the best part of the book -- the first person narration of the girl -- had been handled better. What we have is an attempt at a Russian accent, but only a half-hearted attempt. They should have gone all in on the accent or done away with it completely. What we're left with was at first annoying, threatening to ruin the book. But I did get used to it, and her powerful story is more important than the bad accent.

Yes, you'll like this one.

A diffrent story line in a good mystery/thriller.
Not always what I expected ; definitely kept me eager to get back to the novel. I recommend a good listen.

Great story and narration.

I loved how they nailed the accent. the story line was great. Worth a listen.