The Perfect Guests

October 19, 2020
This neatly plotted if somewhat credulity-stretching psychological thriller from Rous (The Au Pair) opens in 1988 at Norfolk, England’s Raven Hall, where 14-year-old Beth Soames is beginning a foster placement with Markus Meyer and Leonora Averell as companion for their curiously isolated daughter, Nina, also 14, who is homeschooled and forbidden to venture into the local village. Jump forward 31 years to London, where actor Sadie Langton is hired to play a guest at a glamorous murder mystery weekend being staged at a historic mansion. A subsequent flashback finds an unidentified young woman sneaking onto the Raven Hall grounds, seething over having what she regards as her birthright stolen. Rous skillfully juggles the trio of plotlines, maximizing suspense as to how they eventually collide. As seductive but secretly treacherous as Raven Hall itself, this novel delivers devour-in-a-day diversion, even if some revelations end up as contrived as the entertainment for which Sadie has been hired. Rous has upped her game with this one. Agent: Rebecca Ritchie, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

November 1, 2020
Rous' latest (after The Au Pair, 2019) takes the form of a literary jigsaw puzzle. Orphaned Beth Soames is 14 in 1988 when she comes to live at Raven Hall, an old manor house in the remote East Anglian fens, ostensibly to be a friend to Nina, the daughter of the home's owners. Unfortunately, Beth and Nina are like chalk and cheese from the start, and it turns out that Nina's parents have a far more sinister plan for Beth, being urgently in need of a pawn in a dangerous game. Flash-forward to 2019 and meet Sadie Langton, a struggling actress fresh from failing yet another audition who is offered a convenient gig at a weekend mystery event. Sadie arrives--at an old manor house in the remote East Anglian fens--and finds herself swept away into a glamorous night that slowly dissolves into shocking revelations and murderous intentions. The narrative moves back and forth in time between the principal female characters, although Nina is represented only through the voices of others. The reader must carefully shuffle the puzzle pieces into a perfect fit until the very end and one more visit to Raven Hall, when the entire board is undone. This is a party suspense fans are advised to crash.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 19, 2021

In 1988, after 14-year-old Beth Soames is orphaned and her aunt is unable to take care of her, she's sent temporarily to Raven Hall, an old country house in the fens of England. Arrangements have been made for Beth to be a companion for the homeschooled, isolated daughter of the house, Nina. Similar in age and interests, Nina and Beth become like sisters. Beth grows to like the house and the family, but she is always aware that Nina could have her sent away at any time. Some strange things happen while she is staying there, scary things, but being a guest, and a child, Beth is afraid to question what she thinks she sees. Then tragedy strikes. Alternately, Sadie is a struggling actress in 2019, settling her mother's affairs while trying to find work. She is invited to participate in a game, an acting job, a murder mystery weekend. It pays well, so she accepts. The job takes place in an old country house in the fens of England, where strange things begin to happen... VERDICT Rous's second novel (after The Au Pair) has surprises and twists that mystery fans will love, and parallel intrigues that will draw romance fans.--Elizabeth Masterson, Mecklenburg Cty. Jail Lib., Charlotte, NC

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.