THE GUESTS (A Psychological Thriller) by Adriane Leigh -a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 19 , 2024

Six guests are invited to paradise. Some of them will die.

Ryleigh is a struggling artist, still trying to catch her break. Her new best friend, Kerrigan, offers her a once in a lifetime opportunity — a week on her family’s private island on Lake Michigan.

She doesn’t belong here. She doesn’t know these people at all.

Kerrigan is the housewife with the perfect life. She has a loving husband and a glamorous city apartment.

Her husband hates her. Their marriage is a sham.

Cole is a local. He’s there to make sure the guests have everything they want.

After last summer, this is his final chance. He can’t afford any distractions.

Each guest has their own villa. There are staff on-call twenty-four hours a day — a masseuse, chefs to make dinner every night, waiters pouring endless champagne. It’s going to be perfect.

But a violent storm looms on the horizon. There’s no way off the island.

Then one of the guests disappears. And they won’t be the last . . .

•••••

REVIEW: THE GUESTS by Adriane Leigh is a contemporary, adult, stand alone psychological thriller that follows a group of friends and acquaintances in the aftermath of the reading of a will of Henry Lange on Stonecliffe Island.

Told from five first person perspectives THE GUESTS focuses on the fall-out of secrets, lies and greed. Decades earlier, four friends, including Henry Lange, pooled their money and bought Stonecliffe Island, a small island on Lake Michigan but the death of Henry Lange, the last surviving original investor, sees the island ownership transferred to family members, friends and the embroiled island caretaker but all is not as it appears to be when two of their own go missing, and the finger of guilt is pointed to everyone in attendance. Kip Lange, his wife Kerrigan and Mika are the descendants of the original owners but six people arrive (Kip and Kerrigan, Kerrigan’s friend artist Ryleigh Halstrom and her best friend writer Daniel, Mika and her husband Stavros). Inevitably nine people are involved including caretaker Cole Mayer, Henry’s best friend Jon Caruso, and Jon’s daughter Lyra, and in the end, ownership of the island comes at a cost.

The characters are eclectic; their actions are questionable; everyone is unlikeable, unredeemable and suspect. Cole Mayer, the island caretaker is caught in a downward spiral not of his making, when a violent storm becomes the catalyst and backdrop for murder placing Cole in the middle of something out of his control. Kip and Kerrigan’s marriage is imploding; Ryleigh and her friend Daniel’s relationship is faltering, then Kerrigan and Mika go missing.

Adriane Leigh pulls the reader into a dark, dramatic and thought-provoking story of who and why. From the outset, secrets and lies lead to infidelity ; jealousy and greed threaten any peaceful transition of ownership; murdered and missing heirs make for real crime fodder; and the breakdown of marriages, friendships and family all culminate in finger pointing, wrongful accusations, death and final karma.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy