Although I liked it it didn’t deliver everything it promised. First of all, why is the title The Guest Book when said guest book plays such a small part in the whole plot? Halfway through the story stalled a bit. Things didn’t seem to go anywhere and one of the things I dislike most in this kind of stories started happening. Why does the husband always trust more the opinion of strangers than that of his own wife?

Em has no idea who Laila is, or that she has been watching her and her teenage sons and husband so intently. The womanizing asshole’s offense was some groping but someone dies over it and then a massive coverup ensues? I mean, not that I am wishing someone got the full monty from this loser but come on.This is one of those books that you start to read and right from the outset it becomes completely addictive.' Sandberg, Bryn Elise (2017-01-14). "Greg Garcia's TBS Comedy 'The Guest Book' Sets Cast". Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2017-05-06. This is a novel about white guilt, and it does so many things right and cares about so many of the right things that I almost—but not quite—am willing to love it. The blot upon its freshly starched canvas is of such a nature, however, that it does more than just prevent me from loving the book; it renders it in its entirety so deeply problematic that I’m not entirely sure how to feel about it—at all.

Such a tragedy might shatter other families, but the Miltons are not other families. Ogden and Kitty Milton are the union of America’s bluest bloodlines, aristocrats who have provided a model of decorum to a grateful nation since they arrived on the Mayflower. (“Always remember you are a Milton,” a young scion is advised. “Not a Lowell.”) Ogden guides the family’s Wall Street firm with wisdom and discretion, just as Kitty manages their home. Laila thinks she knows the truth of what happened. But in telling Em what she's seen, she stands to lose everything she holds dear. The beach-house owner surprises his fiancee with a wedding; old friends visit looking for Eddie; Vivian and Bodhi have a lot more in common than they realized.Sinister and beautifully atmospheric, The Other Guest lures you with the promise of a luxury island before revealing its darker, claustrophobic side. I loved it.”– L V Matthews, author of The Twins As soon as they arrive Grace is already unhappy with the gloomy brooding atmosphere of the place and the owners are not helping. They seem somehow wooden and unwelcoming. Charles is loving it though as he remembers Pamela and Michael Jeffrey fondly. Soon, Grace is hearing and seeing things and things go bump in the night in an effort to ramp up the creepiness. It didn’t work for me. Not much actually happened other than a lot of contrived creepiness. Grace seems haunted and Charles is an odd one, he comes across as a bit of a cipher. The Jeffreys are made out to be creepy and the house haunted. And of course the landline is down and the cell phone tower is too so there not only trapped in the town but incommunicado. Although the story leaves us with a hint of hope, it is a shy, tentative first step. Mirrors don’t lie- looking into one, seeing the dark corners of our nation’s past, and our own personal histories exposed, is neither easy, nor kind. Each chapter is headed by the name of a character in the book and covers a part of the story that applies specifically to that character. It is not an unknown feature, and is normally one which I dislike, as the reader has to reassemble the character’s place in the story before they can begin to read on. But it’s a small niggle amid a small hiatus, which happily does not diminish the clever plot of this fascinating novel. “Extremely addictive”

The story develops slowly as we see how these random lives get interconnected and the author has developed the plot excellently though, I wonder if she left the twisty surprise a little too late. I do love a slow burn mystery, but here at most times in the story, the thrill of the chase or a big reveal waiting to be unraveled never materializes, so in effect, the reading was easy but I never did get engaged into the plot.Sarah Blake’s writing is beautiful. Her prose is elegant, powerful, poignant, and almost hypnotic. The characterizations and dialogue are so incredibly vivid and devastatingly realistic. The trappings of wealth, the narrow- mindedness of class distinctions, the half- lived lives, the progression and changes of the times unfolding through the years, stripping away decades of racism and prejudice is mesmerizing.