The Dinner Guest by B. P. Walter (2021) Review

Some recipes are great until you add an ingredient on a whim everything goes sour.

I’m so excited The Dinner Guest’s release date is today!!!

The Dinner Guest grabs you from the first page – How can you turn away from a book that starts with a murder? The short answer is you cannot.

On the first chapter we are introduced to Rachel, who’s calling 999, knife in hand and confessing to the murder of Matthew. We also meet Charlie, Matthew’s husband, and their son, Titus. Everyone is shaken by the events.

Not long after the readers are teased to wonder if Rachel had indeed killed Matthew and wonder why shed confess if she had not! We get the full picture through the POVs of Charlie and Rachel from both the time leading up to the murder and the events following the murder.

The Dinner Guest was such a good thriller, it’s impossible not to keep reading. I was emotionally invested in the lives of the characters as much as I was in the mystery. Walter did an amazing job in developing characters. He also was a master in pacing this book, he slowed down when he needed to and gave us action when necessary.

I am a cis female, but I simply adored how he centered this book around a male couple and their son. I feel that their characters were amazing, and their relationship felt real. It read like an author being respectful, not at all like an author trying to be “woke”.

I also have to say that he played mostly fair, and it read like a contemporary/psychological thriller. I feel that fans of Donna Tartt and Leïla Slimani will love this book.

There is one chapter I feel did not add much to the plot enhancement. I won’t go into more details as I don’t want to spoil the book, but this didn’t take away from my thorough enjoyment of The Dinner Guest.

Thank you, B. P. Walter, One More Chapter and NetGalley for allowing to read The Dinner Guest before its release in exchange for an honest review.

#thedinnerguest #netgalley 

My total rating: 4.66