Tasha Sylva

The guest room by Tasha Sylva

After the mysterious death of her sister Rosie, Tess moves into her flat in London to feel close to her. She rents out Rosie's empty bedroom for b n b guests and feels the urge to rummage through her guests belongings when they're out. As her newest lodger Arran rents the room, she finds his diary and starts reading it. As she sees his entries about him falling in love with a woman, she can't help but notice the similarities between this unnamed woman and show more herself. She starts following him through the streets of London to find out more.

I couldn't really route for the protagonist, I couldn't get over her creepiness in indulging in someone's diary. That the grief left her mentally unstable was somewhat understandable, but she starts stalking not only her guest, but several people. She lost credibility and I kept thinking she was involved in her sister's murder. (She wasn't). The ending did have a surprising twist I did not see coming, but I found that the killer lacked a real motif. It just didn't make much sense to me.

I didn't enjoy the writing style, although it wasn't bad, just not my cup of tea. Overall still a good read. show less

Sometimes you wish murder on the annoying protagonist. I half- expected the twist in this one to be that she’d murdered her sister in a fugue state, after accusing every single person possible. (“Someone shoved her on the Tube! On purpose!”) Sadly, she does not get murdered or end up a murderer. These are not spoilers.

3.5