Put your thinking cap on for this one, The Night Guest is an effectively told psychological horror novella that is easy to consume with its concise language and short chapters (many used brilliantly to intentionally setting up tension and dread), but also trust its readers to pick up clues along the way to decode its ambiguous ending.

I'll confess when I first got to the end, I was very confused by its out of left field strangeness. It was not until digging through other reviews and comments where I started to piece together the author's intent, and how the more nuanced, layered interpretation could be constructed via the various incidents, mentions happening prior to that point.

I love puzzle games, and The Night Guest was a refreshing reminder how passive I might have become recently, expecting stories to explain themselves to me in the end. Very excited to re-read this again now knowing how the pieces fall together! vibe-wise this reminds me greatly of Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.

**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**