Brooke's Pick: The Guests by Margot Hunt

When a Category 5 hurricane is poised to hit their coastal Florida town, the Davies family takes refuge in their waterfront manse. Marlowe, Lee, and their teenage twins invite their close friends to wait out the storm in comfort and style. Uninvited are the three strangers who dock on the family’s shore right before the storm descends. Brothers Jason and Bo—and Bo’s girlfriend, Darcy—are a charming, helpful trio in need of a safe haven that the family is only too happy to provide. But as the storm outside grows more threatening, so does the tension in the house.

As a Louisiana native, I know how scary and deadly Category 5 hurricanes can be. With a storm already intent on killing you, you don’t need to add nefarious people to the mix, but that is exactly what happens in Margot Hunt’s new novel, The Guests. This tense and gripping book, perfect for the summer season, combines the terror of riding out a life-threatening hurricane with the horror of inviting strangers into your home who you are not sure that you can trust.

The uber-wealthy Davies family were not supposed to get this hurricane. Hurricane Celeste was not supposed to come to their coastal town of Florida. But a last minute shift in the path has Celeste headed straight for them. As the Davies family prepares their home to take the brunt of this massive storm, a boatload of refugees pulls up to their dock, seeking shelter from the storm. These two men and one woman were not able to make it to safe harbor before Celeste’s bands started moving ashore, and they quickly learned that you cannot outrun a hurricane. The Davies don’t want to leave these boaters stranded in the storm, but is it really safe to let strangers shelter with them during a hurricane? With only minutes to spare, the Davies make a snap decision to let the boaters into their home, but as the storm escalates outside, tensions rise inside. Just who are these three strangers, and what do they want from the Davies?

I love a good survival story, and Margot Hunt’s The Guests takes the cake! When the threat is twofold, from both mother and human nature, it makes the story all the more tantalizing. Although this story is generally predictable, I found it to be highly enjoyable, with an intriguing cast of characters and an ominous and atmospheric plot and setting. - Brooke, Public Relations Librarian