Sunday 15 May 2016

Book ~ "The Guest Room" (2016) Chris Bohjalian

From Goodreads ~ When Richard Chapman offers to host his younger brother's bachelor party, he expects a certain amount of debauchery. He sends his wife, Kristin, and young daughter off to his mother-in-law's for the weekend and he opens his Westchester home to his brother's friends and their hired entertainment. 

What he does not expect is this: bacchanalian drunkenness, a dangerously intimate moment in his guest bedroom, and two naked women stabbing and killing their Russian bodyguards before driving off into the night. 

In the aftermath, Richard's life rapidly spirals into a nightmare. The police throw him out of his home, now a crime scene; his investment banking firm puts him on indefinite leave; and his wife finds herself unable to forgive him for the moment he shared with a dark-haired girl in the guest room. 

But the dark-haired girl, Alexandra, faces a much graver danger. In one breathless violent night, she is free, running to escape the police who will arrest her and the gangsters who will kill her in a heartbeat.

Philip is getting married in two weeks.  His older brother, Richard, hosts his bachelor party at his house and his friend, Spencer, is responsible for hiring "the entertainment".  Two strippers/hookers show up with their bodyguards and everyone has a good time ... that is until one of the girls stabs and kills one of the bodyguards and the other bodyguard is shot dead.  The girls then disappear.

Richard and his family have to deal with the aftermath.  He is put on an indefinite leave from his job at an investment banking firm.  Kristin, his wife, is a school teacher and his actions (and possible actions) at the party make her wonder whether she wants to stay with him.  Melissa, their nine-year-old daughter, doesn't understand exactly what happened but knows enough to know that it's not good.  Their house is blood splattered and the cleaners can't get it all out.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay.  It is written from two alternating points of view.  It's first person from Alexandra's perspective.  She tells about her life as if she is talking to us ... from her childhood to how she became a victim in the sex slave to the ramifications of the party.  Her English was very good but she sometimes spoke with a stereotypical Russian accent, which was weird.  It is third person perspective when the focus is on everyone else.  As a head's up, there is swearing (the F-bomb is used a lot) and there is adult activity.

I didn't like the ending.  Huh?!

I'll check out others by this author.

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