The Dinner Guest: The absolutely gripping Sunday Times bestseller with a breathtaking twist

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I will say that I did not find the revelation of the killer at all surprising, partly because the author does such a great job painting them as an obvious creeper from the start. But also, there’s more than one obvious creeper in this story...or maybe they all are?...so I don’t think I’ve given anything away here. Intriguing story. I agree with the other reviewers, this one is best going in blind and not knowing too much about the plot. You know from the beginning that someone is killed and someone takes the blame. What you don't know is--who actually committed the murder (was it a murder?) and why? Readers always want to know how much a work of literature is real, she says, but “the truth is that for me, as a writer, it doesn’t matter. I just want the book to work by itself. The story of the book belongs to the book and real life is something different.” If we were aware of all the dangers we have around us, we wouldn't be able to enjoy anything, we would always be scared

The story begins with a family dinner. Charlie and his husband Matthew sit down with their 15-year-old son, Titus. An uninvited guest, Rachel, joins them. Soon, Matthew is stabbed to death in his seat at the dinner table. Rachel, holding the bloody knife, promptly calls the police and confesses to the murder. What could her motive be? Ybarra first heard the story when she was eight, but it was only after her mother’s death, years later, that she felt the need to go deeper and discover more about her family’s past. Gabriela Ybarra was born into one of the most prominent Basque political families. Her grandfather Javier fought for the Spanish Nationaists in the civil war and was mayor in the 1960s. In 1977 he was kidnapped by the Basque separatist group ETA from his home and assassinated when his family couldn't come up with the ridiculously high ransom demanded. The family continued to have threats made against them for the next thirty years with a bomb once sent to her father in 2002, who had to have a bodyguard continually by his side. At the dinner, Stan makes it clear he wants to withdraw from the gubernatorial race and hold a press conference about the ATM incident, afterwards accompanying his son to the police. A bitter argument ensues between Stan on one side with turning his son over to the police, and Claire and Katelyn on the other who want to protect their children and their futures as well as their family's image and reputation, with Paul sitting quietly away from the table. Katelyn manages to persuade Stan to hold off on his plan to report Michael. This account largely draws on public sources, although Ybarra does take the opportunity to correct a few myths:The Dinner Guest can be summed by the feeling of a fog descending. The twists and turns kept creeping up on you especially when you least expected it. Little niggles, a finely painted parallel, the author grabs you by the jugular and fights to maintain control. The control the author held over me was immense. A sniper focused on its target. Try as I may I was never going to put that book down. Loved the format of the book. Alternated between point of views of Charlie and Rachel in two timelines: After the Murder and Before the murder and leading up to it. Each timeline detailing the present and past stories and both were connected seamlessly. When something is revealed in the present either through the investigation or characters’ musings/fears then the story switches to the past to give the reader a complete picture. Grab your place setting and take a seat at the table for this twisty domestic thriller! Matthew, Charlie, Titus and Rachel are all in attendance. When Matthew is stabbed and murdered, Rachel says she did it. Or did she? Charlie joins the book club gathering at the first time and catching Rachel snooping around their bedroom increases his suspicions about her! And other week, Rachel saves Titus from muggers! What a coincidence! She was in the right place at the exactly very right time!

Especially the last third of the book: it turns into wilder ride, things get messier, crazier! I hope your heart can handle this whirlwind adrenaline rush! But I’m telling you my friends it’s truly worth it! The sawn-off handcuffs were sitting on the chest of drawers in the hall. Next to them were four lengths of rope, and the scraps of cotton with which the kidnappers had wrapped the women’s wrists so as not to hurt them. The strips of tape for their mouths and the cloths used to cover their faces were in the bin in the kitchen. None of the siblings wanted to sleep alone in their rooms. They chose to lie down together, sprawled on the sofa. The story goes that in my family there’s an extra dinner guest at every meal. He’s invisible, but always there. He has a plate, glass, knife and fork. Every so often he appears, casts his shadow over the table, and erases one of those present. The author's view of the "privileged" is respected but these views did not belong in a fiction book. Walter’s brilliance is clearly evident how tightly he constructed the plot, kept the suspense throughout the book, and thrilled me with the reveals. There are many twists and turns. It was beyond my ability to work out the motivations behind these characters’ actions. Oh boy, appearances can be so deceptive.In the book, Henry and Peter are given a cheese sandwich for their supper, which Henry refuses to eat and demands pizza. In the episode, they're given spaghetti, which Henry doesn't complain about. The book is character driven, and the protagonists all have personality flaws. Matthew is sneaky and evasive;