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2 of 3 copies available
2 of 3 copies available

Hildur Knútsdóttir's The Night Guest is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjavík that's sure to keep you awake at night.
Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause.
When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same — have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.
Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she's walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .
What is happening when she's asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won't anyone believe her?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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    • Library Journal

      August 1, 2023

      I�unn is constantly exhausted, but doctors can find no cause, and the anodyne advice of friends affords her no relief. Then she falls asleep with her watch on and discovers she's walked over 40,000 steps in the night. What's going on, and why will no one believe her? From Icelandic author Knutsdottir; with a 100,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 6, 2023
      Knútsdóttir’s surreal and spectacular English-language debut, crisply translated by multiple Hugo award winner Kowal, finds protagonist Iðunn suffering from chronic exhaustion that the medical establishment has, through a combination of neglect and incompetence, failed to treat, leading her to use a number of ersatz self-care solutions. When she wears a step-counting watch to bed one night, she wakes up achy, smelling of the nearby ocean, and having apparently walked more than 40,000 steps in her sleep. As her personal life and relationships crumble due to depression and fatigue, her mysterious nocturnal activities leave her with bizarre wounds. At her wit’s end, Iðunn sets up her phone in the corner of the room to record what she does after she goes to sleep—and what she discovers sets off a horrifying chain of events that threatens every aspect of her waking life. Knútsdóttir’s parenthetical asides and idiosyncratic voice create a queasy sense of vertigo as the story unfolds, and the time the narrative takes to reveal its secrets is well spent on the way to a conclusion at once grotesque and beautiful. This is psychological horror at its finest.

    • Booklist

      November 1, 2023
      Something's keeping I�unn up at night. Although her name references the goddess of youth, she's feeling older than ever--waking to extreme fatigue, unexplained residue on her hands, and a marine scent in her bed. I�unn loses hope as her new, young doctor can't find anything wrong, but her new smartwatch records thousands of steps overnight, and even sleeping pills do nothing for her. Other distractions abound, and the disappearance of her neighborhood's beloved cats, a married ex who can't take no for an answer, and a handsome new lover who knew her dead sister serve to complicate I�unn's waking hours. Kn�tsd�ttir breaks I�unn's story into bite-size chapters, like the flashes of a waking nightmare, mounting dread as the pages slowly lose their ink. Kn�tsd�ttir's artful spiral of terror doubles as an examination of the modern condition, where I�unn's disconnect from others builds to an uncontrollable and inevitable denouement. This Icelandic import will have fans of Ling Ma, Paula Hawkins, and other flawed female narrators demanding more translations of Kn�tsd�ttir's work.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2024

      In Reykjav�k, I�unn is suffering from constant fatigue, but doctors can't find anything wrong with her. One night she falls asleep with her step-counting watch on, and in the morning sees that she somehow walked 40,000 steps. What is happening when she is asleep? Icelandic author Kn�tsd�ttir's English-language debut receives a 100K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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