Lead Review (The Guests)

• Book: The Guests
• Location: The Maldives
• Author: Nikki Smith

Review Author: tripfiction

#destinationthriller

The Hamilton family is on their way to Asana Fushi to mark Zach’s 50th birthday. He is travelling with his wife, Cara and daughter Alexa and the lure of crystal waters and 5* luxury is keeping them all buoyant after a terrible incident that happened to Cara and Alexa. The hope is that the coming days will prove restorative.

On the small plane they meet people they know – it is perhaps not an altogether welcome encounter – and once on the island, they also meet Skye Elliott, an influencer who is on the island to write about the green credentials of the set-up, something upon which the resort prides itself.

And thus all the characters get into the swing of life in the Maldives. Except – OF COURSE – there are backstories and secrets that send the characters crashing and burning.

“Visitors only get to see the pimped-up version of the island when they’re here. They go home believing they have spent a week or so ‘going back to nature’ but, in reality, nature isn’t neat or pretty. It’s brutal.”

The characters aren’t very likeable in this novel but what the author underlines is how demanding and irresponsible some people are with their absurd expectations, their sense of entitlement and, above all, money gives them licence to behave badly – and that is a rather depressing aspect of the book. How absurd some of the requests made to island staff can be (and I am sure there is a lot of truth in the examples the author gives). When there is such privilege and wealth being serviced by people who have very little, it makes the world feel really out of kilter – there are beautiful views, an abundance of wildlife, sun and so much more.. isn’t that enough (clearly not, is the answer)?

The tension is kept constant as each chapter heading indicates a time, a count down is on to something….

A good poolside read.

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