The Night Guest

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.

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.

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.

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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.