The House Guest: A Novel
The House Guest is another diabolical cat-and-mouse thriller from USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan--but which character is the cat, and which character is the mouse?
After every divorce, one spouse gets all the friends. What does the other one get? If they're smart, they get the benefits. Alyssa Macallan is terrified when she's dumped by her wealthy and powerful husband. With a devastating divorce looming, she begins to suspect her toxic and manipulative soon-to-be-ex is scheming to ruin her--leaving her alone and penniless. And when the FBI shows up at her door, Alyssa knows she really needs a friend. And then she gets one. A seductive new friend, one who's running from a dangerous relationship of her own. Alyssa offers Bree Lorrance the safety of her guest house, and the two become confidantes. Then Bree makes a heart-stoppingly tempting offer. Maybe Alyssa and Bree can solve each others' problems. But no one is what they seem. And the fates and fortunes of these two women twist and turn until the shocking truth emerges: You can't always get what you want. But sometimes you get what you deserve. Other books by Hank Phillippi Ryan:Her Perfect Life
The First to Lie
The Murder List
On the House
Trust Me THE JANE RYLAND SERIES:
The Other Woman / The Wrong Girl / Truth Be Told / What You See / Say No More THE CHARLOTTE MCNALLY SERIES:
Prime Time / Face Time / Air Time / Drive Time
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Community Reviews
“Everyone has a way of hurting someone else…Especially someone they’ve known for a long time. Some fear, or secret, or thing in their past they don’t want anyone to know. Secrets are power…Every story had a secret, and every storyteller had a motive…Life is full of unexpected connections…A karass…People who are in a group together, but they don’t know it.” “We use the truth to tell lies.” Once you speak them, “You’re complicit. You’re a conspirator. You’re a criminal.”
“Alyssa had bought into it, the comfortable life that emotional con artist Bill had sold her…because it provided exactly what she needed and longed for–someone who loved her, and made her feel safe. But it was all to get what he needed. Until he didn’t. And then he erased her.”
Bree has never “done anything but max out [her] credit card, slog through a menial job fighting off a hideous boss, and go home at night to ramen and bad TV” until at her lowest point, she meets Alyssa, she offers Bree the guest house, “and my life completely changes…I quit my stupid job at the bank. Because of you. I jettisoned Frankie. Because of you. I’m free. Because of you. Don’t you think that’s reason enough to–I don't know, ‘Pay you back’?”
“Rule number one and rule number two, deny everything…A loyalty test…three words…used to camouflage what was, in truth…power and manipulation and influence…to make her miserable and terrified and doubting her very worth. She’d passed his insane loyalty test...She’d proved she was loyal to herself…we didn’t give up. In fact, you might say that’s our rule number one.”
In a way, it’s a mystery/meet-cute story. “Boy arrests girl, boy makes girl informant, boy falls in love. Girl falls in love. Boy and girl live happily ever after.” But “You can’t really love someone else until you can love yourself.” Hank Phillippi Ryan’s The House Guest is an invitation to put on your black tank suit, a black floppy hat, and Jackie O sunglasses and raise a glass in toast “To freedom…Someday, maybe, have a husband, a child, a real dog. Or not. But either way, be happy.”
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