#RivetingReviews: Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews THE NIGHT GUEST by Hildur Knutsdottir

‘Have you tried exercising, vitamins or a better diet?’: a familiar refrain often heard by women seeking medical attention for exhaustion. In her first book translated into English, Hildur Knútsdóttir draws on female experience to create a chilling feminist horror that cuts dangerously close to the bone. 

Iðunn wakes up exhausted every morning with bruises over her body, a taste of blood in her mouth, and the scent of the sea in her hair. After being dismissed by her older, male doctor, she puts her faith in Ásdís, a young female practitioner. But extensive examinations and blood tests show nothing. That it’s all in Iðunn’s head and she’s losing control of her body is a real and terrifying possibility. And so we bear witness to the gradual unravelling of Iðunn’s psyche.

Iðunn only has her doctor to talk to. Her friendships are superficial, and at work she has to avoid Stefán, her ex, and married, co-worker, who refuses to accept rejection. Her parents are unsympathetic and unsupportive, and compare Iðunn to the beautiful, smart and funny Már, their eldest daughter, who died. When Iðunn’s newly acquired fitness tracker records over 40,000 steps and the GPS shows that, every night, she follows the same path to the harbour where her sister drowned, she fears the worst. Then the neighbourhood cats, whom she adores, disappear one by one. 

Initially this appears to be an instance of the medical profession failing to take female health concerns seriously. As has been reported, after years of dismissing women as ‘hysterical’, gender bias in medicine is beginning to be recognised. Later Iðunn remarks: 

‘Ásdís does not seem to take my complaint to heart, and only strokes her chin thoughtfully. Something about the movement reminds me of an old man, and I’m so glad she is not an old man.’ 

Is it reasonable to presume that Ásdís will be different, or does medical bias exist regardless of gender? Is this all there is to Iðunn’s predicament? Or are we discounting her concerns in the same way as the medical community? Can we trust our narrator when she doesn’t trust herself and feels betrayed by her body? Women have, after all, grown accustomed to being told that their feelings are invalid and can’t be trusted. 

Knútsdóttir uses concise language and short, snappy sentences. Sentimentality and sympathy have no place in this context; the language will not allow it. Yet unease and dread pervade from the start, gradually becoming unbearable. Often consecutive ultra-short chapters, some only one or two lines, force the reader to pause repeatedly, but also induce anxiety and extreme discomfort. 

In this age of trigger warnings, it is subject to debate whether sensitive content should be flagged. The Night Guest is a feminist horror, subsequently some violence – against both humans and animals – can be expected. 

The Night Guest is reminiscent of the work of other writers in the feminist horror genre, particularly ‘body horror’, such as Maria Enriquez, Carmen Maria Machado, V Castro, and, even further back, Angela Carter. At only 208 pages, The Night Guest is the perfect length to deliver just enough terror for readers to endure and enjoy while proving that, in horror, the psychological is far more disturbing that the visible.

Reviewed by Sonja van der Westhuizen

THE NIGHT GUEST

Written by Hildur Knutsdottir 

Translated from Icelandic by Mary Robinette Kowal

Published by Tor Nightfire/Macmillan (2024)

September 2024 #RivetingReviews titles are available to buy from bookshop.org.

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Sonja van der Westhuizen is a book critic, proofreader and graphic designer for publishers and independent authors. She writes reviews and features for the Crime Fiction Lover website as well as several South African newspapers and magazines, and she has served on the Ngaio Marsh Awards judging panel since 2021. She enjoys a wide range of translated fiction, including crime, literary, and occasionally horror. Her websites are: https://sonjavanderwesthuizen.wordpress.com/ and https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/.

Read Sonja van der Westhuizen’s #RivetingReview of MURDER AT THE RESIDENCE by Stella Blómkvist