I really enjoyed this book. 5 friends gather for a dinner party on the eve of another friend's memorial service. They are reminiscing about their time as students at Oxford. It seems that Elle is still a troublemaker and is determined to bring up some pretty awful things that happened at that time. They say revenge is a dish best served cold.....This is a story of secrets and lies which will keep you on the edge of your seat to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Just an ok read for me. A slow burner with unlikeable characters. Not what you would call a thriller. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

When an unwanted guest turns up at Caros house where she has invited all of her old university friends it soon becomes clear they all have secrets they want to stay hidden, however all is soon revealed which leads to complete and utter chaos.

This book was told from the points of view of all the guests and it was told from a now and then point of view.

For me I found the fifth guest didn’t quite hit the description of a thriller and I feel it was slightly misplaced in its genre. It didn’t excite me or have me on the edge of my seat like some thrillers do.

I’d say if anyone is looking for an easy book to read with a few bumps in the road then this is certainly the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for this review

Really enjoyed this story with it's cast of unlikeable characters.

The night before the unveiling of a statue in honour of their friend, Henry who died at uni Caro organises a dinner party with her uni gang.

Switching the narrative between the characters experience at uni and the dinner party, we discover the secrets along the way and what led to Henry's death.

Great read. Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to review this book this is my honest opinion.

Caro invites her old university housemates for dinner the night before a memorial for a fellow university friend. It's supposed to be a night of fine dining and reminiscing about the past.

When an uninvited guest arrives the night begins to unravel and secrets and much more are revealed!!

This story is told from all of the friends perspectives with 2 different timelines, now and then.

Although there have been a few university reunion stories already, I still thoroughly enjoyed this read and found myself turning the pages late into the night.

Thank you so Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

There are a lot of reunion thrillers lately and so to stand out a new one has to have a great plot,interesting characters and a reason to keep you engaged….this book did all that…well written,tense and engaging,enjoyed it

I do love a good reunion type storyline where all the secrets start coming out.! However, whilst there were interesting elements of this book I thought it was a bit predictable and therefore I did not feel as hooked as I have by some other similar books. .

"Thriller" is a genre that promises to keep readers on the edge of their seats, and this definitely delivers. From the very first page, the tension is palpable, and the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, making it difficult to put the book down. The characters are well-developed and the author does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing as to who can be trusted and who is hiding something. The pacing is spot-on, with just the right amount of action and suspense to keep the reader engaged. The writing style is gripping and evocative, making it easy to visualise the scenes and feel the emotions of the characters. The author's attention to detail and ability to create a believable world adds to the overall experience of the book. Overall, this is an excellent example of the thriller genre. It's a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end and is sure to satisfy fans of the genre. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a good suspenseful read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

A dark and clever novel from a talented writer. I really enjoyed this one and thoroughly recommend it! 5 stars!

I am a bit fed up at how many recent books involve entitled people struggling with secrets in their lives, yet I read every new one with a hope there will be something new and different. Sadly Jenny Knight wasn't the author who will change my mind about reading future novels.
This was a well written and slow burn tale of revenge, but, for me didnt have that extra twist or turn of phrase that made it really stand out.
Thank you to netgalley and HQ books for an advance copy of this book.

5 people at a time share a house in Oxford they are at the uni but due to circumstances find themselves together. Henry moves out Elle moves in.

Henry doesn't survive and now several years later his Mum host a memorial and all 5 are invited, so Caro decided to host a meal the night before for 4 of them but a 5th turn up. The night is full of surprises and revelations well it's a thriller isn't it. Henry and George are desperately wanting to be in the a team boat for the annual boat race with the enemy (Cambridge). Travis also Lily not the 5th guest are the other ones but yet mentioned, Lily's life has been hard as has Elles. The lads in comparison not so but Caro well you can read for read for yourself.

This is a excellently crafted thriller well written and I loved it I was hooked from the start and the characters were a great variety and worthy of the oxbridge brigade the entitled and those that worked their ..... off. I feel this is well worth 5 stars and hope your so as well.

It’s a slow burn for sure but for most good books are.
I was really surprised and enjoyed the storytelling, Jenny has woven a really great book

Thought this book although a bit of a gentle slow read does turn into a really good book. I wasn’t sure at first but stuck with it and am so glad I did.

#TheFifthGuest #NetGalley
Best of 2023.
Five friends. One deadly secret.
Five old university friends gather on the eve of their flatmate’s memorial at a beautiful riverside house. Host Caro is as perfect as always. Shy, awkward Lily’s now a bestselling author. Sports hero George loves suburban fatherhood. Bad-boy Travis only gets his highs from meditation. And gatecrasher Elle is still a troublemaker. Estranged for years, they’re finally ready to reminisce over dry martinis and delicious food. But there’s more than that on the menu… Because each guest is hiding a dark secret about their time at Oxford. They’re all guilty of something. Is one of them guilty of murder?
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for giving me an advance copy.

Rating: 4.0/5

If I were Jenny Knight I may well be slightly concerned that the publisher's marketing blurb appears to be positioning "The Fifth Guest" as a thriller. I suspect that many potential readers will, like me, envisage a very different novel to the one the author has actually written. Personally, I think that T.M. Logan's description of this book as "A highly entertaining tale of jealousy, betrayal, obsession and revenge" is a far more accurate representation.

The premise of a reunion comprising five former Oxford University students is nothing particularly new - nor is the fact that each of the protagonists has a secret to hide that they would prefer not to have disclosed. However, that doesn't really matter. The reason this base format has been used so often is that it offers great potential for dramatic fiction - providing the author is capable of exploiting it. Jenny Knight does a sound job in that respect, but readers will need to exercise some patience and bear with her as the narrative gradually unfolds.

The story is very much character driven and it takes some time to get to know each of the key players and appreciate not only their individual traits, but also their interactions with each other. In the early stages of the book I did wonder whether the burn was a little too slow, but as the plot developed, so I was able to appreciate the skill of the author. Seen from the various perspectives of the protagonists, Jenny Knight weaves events from the dinner party with flashbacks to the guests' university days to allow the dramatic tension to steadily develop. I particularly appreciated the rôle of the eponymous fifth guest, Elle. Elle arrived uninvited at the gathering and is very much the catalyst behind the outing of the other characters' well-guarded secrets. Elle put me in mind of Inspector Goole from J.B. Priestley's "An Inspector Calls" in the way that she exercises an almost supernatural influence over the other members of the group to compel them to admit their guilt.

"The Fifth Guest" marks Jenny Knight's first venture into this genre of fiction, but the result is impressive and I will gladly come back for more in future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

A good read and good characters, it did take me a while to get into the storyline though and I did lose a bit interest halfway through unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Digital for this ARC which I would recommend.

Another university reunion book. The plot in this one is told from individual points of view of a group of 5 housemates and set at a dinner party in Caro's house as well as in their time at university. Some of the group are elite ex public school boys, with dysfunctional childhoods who have come to expect that everything is theirs for the taking . The girls/women have less affluent backgrounds . I liked the action and pace in this book, the characters were perhaps a little too stereotypical though there was some exploration of the home circumstances which affected individuals behabviour, it could have been followed through better.
There are a couple of twists in the plot, some expected, others less so . On the whole I enjoyed this book and it kept my interest throughout . Enough characters for variety, not so many that you lose track of who everyone is.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARc in exchange for an honest review

From the description, I thought this sounded like an intriguing murder mystery.

I really liked this. When I looked at the description, my first impression was that the premise sounded a little bit Christie-esque, partly because of the dinner party element. This did in fact remind me a little of an Agatha Christie, even though it takes place in a modern day setting.

I was very interested in the characters, even if I didn't relate to all of them, or find all of them particularly likeable. I was very entertained, and this had me turning the pages quite quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

I have recently noticed - and begun to get a bit fed up with - thrillers themed around a reunion of university friends, which invariably go wrong when hidden secrets begin to surface. Under the circumstances, you might question why I decided to read The Fifth Guest, but the book turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The story moves quite quickly, and the transitions between the past and present timelines are smoothly handled. The characters - while not entirely likeable - are intriguing yet strangely familiar, and the developing storyline successfully keeps the reader engaged.

A group of one-time friends are informed that there is to be a memorial statue unveiled in honour of their friend and one-time classmate at Oxford, Henry Bellinger. All at very different phases of their lives at this point, the members of the group now have little in common beyond the memories of their glory days at Oxford.

Not that those days were equally glorious for everyone concerned.

George had a friendly rivalry with Henry, as they were both on the rowing team, but that subsequently soured for reasons explained in the book.

Caro was a social climber, who almost achieved the pinnacle of her ambitions by marrying golden boy Henry. But there was more to her than met the eye.

Travis was a drug dealer and layabout, a constant disappointment to his wealthy but prickly father. Now though, Travis is reformed and does breathwork, and appears to have reinvented himself as a life coach. He is still, however, carrying his accumulated emotional baggage around with him, however much he denies it.

Lily was the ultimate shrinking violet, in love with bad boy Travis, and is now a highly successful author.

Elle is the wild card, part of a secret from his past that new father George is desperate ​to protect. And she is also the unwanted - by her hostess, at least! - gatecrasher at Caro's carefully planned dinner party the night before the memorial for Henry.

What could possibly go wrong under these circumstances?

Plenty!

And it does, so settle in and enjoy the ride...

I loved the slow burn of this as it slowly unraveled and more and more secrets were revealed - perfect for those who love your typical thriller with a twist. Some of the characters were utterly grim and some really resonated with me. Definitely one I'll be recommending going forward