The Guest Children

by Patrick Tarr

“The Guest Children is a novel that is both unsettling and deeply moving. . . . It will not only carry you away but return you to a forgotten place within yourself.” —Andrew Pyper, author of Oracle and The Demonologist

Not all hauntings are confined to houses

With the mounting terror of the German Blitz on London in 1940, thousands of British “guest children” are sent abroad to escape the bombing. Among them are Michael and Frances Hawksby, who are shipped off to Canada to stay with relatives. Years later, as WW II finally comes to an end, their surviving family members realize that no one has heard from them since.

Randall Sturgess wanted to do his part in the war but was forced to stay home to look after his troubled and unstable younger brother, Edward. Impoverished, shamed as a coward, and running out of work options as veterans return home, Randall takes a job investigating the disappearance of the Hawksby children. Reluctantly leaving Edward behind, Randall follows the children’s trail to the wilds of northern Ontario, where he finds an isolated and ramshackle resort called Glass Point Lodge. Here he discovers the secretive aunt and uncle who took in the young Hawksbys, along with an odd collection of seemingly permanent guests, none of whom seems willing to tell Randall the truth about the missing children.

Plagued with vivid nightmares about the war, and troubled by dark visions and a persistent feeling that he’s being watched, Randall searches the imposing woods and lake for any trace of Michael and Frances. Convinced that something terrible has happened to them, Randall delves ever deeper into the mysteries of the lodge, its inhabitants, and the long-buried memories of his childhood, not realizing that the darkest secrets he unearths may be his own.

Genres: Horror, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Historical, Thriller

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2025

About the author

Patrick Tarr is an author and screenwriter based in Toronto.

Reviews

[Norma ~ The Sisters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting, mysterious, & utterly absorbing!

💭 Mood reader moment: another recent bookstore purchase where the cover instantly caught my eye. My little stacks and piles are everywhere, read soon, read next, read eventually, and on those restless insomnia nights, I like to wander through them. This one practically called to me, screaming read me now, and it was exactly the right choice for that moment.

This story is steeped in a sense of bewilderment, as though you are wading through fog and cannot quite find solid ground. The atmosphere is haunting, bleak, and quietly unsettling, and the writing carried that tone beautifully.

Patrick Tarr’s debut wraps history, mystery, and the supernatural into a deeply atmospheric tale. There is an undercurrent of strangeness that seeps in gradually until you are fully caught in its grip. The Canadian remote setting adds a layer of isolation that makes the story even more chilling. And that ending, emotive and powerful, left me deeply invested, fully pleased, and, in the end, surprisingly hopeful.

✨ Key thoughts:
• 🏚️ Haunting, bleak, and ghostly atmosphere that clings.
• 🌲 Eerie undercurrent threaded through the remote setting.
• 🇨🇦 Always a thrill for me when the author is Canadian.
• 💔 Ending left me emotionally invested and hopeful.

The Guest Children is eerie, moody, and absorbing, the kind of ghost story that unsettles quietly before breaking your heart.

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Dreary, bleak, and hauntingly effective. It perfectly captures the eerie tone of the story, and I felt myself pulled right in by its ghostly invitation.
Title: Fitting to the story and just mysterious enough to make me want to learn who these “guest children” were and why they mattered.
Writing/Prose: Atmospheric, immersive, and deeply unsettling in the best way. Canadian author 🇨🇦
Plot: Bewildering, haunting, mysterious, quietly eerie, and absorbing.
Ending: Emotive, powerful, pleasing, and ultimately hopeful. I loved how it all came together in the end.
Overall: A haunting ghost story debut that unsettled me and moved me in equal measure.

📖 Purchased copy
🎧 Complimentary ALC from Libro.fm

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕💫
Eerie, emotional, and unforgettable, this one completely haunted me.

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Historical horror
-Wartime 1940s stories
-Isolation and Psychological horror
-Missing children
-Ghosts, hauntings, dead people
-Ensemble cast
-Mystery and suspense
I enjoyed this audiobook on my library’s hoopla app. The Guest Children follows two siblings orphaned during the German Blitz on London who flee bomb raids by taking refuge in Canada at their Aunt and Uncle’s lodge. At some point in time, the children disappear under mysterious circumstances. A man named Randall Sturgess, who is battling his own wartime trauma, has been sent to Glass Point Lodge to investigate. This story sprawls out into an atmospheric, eerie, fever dream where nothing is as it seems and it becomes increasingly difficult to determine which characters are reliable and which ones are leading readers on a wild goose chase.
It reminded me of one of my favorite spooky movies, The Others (2001) with Nicole Kidman. Similar themes of grief, isolation, and psychological terror mixed with a bit of the supernatural. Perfect for October reading!

[Nina The Wandering Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect audiobook for my rainy day at work yesterday.

[Kat (Katlovesbooks) Dietrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Guest Children by Patrick  is a historical horror novel about two children sent to Canada from England when their parents are killed during WWII. 

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Crooked Lane Books, and the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.



Well, I was pleasantly surprised.  I'm not usually prone to reading historical fiction, but this was more a ghost and horror story.  And it was good.  

The plot followed children that were sent to Canada during WWII, as a way of keeping them safe...although I'm not sure the children that came here actually had the experience of the children in this book!

The characters at the lodge were really "out-there".  I loved Randall and his relationship with his brother, which closely mirrored that of Frances and Michael.  That was really well done.

Although at times I felt it was a little "wordy", the descriptions were so vivid that I could see and feel everything.  The pace was a a little slow.

This was a really atmospheric and creepy tale.  Although it was dark, there were some bright points, mainly to do with family, and never giving up on the weak.

I will watch for more by this author!

Anyway, until next time....


For a more thorough review of this book and others (including the reason I chose to read/review this book, my own synopsis of the book, and its author information), please visit my blog: http://katlovesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

 

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. Fantastic set-up, great plot, but... it never catches fire.

There's a few issues here, the first being, the entire plot was fairly easily guessable with two early scenes (one of which is never explained) leading the reader right to what has to happen toward the end.

The other issue I had was, Randall never really has any agency in the novel. He stumbles (often literally) through the story and then clues or people with clues wind up in front of him. He doesn't find any of them, they all find him.

The next issue? All the characters. The inhabitants of the lodge are virtually indistinguishable, as they're all written in a bland, generic way. Something major has to happen—such as one of them attacking Randall—for me to go, "oh, okay, I know which one he is now."

It's frustrating, because all the ingredients are there: the overall story, the atmospheric setting, the mystery of both the children and the lodge. But it was laid out so passively, with very little grit or obstacles thrown in Randall's way, that it just never coalesced.

And don't get me started on the end. There's a trend I've noticed lately where the author finishes the story, pretty much wraps it up, then feels they have to just... keep... writing... to give you more information that really has nothing to do with the story, but, y'know, in case you were wondering about the future lives of the characters that has nothing impactful to say about the story you just read. Yeah, this book does that too.

This could have been good. Unfortunately, it was just bland.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times this was a three star read; some moments (like the explanation/ending) had my rating dipping down to 2.
The prose itself wasn’t terrible, but I couldn’t get invested in the plot and characters themselves. It was all just a little too bizarre of a story to settle into to.

I did like the historical setting, and how complicated grief was a present theme throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Crooked Lane Books for a copy!

[TheReadingRetriever · Rating 4 out of 5]

London, 1940 - During World War II, London was bombarded with bombs, killing thousands of people. Many children were left orphaned and the country decided to send affected children abroad to Canada for safety. In "The Guest Children," Frances and Michael are two such children, so-called "Guest Children" sent to live with their aunt and uncle in a remote part of Canada. However, shortly after their arrival, the children disappear under mysterious circumstances.

Years later, Randall Sturgess and his brother, Edward, are barely getting by when the war ends. When they were children, they were also sent to Canada from London under a similar adoptive program. As an adult, Randall decided he needed to care for his brother, who has some struggles, instead of enlisting for the war. He's had to put odd jobs together to get by and the men live a mostly isolated life. Randall eventually loses a stable job and agrees to take on an investigative assignment in order to keep a roof over his and Edward's heads. Frances' and Michael's surviving family in London hire Randall to find out what happened to them.

Wracked with guilt around leaving his brother for this assignment, staying home from the war and the terrible circumstances in which he and Edward fled their adoptive home, Randall travels north toward the lodge where the children disappeared from. Along the way he starts to encounter strange visions, gets lost in the woods and isn't quite sure how he got to the lodge. Its current inhabitants are eclectic and odd, with each of them hiding something. The woods and lake surrounding the area cause Randall to question his very sanity. Nobody is willing to be honest with him about the children until he starts finding clues that lead him to believe they might have never left at all. As he's putting the pieces of the mystery together, it's a race against time as each day he spends at the lodge his suspicion that he'll never be allowed to leave grows stronger.

This novel has a good mix of mystery, suspense and the supernatural. It was a little confusing for me in the beginning to see where the story was going, but after the first few chapters it started to make sense. The narrative switches from third person to first person and feels disjointed at first. It's atmospheric and well written and does a pretty good job of making you feel like you're with Randall and the children in this creepy forest where things that should be long forgotten haunt you. I didn't see the twist at the end coming.

Overall, the story is quite good and kept me guessing and wondering the whole time. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good psychological mystery with a solid dose of supernatural elements.

Thank you to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for the eARC.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This just wasn’t for me; if I’d known that the whole story revolved around fantasy, magic realism, and the supernatural, I’d never have picked it up at all. I do love WW2 stories and anything to do with children being placed abroad during the bombardment of Europe, but that isn’t at all what this was about. The main character, Randall, has such an awkward way of speaking, of explaining things, and it’s hard to know if it’s a quirk of the writer or of the character.

I could see Edward watching me now… his black hair roughly chopped by my hand, like mine was done by him.

He also doesn’t sound like an uneducated young man in 1944 - he used words like "dissonant" and "reverberated" - and I was confused by his segue from construction worker to a sort of private detective. That also made the “twist” pretty clear without much effort. I’m going to try to be fair to this debut Canadian writer by rounding up to 3 stars, although I’ll be wary of what he writes next and read the blurbs more closely.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this in one go. It was paced perfectly and the story had me hooked.

Loved the setting! That locked room feeling gets me every single time. And that reveal, sooooo well done!

My thanks to LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

[A.M. (ᴍʏ.sᴘᴏᴏᴋʏ.ᴡᴀʏs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in a single weekend. That might not sound wild, but trust me, for someone who usually reads at a snail’s pace, it’s a miracle. I picked it up thinking I’d just read a few chapters, and the next thing I knew, I was at the end. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 by Patrick Tarr is such an easy read, but also really haunting in that creepy way. If this book were ever made into a movie, I can already see it: bleak, shadowy tones, like the sun never quite breaks through the trees. And then, just at the very end, a single sliver of light pierces the darkness and the world is seen clearly for the very first time. That is this book.

The book starts with Randall Sturgess, a man back in 1940s London who didn’t go off to fight in the war and is dealing with the guilt of staying behind to care for his mentally ill brother, Edward. He gets hired to look into the disappearance of two children, Michael and Frances Hawksby, who were part of the group of British “Guest Children” sent to Canada to escape the bombings. They vanished without a trace, and no one ever found out what happened to them.

Randall’s search takes him to this remote, eerie lodge in northern Ontario, where he meets a strange couple who had briefly taken the kids in, along with a bunch of unsettling long-term guests. And from there, things get weird. Like, truly strange in a ghost-story-meets-psychological-horror kind of way. The whole atmosphere gave me serious The Others vibes, not just because of the war setting, but also the eerie, supernatural undertones that keep building as you go. You’re never quite sure what’s real and what’s imagined, and that’s part of what makes it so compelling.

It’s spooky, emotional, and layered in all the right ways. I do wish some of the side characters were a bit more fleshed out, and the ending felt just a little rushed for how much tension was built up, but overall, I really enjoyed it. The writing is moody and mysterious, and I found myself questioning everything right alongside Randall. What actually happened to Frances and Michael? And what’s Agatha, Helena, and Julian truly hiding that they can’t and won’t leave the lodge? Those questions haunted me the whole way through. I’m just going to stop right there and let everyone read it for themselves.

(𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝘾𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙚, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾!)

[Rachael · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Guest Children by Patrick Tarr begins with an intriguing premise: not all hauntings are confined to houses. During the Blitz, siblings Michael and Frances Hawksby are sent to Canada for safety, but by the war’s end they’ve vanished without a trace. Enter Randall Sturgess, who—burdened by his own demons and forced to leave behind his troubled brother—takes on the job of tracing their disappearance. His search leads him to the remote Glass Point Lodge, where secretive relatives, unsettling permanent guests, and a landscape haunted by shadows all guard their secrets tightly.

On paper, this mix of historical fiction and mystery should have been everything I enjoy, but the execution fell flat. What started as a promising setup became a strange and meandering story that couldn’t seem to decide if it wanted to be horror, literary fiction, or a meditation on grief. The prose itself wasn’t terrible, but I just couldn’t invest in the characters or the world. I found myself dragging through the chapters, taking nearly three weeks to finish—a huge red flag for me, since I usually devour a book of this length in just a few days.

Ultimately, the book’s lack of focus and its bizarre shifts in tone left me disengaged. I wanted an atmospheric historical mystery, but instead got something muddled and unsatisfying.

Thank you to the author, the publisher Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Ron Bernas · Rating 1 out of 5]

When you are listening to a book and you start restructuring it ("This part should have come first, THEN the flashback with the kids and the creepy stuffed animal.") you know it's not worth your time. It is meant to be a study of grief, but was a nonsensical exploration of bad writing with an ending that was unbelievable — and this is a book about supernatural goings on in a spooky inn in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a dense forest!

[Kelly Bellware · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it was because I did this on audio, but I didn’t find it that creepy.

[Emily Joesting · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too fantasy/unrealistic for me

[Kaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

The Guest Children was not what I was expecting. There was not a lot of actual historical fiction (I thought there would be more about WWII and the impact from that) and I also found it hard to follow at times. The twists and turns fell a little flat for me, with one exception (I won't spoil it). It was a fairly quick read and good for people who just want a little bit of thriller/horror.

[Kelly B · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Randall Sturgess is hired to go up to the wilds of Canada and find out what has happened to two young WW II orphans, he figures it’s an easy way to make money. Strapped for cash, he’s responsible for the care of his mentally disturbed brother, Edward. But what Randall finds in the woods seems very strange and suspicious: a group a people living in a run-down lodge, who are harboring some dark secrets.

This book is so atmospheric. I kept thinking what a great book it would be to bring to a cabin by a lake, or to a little cottage on the shore. Really creepy in parts, I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good gothic novel.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Cyndi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gothic, atmospheric novel about the tragedies of orphaned children sent to Canada during WWII. The descriptions are phenomenal and the plot is original. With the supernatural elements, it wasn't my favorite type of suspense but I will definitely be recommending it to patrons who enjoy this genre.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Edelweiss, HarperCollins Publishers books and Patrick Tarr for my complimentary e-book ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Sarah Harney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of The Guest Children.

I'm not usually one for historical fiction but I'm glad I gave it a shot because it really added to the eerie vibe of the story. I was hooked immediately from the first chapter, then the middle felt a bit monotonous, but the ending was very strong and emotionally powerful. I often find myself let-down by the ending of horror books but it was my favorite part! Overall, a unique and chilling story.

4 stars

[Marianne Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The depiction of an isolated dilapidated lodge on a lake in Northern Ontario was brilliant! The atmospheric description pulled me into the story and kept me engaged till the end. The plot unfolded in an unexpected manner and the conclusion was unsettling. It was not the historical fiction novel about children resettled in Canada during WW2 that I anticipated at all. But a good read for sure. Well-done Patrick Tarr. Thank you.

[Mia G · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the plot of this book was intriguing. I like the main character but figured right away that the brother was a hallucination. All the elements of the haunting were good but I felt confused by the appearance of all the people at the lodge. I actually thought a lot of them were ghosts. I figured the children were ghosts but they turned out to be real and that felt unlikely. The forest seems to have been too dangerous for little kids to have made it all that time. I don’t get the instability of Simon and Teresa I don’t see where that came from. Though now that I think about it the kids came after their son died. But it just felt disjointed. All in all not a bad haunting story and one that demonstrates the smothering nature of grief but there seemed to be a few pieces that didn’t really work for me.

[Drea Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one. Started off with a very interesting premise, but then some weird paranormal stuff happened and I feel like the plot just fell apart.

[Tiffany Varney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ I did enjoy this one. It felt a little like Shutter Island and The Sixth Sense had a baby.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Our father died in the Great War…orphans or paupers like us were pulled from destitution and sent to the colonies (in our case, Canada) to find purpose in labour…Mrs. Sturgess fed and clothed us-her husband made us work ourselves into exhaustion before and after school.” These are the recollections of the fictitious Randall Sturgess.

In 1940, Frances and Michael Hawksby were among the Guest Children evacuated to Canada by the British government during the early days of the Blitz. Frances, eleven and Michael, nine were sent to reside in the remote Glass Point Lodge owned by their aunt and uncle. Michael dragged his stuffed bear Stanley through London’s brick dust and rubble. Each child carried their tagged suitcase. Finally Canada bound, by ship, Michael would “tear out pages (of his leather journal) to write tiny folded notes…leave a note at every stop on the journey…like Hansel's crumbs…”. Muffled explosions…U-boats stalking their convoy…Michael’s distress when Stanley falls overboard. Frances and Michael do arrive at Glass Point Lodge as evidenced by their tagged suitcases recovered from a cloak closet, however, the children were never seen again.

With WWII ending, Victory Houses were constructed to provide temporary housing for returning soldiers. Randall now lived in London with his younger brother Edward. Unbalanced and paranoid, Edward needed constant care. As a result, Randall had been unable to enlist. The brothers, just scraping by on Randall’s meager paycheck, lived in a miniscule dwelling. Financially devastated when he lost his construction job to a returning veteran, Randall noticed a job listing in a discarded newspaper. A private detective was needed to search for Frances and Michael Hawksby. They had disappeared not far from the farm where Randall and Edward Sturgess were housed during the Great War. “These children reminded me of things I’d tried to leave behind long ago…I would be taking myself back to the landscapes and memories of our childhood.”

A creepy, ghostlike atmosphere prevailed especially in the “dark, shrouded moonlight”. Isolated Glass Point Lodge was abutted by the forest where “trees sway(ed) their branches and sigh(ed) like restless human beings.”

-Michael saw Stanley…his size and his bright, black eyes were wrong…but “when his old friend Stanley waved him forward Michael did what he was told.” Frances was fearful that Michael was speaking to “Tatty Old Stanley.”

-Michael and Frances climb a wooden staircase attached to an outcropping of rock…the beach below…a shoddy wooden playhouse…visuals of mom and dad inside…dusty and dead…dressed in their night clothes. “It’s not them…but we must pretend it is. We must.”

-”Something big stalking with musical clinking of its footsteps was setting (Frances) on edge.” Uncle Simon had told both Frances and Michael not to go outside…talk to no one.

-Randall Sturgess’ feeling of malaise surfaced as soon as gruff Mr Schust started to row him out to Glass Point Lodge. Most nights Randall would fight a war, in his dreams, searching on an imagined beach.

The few permanent residents of Glass Point Lodge were reluctant to leave despite many deprivations. Why did they choose to stay? Randall seemed drawn to this lodge with its spectral, shadowy presence. Was it wise to continue searching for clues of the disappeared children? It might be better to leave while he can!

A totally immersive, creepy mystery with many twists and turns. Highly recommended.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚The Guest Children
✍🏻Patrick Tarr
Blurb:
The Guest Children is a novel that is both unsettling and deeply moving. . . . It will not only carry you away but return you to a forgotten place within yourself.” —Andrew Pyper, author of Oracle and The Demonologist

Not all hauntings are confined to houses

With the mounting terror of the German Blitz on London in 1940, thousands of British “guest children” are sent abroad to escape the bombing. Among them are Michael and Frances Hawksby, who are shipped off to Canada to stay with relatives. Years later, as WW II finally comes to an end, their surviving family members realize that no one has heard from them since.

Randall Sturgess wanted to do his part in the war but was forced to stay home to look after his troubled and unstable younger brother, Edward. Impoverished, shamed as a coward, and running out of work options as veterans return home, Randall takes a job investigating the disappearance of the Hawksby children. Reluctantly leaving Edward behind, Randall follows the children’s trail to the wilds of northern Ontario, where he finds an isolated and ramshackle resort called Glass Point Lodge. Here he discovers the secretive aunt and uncle who took in the young Hawksbys, along with an odd collection of seemingly permanent guests, none of whom seems willing to tell Randall the truth about the missing children.

Plagued with vivid nightmares about the war, and troubled by dark visions and a persistent feeling that he’s being watched, Randall searches the imposing woods and lake for any trace of Michael and Frances. Convinced that something terrible has happened to them, Randall delves ever deeper into the mysteries of the lodge, its inhabitants, and the long-buried memories of his childhood, not realizing that the darkest secrets he unearths may be his own.

My Thoughts:
The Guest Children is a story for those who do not have a faint heart or problem sleeping..It's a haunting, truly strange in a ghost-story-meets-psychological-horror kind of way story. Very spooky at times. I found the ending more emotional than expected. I definitely recommend it!
Thanks NetGalley, Crookled Lane Books, Author Patrick Tarr for the complimentary ARC. I am leaving my voluntary review in appreciation
#NetGalley
#CrookedLaneBooks
#PatrickTarr
#TheGuestChildren
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Elisabeth Brückmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the historical and geographic settings, engaging story, and compelling complex characters. Sad when it was over.

Set in the 1940s, just after WWII, Randall Sturges is a young man living with his disabled brother in Toronto. Randall is treated with scorn in his community for not having joined the war effort because he was his brother's only caregiver. When Randall loses his job and there is no prospect of another - the soldiers coming home will need the work - he responds to an advertisement looking for help finding two missing children.

The Hawksby children, Randall learns, were sent to Canada from England with thousands of other "guest children" to escape the worst of WWII bombing in London. Their parents dead, the Hawksby orphans were sent to live with their aunt and uncle at their hotel, Glass Point Lodge, in northern Ontario. They have never returned and distant relatives are wondering what happened to them. Letters to the Lodge have not been answered.

Remote and accessible only by boat, the hotel sits on Blank Lake surrounded by endless miles of dark impenetrable forest. When he arrives, Randall realized that things are not what they seem. The Hawksby children's aunt and uncle are strange and secretive about the children. The other guests at the hotel are an unsettling collection of characters each with their own stories and reasons for their extended stay at the remote resort.

As Randall is drawn from one clue to the next, it becomes clear that something is not right at the hotel and something is downright off in woods and waters that surround it. It is also increasingly clear that the long term residents know more than they say about the whereabouts of the missing guest children.

The book is spooky and atmospheric. The picture painted of the orphan children's passage from England to Canada by convoy is harrowing. The pace of the events at Glass Point Lodge keeps one turning the pages. The reader is left guessing whether this is is an account of a haunting, a murder mystery, or some other dark story loss, trauma, and struggle for survival.

I definitely recommend this one. Would be a particular good one for the cottage owing to the setting.

[Mandy Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes us back to 1940.
Two children are evacuated to Canada (Frances and Michael Hawksby).
The two are sent to live with their aunt and uncle at their Lodge.
Michael tore pages out of his journal and left them at all of his stops on the way to their aunt and uncle's.
The children arrive because their luggage with tags is at the lodge. Neither Frances nor Michael is seen again.
Randall, a man who lives in London and cares for his younger brother, loses his job. He finds a job looking for a detective of sorts to find Frances and Michael Hawksby.
This book is so creepy, eerie, quiet.. suspenseful, and tense!
The lodge, isolated, so remote, is the perfect setting - the atmosphere is so spooky!
I think this is a slow burn, but it's done in a good way!
Dreams and reality start to blur - the book just keeps you engaged through and through.
I don't typically like any kind of historical fiction, but I loved this book.
This book was so unique.
The plot is well structured. The pace is a bit slow, particularly in the middle of the book, but it gets better, and the ending... NO WORDS FOR THE ENDING! JUST WOW!
The characters were all well-developed. I didn't necessarily connect with them, but they were so well written.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I think if the pace were a little bit more accelerated, I would be able to give it 5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
This is perfect for your Fall TBR!
Happy Reading!

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick Tarr has been able to keep me up a few nights with his novel The Guest Children, both because it is well-written and I wanted to see what happened to the characters, but also because it was creepy. It was hard to tell if the characters were seeing reality or things they alone were experiencing.

Two children whose parents passed away during WWII are sent from England to stay with relatives in Canada for the duration of the war. As if it was not bad enough to have no parents, their aunt and uncle live in a remote part of Canada where the children are fairly isolated. Their home is an Inn, but no one is traveling or staying there in part due to the war. It seems there may be other reasons as well.

After the war ends, no one has heard anything about the children other than that they arrived safely. Relatives hire a man to go in search of the children since there is no phone at the Inn and this was well before the age of cell phones and social media. He is dropped off at the beginning of some dense woods and told to stick close to the water, then the driver sped off.

He does reach the Inn after being lost and waking up, to find himself wet and full of sand. The rest of the story is confusing to him because he does not understand what is happening. The few guests at the Inn will not talk about the children, and maybe they don't really know anything? There is much revealed by the end of the book, it is worth the time to read it, but don't read it in the dark.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the prepublication copy to read and review.

[Beatriz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 44 of 2025 - ✅! Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books , and Patrick Tarr for an ARC of The Guest Children by Patrick Tarr in exchange for my honest review.

In this psychological thriller, the protagonist, Randall Sturgess is left to care for his younger, troubled brother, Edward, which prevents him from playing as big of a role in the war effort as he would have liked to. This changes when Randall takes a job and starts to investigate 2 “Guest Children” - British children who were sent to Canada to escape the German Blitz: Michael and Frances Hawksby. The more isolated Randall becomes while looking for the children, the more is unearth about his own experiences.

With Shutter Island being a common comp to this book, I thought I was going to absolutely love this one, but I found myself enjoying it well-enough. It certainly has the dark, spooky and confusing elements of the aforementioned story, but I didn’t have the visceral reaction I was hoping to feel.

I did enjoy that this book was written by a Canadian author, and I appreciated this book being one of those eerie ones that I tend to gravitate toward more this time of year.

2.75/5 ⭐️. I’d be curious to check out more of Patrick Tarr’s work. #NetGalley #TheGuestChildren
👻 🇨🇦 🔎

[Carol Werner Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Guest Children
by Patrick Tarr
Pub Date: Aug 12 2025

The Guest Children a good mix of mystery, suspense and the supernatural. The narrative switches from third person to first person and at times did feel a little confusing but it is very well written. It's a haunting, truly strange in a ghost-story-meets-psychological-horror kind of way story. Very spooky at times. I definitely recommend it!

Synopsis: With the mounting terror of the German Blitz on London in 1940, thousands of British “guest children” are sent abroad to escape the bombing. Among them are Michael and Frances Hawksby, who are shipped off to Canada to stay with relatives. Years later, as WW II finally comes to an end, their surviving family members realize that no one has heard from them since. Where are they, what happened to them?

Many thanks to #TheGuestChildren #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for providing me an E-ARC of this totally awesome book!