The Night Guests

Last month, Marina Scott released her historical horror novel, The Night Guests. (It was also an Amazon First Reads selection in October.) Set in Omaha, Nebraska in 1903, it follows Nina Wilson in the wake of losing her father. Her twin brother is absent and her mother lives in a delusion that she can communicate with her dead husband’s ghost. Meanwhile, Nina is dealing with the sudden poverty her father’s death has left the family in, pawning off everything they ever owned in order to pay down their debts. In an effort to return her mother to the matters of the living, Nina invites a spiritualist, Leroy, into their home. But things get stranger as the weeks pass, and Nina might be seeing ghosts herself now. How can she get out of this web of money troubles and angry spirits?

What I Liked:

• Early 20th-century spiritualism. I’ve only read one other book that looked at the spiritualism craze of the early 1900s. Like that novel, The Night Guests doesn’t shy away from showing the trickery and deceit that fueled these seances, with the so-called mediums effectively stealing money from grieving people. However, here, Nina actually can see ghosts, at least some of the time. Though she’s equipped with the standard tricks, she’s also able to make real connections with the departed.
• Nightmarish, surreal quality. For much of the book, Nina starts to feel less and less reliable as a narrator. Is she going insane, like her mother? Is she being haunted? It doesn’t help that the people around her are as unreliable as she is. Everyone she talks to seems to be either out of their wits or purposefully secretive and manipulative. How can Nina—and we, the readers—tell reality from fabrication?
• Casting shame on evil-doers. How good of a person was Nina’s late father? What about her twin brother and the reason for his absence? Where did all the money her family made come from? Then there are the other wealthy, fashionable families in the area. From physical abuse to pedophilia to theft of natural resources, there’s not much to admire in Nina’s family or community. And eventually, she knows it, too.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• Nina’s obsession with Leroy. I didn’t get it? Her feelings for him were hard to pin down and harder to understand. He’s a charmer and a seducer, but I didn’t get why Nina fell for it.
• Plot’s murky arc. This book, to its merit or detriment, doesn’t have a plot that’s easy to foresee at the beginning. While I generally like to be surprised, this one felt more like it changed course partway through, making the ending lack the payoff I was anticipating.

Audiobook:

Caitlin Kelly narrates The Night Guests, all from Nina’s perspective. She captures her naiveté, resolve, and unreliable point of view with equal skill, making for an engrossing listen. This audiobook kept me engaged throughout.

Final Thoughts

The Night Guests is an intriguing and winding story of loss, grief, spirits, and creating a path forward from ruins. It touches on deeper topics, like everyday evils and ill-gotten fortune vs. a plunge into poverty. I enjoyed the ghostly elements, even if I found the story a bit confused at times. Still, I look forward to reading more from Marina Scott!

Special thanks to Lake Union Publishing, Brilliance Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy The Night Guests here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

The Night Guests by Marina Scott
Audiobook Narrator	Caitlin Kelly
Audience	Adult
Genre	Horror; Gothic
Setting	Omaha, Nebraska
Number of Pages	251
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	November 1, 2025
Publisher	Lake Union Publishing

Official Summary

1903. Omaha, Nebraska.

Once a prominent fixture in Omaha’s high society, Nina Wilson is now drowning in debt and disgrace following the untimely death of her father. Her engagement has been broken off, her family’s grand estate has fallen into disrepair, and her mother, consumed by grief, is incapable of running the household.

Attempting to bring closure to her grieving mother, Nina invites a mysterious medium, Leroy Marshall, into their home. But Leroy Marshall’s brand of charisma―equal parts alluring and repellent―leaves Nina feeling deeply unsettled. The man’s presence seems to have awakened something otherworldly in the house itself, and now it’s stepping out of the shadows, refusing to leave.