Liza North’s new thriller, “The Weekend Guests” might be titled “The Weekend from Hell” as murder, guilt and insanity run amok among a circle of once-close college friends who years later answer an invitation to gather.
Told in alternating chapters with each guest’s perspective, “Weekend” (Harper Paperbacks) gradually reveals shared secrets.
“It’s a dual timeline narrative. One storyline is in 2019 which is this group of friends, now in their late 30s, coming back together on this apparently wonderful weekend,” North, 47, said in a phone interview from her Edinburgh home .
“They’re in this absolutely stunning house on the beautiful Dorset coast that one of them now owns, together with their families.
“Then there’s the backstory, which is their dark academia time in Edinburgh as students. That’s told from the point of view of Darryl, a PhD student who becomes friends with them.
“But that friendship becomes increasingly disturbing — and we see it from his point of view.”
North, educated at Oxford and University College London, is happy to be able to say, “No, they’re not modeled on individuals I knew.
“This is about how the nature of their friendship is very much the ways in which friendships last or change over time. The almost claustrophobic relationship between students is very much built on observation and experience.
“But I’m happy to say,” she laughed, “that my friendships have not taken the disastrous line some of these take.”
North had her own discovery creating “Weekend Guests” – her characters, literally, took over.
The group’s Queen Bee is blonde, Grace Kelly-beautiful and very rich Aline. While perpetual outsider Darryl scarily descends into psychosis.
“Aline just developed from the start,” North said. “Both her and Darryl are in some ways the most memorable and striking characters. From when I started writing, both characters very much took on a life of their own for me.
“Aline I always intended to be the Queen Bee. But she developed in a way that was even a stronger or more extreme version of what I had originally thought.
“Yes, Darryl in some ways is the villain. In other ways, I just found him an incredibly interesting character because it’s this combination of somebody for whom you have some reason to feel sympathetic.
“But as time gets on, it just becomes more and more apparent how creepy and disturbed he is. So I suppose, yes, in one way he’s the villain. But in another way, he’s the audience for the reader.
“We get so much from his perspective that I hope that makes it a little bit more unusual from just seeing this kind of slightly off person from another person’s point of view.”
“The Weekend Guests” is available now
