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Staying with a friend and her husband is sexier—and deadlier—than anyone could have imagined, in this “delightfully salacious” (Shondaland) domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here.

“A fresh and sexy ride, perfect for reading poolside.”—People (Best New Book)

“Sexy, atmospheric, deliciously creepy, and ingeniously plotted: the best kind of up-all-night page-turner.”—Lucy Foley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment and The Guest List

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Elle, PopSugar, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, CrimeReads

Kelly’s new life in Philadelphia has turned into a nightmare: She’s friendless and jobless, and the lockdown has her trapped in a tiny apartment with the man she gave up everything for, who’s just called off their wedding. The only bright spot is her newly rekindled friendship with her childhood friend Sabrina—now a glamorous bestselling author with a handsome, high-powered husband.

When Sabrina and Nathan offer Kelly an escape hatch, volunteering the spare room of their remote Virginia mansion, she jumps at the chance to run away from her old life. There, Kelly secretly finds herself falling for both her enchanting hosts—until one night, a wild and unexpected threesome leads the couple to open their marriage for her.

At first, Kelly loves being part of this risqué new world. But when she discovers that the last woman they invited into their marriage is missing, she starts to wonder if they could be dangerous . . . and if she might be next.

Packed with Andrea Bartz’s signature tension, twists, and toxic relationships, The Spare Room marks an edgy, boundary-pushing new direction from the “master of the ‘feminist thriller’” (Los Angeles Times).

Review

“The novel is delightfully salacious and rampant with suspense and sex, and there’s a reason why Bartz is known as a hitmaker in the field.”—Shondaland

“The juicy, sexy thriller of the summer.”—Marie Claire

“Will keep you hooked until the very end.”—Katie Couric Media

“Delightfully salacious and rampant with suspense and sex.”—Shondaland

“An easy, fun summer read.”—Daily Mail

“Equal parts steamy and thrilling.”—Glamour

“Andrea Bartz has returned to deliver. This suspense story set in a Virginia mansion features some eyebrow-raising twists, especially when protagonist Kelly finds herself charmed by her hosts—and welcomed into their bed.”—Elle

“A fresh and sexy ride, perfect for reading poolside.”—People

“Bartz always brings a healthy portion of social satire and incisive observation to her thrillers.”—CrimeReads

“An enticing, twisty, and seductive thriller about obsession, desire, and revenge.”—Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

“Bartz’s latest showstopper kept me up all night turning pages. Propulsive and sexy, The Spare Room left me gasping for air as I followed its main character into the fiery heart of a dark, complicated romance. This is one visit you won’t want to end.”—Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines

“I love a story where a woman throws convention to the wind and has to deal with messy consequences, and The Spare Room does it brilliantly. I never knew what would happen next! This book offers a delicious mix of romance and mystery that I couldn't get enough of.”—Marie Rutkoski, New York Times bestselling author of Real Easy

“With its dazzling prose, fascinating dynamics between characters, and dark, twisty plot, The Spare Room has all the trademarks of an Andrea Bartz novel—while being her sexiest and most exciting book yet. I couldn’t stop turning the pages; some of these scenes will be seared into my brain forever.”—Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot, Behind the Red Door, and The Winter Sister

“Sexy, atmospheric, deliciously creepy, and ingeniously plotted: the best kind of up-all-night page-turner.”—Lucy Foley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment and The Guest List

“A sensuous, spine-tingling thriller that’s impossible to put down!”—Leah Konen, author of The Perfect Escape, You Should Have Told Me, and All the Broken People

“Truly game-changing twists.”—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Andrea Bartz, a Brooklyn-based journalist, is the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here, The Herd, and The Lost Night. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Martha Stewart Living, Elle, and many other outlets, and she’s held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other publications.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

I’ve chosen Amtrak’s quiet car, so I stifle the urge to sob, to scream, to whimper in exhaustion or screech in fear of the strangers around me.

It’s wild how quickly I got used to staying home. Now riding a largely vacant train feels complicated and draining, like navigating a foreign country. Virgo meows on the seat next to me, and I unzip the carrier to scratch her ears. Mike didn’t want me to take her—he even reached for her carrier as I headed for the door.

Reach for me. Fight for me. I’m the one you should keep from leaving.

My breath hitches, and a sob plucks at my throat. I look down at the sandwich I bought before boarding, but my stomach has that hollow, wrung-out feeling from crying so much the past three days. I’m not sure I’ll ever feel hungry again.

While I sat in the cavernous belly of Thirtieth Street Station, the vibe was fearful, hushed, crackling with distrust. Masked travelers eyed one another warily. It seems like a lifetime ago that we moved freely and breezily breathed in the air, sucking it into our bodies like milk-drunk babies. I’d felt relieved to board the train, but then a man sat behind me and now he’s eating a salad, infusing the car with his hot breath.

Did I think this through? It’s been sixteen hours since I shelled out $59 for a one-way ticket from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. It might not sound like much, but my personal bank account isn’t bulging. Mike’s company funded our move; his new salary and signing bonus have been carrying us through my unemployment. The sandwich was another stupid $12.

But of course, my mental math is just a distraction, an anxiety more comfortable than the true problem that looms.

I gaze out the window, where pretty houses and church steeples poke out of the distance. Sabrina has a meeting at my arrival time, so her husband, Nathan, will pick me up from Union Station. I feel a squeeze of fear every time I remember this fact. I’m nervous enough to see Sabrina, and now I’ll have to start this bonkers open-ended visit by finding a stranger in a train station.

My phone buzzes in the seat pocket. Mike. Hope crackles—has he changed his mind?

“Hello?” I keep my voice low. I shouldn’t have picked the quiet car; a woman a few rows up turns to glare.

“Kelly. Hey.” He swallows, and all the molecules in my body hold still. “Uh—I can’t find the laundry detergent.”

My insides drop. “What?”

“I’m trying to wash the sheets and—”

“Under the kitchen sink. With all the other cleaning products.” Everything about the image fills me with sadness: Mike helpless in the hallway, peering at the washing machine; the fact that he’s already cleaning our bedsheets, ridding them of my scent. I hear the clunk of a door springing open.

“Found it. Sorry to bother you.” Static fizzes and moisture coats my eyes.

What happened to us? I want to scream. We’re supposed to be planning a life together.

“The train okay?” he asks.

I whisk away my tears. “Yup. Text me if there’s anything else, okay? I shouldn’t be on the phone.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I hesitate. “I’m sorry too.”

“Look, let’s not—” He cuts himself off, clears his throat. I know I screwed up. I thought we could move past it, but now I’m less sure than ever. “Text me when you get there. Bye, Kelly.” He hangs up before I can reply, and I feel a plunge of despair.

This is not how I pictured year 34. It was supposed to be the best one yet, the year when life finally began: I had a fresh start in Philadelphia with my sweet, successful fiancé. A wedding planned, the real-life incarnation of a Pinterest board I’d been secretly updating since long before I met Mike, the invitations sent, the venue—a rustic barn near my parents’ house in Illinois—locked down.

Others have it worse. I’m not sequestered in a field hospital, a ventilator controlling my lungs. My body wasn’t shunted into the back of a refrigerated truck.

But this? It sucks. It really, really sucks.

I blame myself—Lord knows I’ve beaten myself up enough—but the caterer bears some responsibility too. Our other vendors were so understanding: We get it, no one’s holding gatherings. But the farm-to-table eatery we’d hired wouldn’t stop blowing up my phone, demanding we secure a new date or lose our deposit. My future father-in-law was underwriting the whole affair, and Mike refused to call him about it. I attributed it to Mike’s overwhelm—or even his laziness, in my less-kind moments.

We fought about it. We fought about lots of things. And then, three days ago, he cracked my life in two, snapped it like a wishbone.

I catch myself worrying a nail over the gash in my palm. A gash of shame, a scabby reminder of the ugliness that poured out of me last week.

I snatch my phone back up, then reread the casual text that stopped me in my tracks yesterday. I still can’t believe it’s real, not something I hallucinated: “You should come stay with us.”

Heart pounding, I’d given the “ha-ha” reaction. But Sabrina doubled down: “I’m serious! We have a spare room. And Lord knows, we could use the company.”

That’s when my hands started shaking. I was alone in our bedroom in Philadelphia. It faced the street, with bars over the windows ostensibly to keep the riffraff out, but they made it feel like a jail cell too.

“That’s so nice of you!” I replied. “But I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

She began typing back right away. “It wouldn’t be an intrusion at all—honestly, Nathan is such an extrovert, he is DYING for someone to talk to who isn’t me. (And as an introvert, I am dying for him to have someone to talk to who isn’t me, lol.) No pressure but it’s a serious offer! Maybe for a week or two? Could be good for both of you.”

Both of us. Something my mom drilled into me, a lesson gleaned from forty-plus years of married bliss: You and your partner are a team. You make decisions together. When I floated the idea, he jumped right on it.

But I wanted him to fight for me. To beg me to stay.

Crying in a mask is disgusting. Even the thud-thud-thud of the train over the tracks can’t cloak my shuddery breath. The fabric pulls as tight as a gag with every gasp, and tears and snot soak the inside. More people turn and glare. I hear my mother’s voice: Get it together, Kelly. Get a grip.

I send Sabrina an update: “Passing Baltimore!” I should be texting her and Nathan both, but I’m still intimidated by him.

It’s hard to believe that three weeks ago, I didn’t even have Sabrina’s number. We’d followed each other on Instagram for years, but for whatever reason, her photos rarely showed up on my feed. And then—bored with the pandemic that just wouldn’t quit, blissfully unaware that a grenade was about to blow up my life, I found myself scrolling through that roll of happy people. And the algorithm threw in a wild card: an update from Sabrina Lamont.

She’s perfect. I knew her as Sabrina Balzer in high school, a tangential friend in the same nerd-adjacent clique, though we never hung out one-on-one. I remembered her as mousy and quiet; she hadn’t crossed my mind in decades. But jeez, I thought, look at her now.

Thick brown waves spilled like rapids over her shoulders. She had a Frank Lloyd Wright face, sharp cheekbones and a square jaw, with sculpted brows and leprechaun-green eyes. It was a selfie from an outdoor lounge chair, and behind her stretched a sparkling pool the color of sapphires.

That night, I let the world darken as I tapped my way around her online presence, feeling that grubby rush of indiscipline, the same waterfall of want that has you finishing the pint of ice cream or wrenching off a scab, exposing the ink-red underneath. I found old blog posts by her and news articles about her and read them hungrily. I unearthed images of her at a gala and clicked through all eighteen red-carpet photos.

We all have Instagram friends we’re obsessed with, right? I couldn’t get enough of her glory: her mansion an hour outside D.C.; hikes through the Blue Ridge Mountains; Throwback Thursdays to glitzy events with her husband, Nathan, who was tall and broad and more cute than handsome with his thick red-blond beard and aquiline nose. A power couple. And sure, he had some high-ranking government job she referenced in captions, but she was no trophy wife; she’s a goddamn New York Times bestselling author, which, Christ. What? How.

Review:

3.3 out of 5

66.00% of customers are satisfied

3.0 out of 5 stars A creepy tale with twists

D.,.G.&.B.S. · June 1, 2024

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow and not sure

P.B. · October 17, 2023

I found it hard to put down. The ending was a surprise but very believable. However, I didn’t like the protagonist, Kelly, at all, not at the beginning, not in the middle, not at the end. Nathan and Sabrina are not much better. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why in the epilogue, we even get that information. It was not necessary. I wasn’t even wondering about it or needed to know. The more I think about it the more it makes me believe the writer, who is very good, doubted herself. How did publisher even let her go there. Now, except for the epilogue, the writer might have written this with the purpose of just telling a pretty good story with all the characters unlikeable. If so, she did a great job.

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique, enthralling queer thriller!

c. · June 20, 2023

This may be one of the most unique thrillers I've read in a while. As soon as I read the summary for this book, I knew it would be right up my alley. Queer characters toeing the line on societal norms, with a bunch of plot twists and mysteries along the way? Yes, please. I even stayed up until 1 am because I couldn't put this down. I ended up devouring it all in 24 hours tops.I saw a few other reviewers online saying this was more of a romance than a thriller, but what I loved was that it had elements of both – but only the best parts. I'm not a huge romance reader, but the passion and romance that blossoms was beautiful to read about.The growth we see along the way from our protagonist made me a bit emotional. I found her weak in the beginning and it frustrated me from time to time, so when we start to see that growth, it's truly moving and had me rooting for her until the very last page.The plot twists were perfectly sprinkled throughout, with a few jaw-dropping ones at the end. While there were a handful of twists that had me actually shocked, I also have to give credit to the overall mysterious vibe of the story as well because you really find yourself questioning who you can trust from start to finish.Overall, this was an incredible read! Full review on bookstagram @chapterswithcourtney

2.0 out of 5 stars trudging

F. · February 25, 2024

This booking felt to slow and like it was achingly slow. Had I known it was about a couple opening their marriage up not once but twice and what occurs from that I probably wouldn’t purchased it. I would assume very rarely does opening your marriage end well. I didn’t like the character of Mike. He wasn’t likable. Honestly there wasn’t really any likeable characters in this story. Sad. It talked about Nathan’s boring job, Sabrina’s job as a successful author, Kelly left her super awesome job behind for Mike and was trying to be a trad wife I think but that didn’t pan out, Beth is a grifter. Kelly really wanted children desperately. Nathan and Sabrina were just pawns in Beth’s big con job. Why did Nathan hold her head under water where she was drowning? Why didn’t they have cameras in the house besides in the bedroom? Why didn’t they lock their offices if they are secretive about their work? Lots of plot holes. Also I think Mike was having some sort of affair with his colleague and that plot was just dropped but I think he gaslit he and I don’t think she was wrong. Women’s intuition isn’t often wrong and he showed all the signs . I didn’t enjoy this book. It seemed to try to be sexy and it wasn’t. It seemed to try to be a lot of things and it was just slow and painfully drawn out.

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent plot but a bit slow

A.C. · January 29, 2024

Something was lacking with this one for me. It was mostly entertaining, and a unique plot that I kept thinking was building towards something that never really happened. There is a twist, which wasn’t that surprising, but it felt like an easy out. I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likable. It wasn’t slow or boring enough to stop reading, but in the end, it just felt like something was missing.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read!

A.C. · August 19, 2024

Andi was def channeling the master of tension and suspense (Madame A Christie) in this one! So many moments of this story kept me on my toes.Good pacing. It moves quickly.The characters were all shifty but well developed.It's a sexy thriller taking place at the heart of Covid lockdown featuring a throuple and murder.I ate it up: Yum yum!I loved it, just wished there was a tad more spice 😜 because ya girl was here for ittttt! 🤣

5.0 out of 5 stars incredible twists and turns

D.D. · December 24, 2024

This. Is. The. Best. The twists are the best!!!! You will think you know but you have zero clue!!!! This was a wild ride from the beginning til the end.10/10 recommend.

I couldn’t put it down!

E. · October 30, 2023

boring and slow

L. · April 30, 2025

This book was so disappointing, boring and slow. I was waiting and waiting for the something to happen and all it was a desperate girl in her head. I do not recommend it.

Terrible

C.B. · July 8, 2023

Crisp, if derivative, writing, and a good plot that exhausts itself halfway through the book. Then it’s just gears grinding and whiff smoke.Tedious exposition and ludicrous twists.A struggle to finish, too bad!

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The Spare Room: A Novel

Name: The Spare Room: A Novel
Brand: Ballantine Books
SKU: U1984820516
Price: 9.56 BHD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 3.4 (10 reviews)

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