This novel is very close to the story in the video game. The 7^th Guest is one of the many games I didn’t play when I was a kid. I don’t even remember hearing about it.

This is one of the instances where if you didn’t see a game in the store, have access to a magazine, or have a friend who played it, you never heard of it before. This is often ignored when people make retrospectives on video games. Not everyone knew about every video game.

The 7^th Guest is one of the adventure games that uses live-action footage, or FMVs, to tell its story. While it doesn’t look like anything special now, it would’ve looked very cool back in 1993. The novelization was published in 1995,  around the time of The 11^th Hour’s release.

There is a whole story behind that game’s development and how the company, Trilobite, fell apart. That is a story for another time. For now, let’s look at the book and see how close it is to the game.

Plot Summary

The book jumps around a lot in the first few chapters. Every character gets a point of view that explains who they are and their motivations. One by one, we learn about the characters, why they received an invitation, and what is going on with Henry Stauf.

There are a total of eight main characters in the book. It takes a while, but we meet all of them. Here is a breakdown of the characters:

• Henry Stauf – A wealthy toy maker who is following the orders of an evil entity
• Julia Heine – Middle-aged woman who is an alcoholic
• Brian Dutton – Ruthless Businessman
• Hamilton Temple – Retired Magician
• Edward Knox – Has gambling debts
• Elinor Knox – The nicest person here. I have no idea why she was invited.
• Martine Burden – Gold Digging socialite
• Tad – Some kid who entered the house on a dare

The story starts with Stauf as a drifter. He talks about robbing stores and begging for money. At some point, he was beaten up by the police for something. This story takes place in the 1920s and 1930s.

Eventually, we have Stauf killing a woman because the voices in his head tell him to. He gets picked up by the police but is let go. Then he finds a knife and makes a doll. This is how he got his start as a toy maker.

His origin story is spread out across the first third of the book. It makes the story a little confusing at first as it shifts perspectives to each of the other characters. Finally, everyone gathers at the house and enters. Then we get Tad sneaking into the house.

The rest of the book plays out with the guests trying to figure out what Stauf wants and trying to get Tad. Then, all of the guests start dying. Here is a brief rundown of how each of them die:

• Hamilton Temple – Strangled to death from a wire trap.
• Brian Dutton – Stabbed to death by Edward Knox
• Edward Knox – Thankfully, Stauf explains that he dies from getting his back broken. It wasn’t clear to me until Stauf goes through each death.
• Martine Burden – I have no idea what happened to her. She’s dead, but I have no idea what happened. Stauf says she died at the same time as Edward, but I’m not sure how.
• Elinor Knox – Gets turned into a doll.
• Julia Heine – She gets sucked into the floor after Stauf spits some green liquid at her.
• Tad – He gets saved by Future Tad.

The ending is odd because Future Tad is introduced very late in the book. He shows up but isn’t named until the last ten to fifteen pages. It comes out of nowhere.

Future Tad made more sense in the video game because he narrated the game. In the book, he appears like a Deus ex machina. He saves the day, Stauf is defeated, and everyone is happy. Well, everyone who is still alive is happy.

Similarities with the Game

There aren’t too many differences between the book and the game. Character motivations and backstories are a little different, Future Tad narrates the game, and the entity is given a name in the game.

The deaths in the game are definitely more satisfying than reading them in the book. There were times when I didn’t know what happened to someone. The game also does a better job of explaining what was going on with Stauf.

It wasn’t clear to me what was happening at times in the book. For much of the middle 100 pages, I thought it was Stauf playing tricks on the guests. Then, in the end, it turns out he has magical powers that “the Voices” granted him. It was strange.

While it is a faithful adaptation of the game, it would’ve been nice if some things had been explained. In the end, Stauf turns into something monstrous, and Future Tad shows up to save the day. This came out of nowhere.

The same thing happens with the deaths. Sometimes, it is obvious when a character dies, like Brian, Hamilton, and Julia. I thought Elinor and Martine’s deaths could’ve been illusions or tricks played on the characters by Stauf.

I know this is how the game plays out, but the book didn’t establish Future Tad as a character until the last 20-30 pages. In the game, he is the one telling the story to the player. This shows the differences between the two storytelling mediums.

Wrap Up

This was a fun book. Aside from the ending, I loved it. The characters are great, and the story is very good.

The story for the video game is harder to turn into a book than you might think. Not having Future Tad be the narrator makes his appearance in the book a little odd. He is the point of view for a few chapters, but you won’t know that until the big reveal at the end.

A few of the deaths were a little unclear, and I completely forgot about Julia until she showed back up at the end of the book. I was writing down some notes about what happened to each character, and I realized I had completely lost track of Julia. She shows up at the end and is very important to the ending.

This is from the video game, so I can’t complain about it. The book does a very good job translating the game’s plot into the book. With Future Tad being kept out of the book, things were a little confusing at times. Overall, it is still a good book.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts about video game books, such as Myst: The book of D’ni and Myst: The book of Atrus.