A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLERS OF 2020
“I loved this book. It gave me the same waves of happiness I get from curling up with a classic Christie…The alternating points of view keep you guessing, and guessing wrong.” — Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient
“Evok[es] the great Agatha … wrong.” — Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient
“Evok[es] the great Agatha Christie classics…Pay close attention to seemingly throwaway details about the characters’ pasts. They are all clues.” — New York Times Book Review
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
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I didn’t think Lucy Foley could top The Hunting Party, but she did! I loved this book. It gave me the same waves of happiness I get from curling up with a classic Christie. A remote, atmospheric island, a wedding no one is particularly happy to be at, old secrets – and a murder. The alternating points of view keep you guessing, and guessing wrong. I can’t wait for her next book.
For me this book was as delicious as a piece of red velvet wedding cake. A darn good read with fabulous characters
I loved what the author did with this mystery/thriller. I was not only guessing who the killer could be but who was going to be killed.
This book is brilliant! As an author, it’s very rare for me to not see a plot twist coming from a mile away. But this book was filled with so many twisty change-ups, it was like being on a rollercoaster. The setting was perfect, complementing the dark undertones of the book. The writing was masterful. I highly recommend this one.
I am typically a creature of habit and don’t usually look at new releases until they’ve been out for a year. I’ve been pushing myself to test things recently, and when The Guest List by Lucy Foley came out, it looked intriguing. I had high hopes and ordered it from the NYPL. I was next in the queue last week and downloaded the novel. I’ve been swamped with writing/editing my next book and haven’t been able to read for two weeks (very rare)… finally I began it earlier this week. It didn’t go so well. 🙁
I read 15% and couldn’t connect. I thought I was tired, so I put it down and picked it up again last night. I got to 25% and still felt like it was missing something. Today… I buckled down and convinced myself to focus. At about halfway through, it suddenly got more interesting. By the last quarter, it had several great scenes. Overall, tho, I felt like it was an ordinary novel with boring characters and a story that happens all too frequently. Had the characters shined, or the twist (which was good) had more shock-and-awe, I would’ve rated it higher. The scenes were there, but the author didn’t focus on them; she went back and forth way too often between characters and time periods, so it missed the opportunity to align readers with characters.
Sadly, I was disappointed. The writing is mostly good. The plot, underneath the actual key scenes, is strong, but it was left in the background too long. There were no confrontations (other than one, not even the murder scene). The relationships were dull and often obviously fake; marriages with multiple affairs, friends w/ crushes, friends who want to hurt you, etc. I liked the last half a lot more and went with an average rating. I’d sample more from the author as there is a lot with promise. It just felt very underdeveloped. Maybe I’m getting ornery as I age!
Lucy Foley provides a chilling look inside the bullying culture of British private boys’ boarding schools through the lens of a tensely drawn adult thriller set on a remote Irish island, in The Guest List . I was gifted this book by a friend, and I stayed up way too late reading to finish it, always the sign of a good book. I took a star off, though, because the big moment/reveal fell a bit flat for me, and overall I was left with a sense of unfinished business. Perhaps because I write in this genre, I like the threads to be neatly tied and to leave the reader with a sense of satisfaction; I didn’t have that feeling at the end of this book, rather regret for all the pain still ongoing.
It is structured in the same way as Lucy Foley’s previous novel The Hunting Party. Told in flashback and from several viewpoints, a group of thirty somethings – each with skeletons rattling loudly in their cupboards – gather in an inaccessible location for a celebration and one of them dies. Like most whodunnits the killer is not revealed until the end, but in Foley’s novels neither is the victim. The writing is very smooth and easy to read. A most entertaining mystery. I will definitely read book three when it comes.
A real page-turner with a fascinating cast of characters. Seems that every guest on the island for this over-the-top wedding has a secret, and nobody is quite what they pretend to be. An enjoyable murder mystery and a fun read!
“The Guest List” by Lucy Foley takes readers to a bog-strewn, secluded Irish island for a posh and exclusive wedding – and a murder! Everyone, especially the Bride, the Best Man, a Plus One, a Bridesmaid, and even the Wedding Planner, has secrets. Each of these characters tells their perspective of the story throughout the book under quick-to-read chapters bearing their titles. As a mammoth storm brews, cutting off communication and access to the mainland, groomsmen play pranks, maids share secrets, and someone’s saved from drowning. The atmosphere provides chills, the characters drama, and the boutique whiskey fans the flames of this twisty-turning, medium-burning thriller.
Lucy Foley has done it again! Keeping in vein with her novel, The Hunting Party, she serves up a similar whodunit. The prime ingredients in both books are an isolated location, treacherous weather, and a group of characters with plenty of skeletons rattling in proverbial closets.
For The Guest List, Foley presents the marriage of two pseudo celebrities. Jules is the publisher of a trendy magazine and Will is the star of a reality TV series. Together these two make the perfect couple—attractive, glamorous, and wealthy. For their wedding, they invite guests to a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Think rugged cliffs, crashing waves, the ruins of a stone chapel, and a cemetery dotted with Celtic crosses. The setting is exquisite, wonderfully played for mood that is both over the top glamorous, yet darkly sinister. I loved how a cave along the shoreline and the sightings of cormorants added creepy atmosphere.
The story is told in multiple first person POV (I had no problem keeping track of whose head I was in), along with scattered chapters of omniscient. It’s a little slow to get off the ground, but after a few chapters¬—WOW! Trust me, you’ll want to stick with it.
The cast of characters is an intriguing mix—the bride, her younger sister, the groom with his frat buddies and polar-opposite best man, the caterer and her husband who are just launching their business, the plus-one and her husband…who just happens to be the bride’s best friend.
When a body turns up, Foley keeps the identity of the victim wrapped tightly until the end. Throughout, tensions simmer, tempers flare, and petty jealousies erupt. And erupt again. Entangling more and more people in the web. By the time the identity of the body is revealed, most everyone has a motive.
All of this undercutting and sniping is played against the backdrop of an impending storm and the extravagance of the wedding. I’m usually pretty good at fingering the culprit, and although I had suspicions that eventually proved correct, the whys and wherefores completely blindsided me. The plot threads are deftly woven, for a wholly satisfying and stunning conclusion.
If you like a combination of psychological thriller and whodunit murder mystery, this is a fabulous five-star read!
Set on a remote island off Ireland, with a beautifully developed, complex cast of characters, and a setting that sets the stage for a good old-fashioned mystery, there’s no question Foley can turn a phrase and ratchet up suspense. But while I really enjoyed this book, I’ll admit that by the last few chapters I was growing weary of the multiple POV and time shifts from past to present to past again. For a long while, it worked beautifully. And then it just seemed a bit contrived…almost forced. That said, it kept me turning the pages well into the night, and I loved the short chapters. I’d recommend this book if you enjoy POV and time shifts. If not, avoid at all costs, as it won’t be for you. 4.5 stars.
Loved this thriller. Packed with great characters, a twisty plot, and surprises all around. Can’t wait for Foley’s next release!
The way author Lucy Foley wrote the timeline in THE GUEST LIST was masterful; it served to wind the tension tighter and tighter. The ending (no spoilers here) brought closure on so many levels. Just you wait. You’re going to love it!
I had to power through the book from the beginning. Other than having to put what I’m guessing are Irish colloquialisms into context, the first 5/8ths of the book are rather vague, and could have been spared.
Although the vagueness is intended to set the scene, and build suspense, it falls flat as the story unfolds into an inevitable semi-predictable ending.
Pros: The story does a nice enough job of tying character development to motive.
But, congratulations to the author for creating a fantastic villain! As well as doing a fantastic job of conveying the emotional rawness of rage, regret, and revenge which is what makes the novel all that more terrifying.
OH my Gosh! I LOVED this book. I couldn’t read it fast enough.
A definite fast paced thriller with twists and turns I never saw coming.
I love that it was written from each characters POV and that it was set in Ireland.
A must read for suspense/psychological thriller lovers!
Can’t wait to read more from this Author.
This one is more a wonderful character study and a take-off on the old locked room mystery–on a dark and stormy night. The story, as it should, grabs more and more as you turn the pages. Great writing. We get to know all the characters enough to care about them before something happens. Instead of a mystery construct this one is done as a thriller. First person present tense that moves backward and forward in time. I was never lost or confused. Clear concise writing.
Too many points of view made the story a tad choppy like driving with one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas. Stop, start. Just when I got going into one character’s story, we’re off to another. Lots of atmosphere, and the setting carries equal, if not more, weight than the characters. The story is like a frayed rope being braided tighter and tighter as we approached the crisis. The characters, although three dimensional and at least semi-likable all turn heavily flawed by the end. The idea of killing a victim in a story is to evoke emotions. In this case the victim turns out to be so heinous we’re cheering for the killer. Which is really a unique way of twisting the plot. By the end everyone has a motive just like in the best locked room mysteries. What was really nice, I did not guess the, “who.”
Four solid stars and I would recommend this book.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson Series.
I listened to the audiobook.
This book was deliciously entertaining and easy to read. It’s Agatha Christie meets Entertainment Tonight and centers around a wedding, which always guarantees drama. I love when an author writes from the different perspectives of their characters, and each chapter alternates. Kept me guessing about the ending, and in the end, I was surprised! Everything I could want from a weekend read. Recommend!
Another great read from Lucy Foley. I love her no-escape settings and mysteries about young, sophisticated people who are not what they seem.
Good fun! Break out the bubbly…