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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A wedding on a remote island off the Irish coast turns deadly. The Bride, The Best Man, The Plus One, The Bridesmaid, The Wedding Planner they’re all carrying their own secrets, but are they enough to kill for?
The Guest List is a slow-burn mystery that I read with such compulsion, I had to stop my roving eyes from straying ahead on the page and focus on the all the passing details because Lucy Foley is a writer where everything counts. Things said and unsaid. I don’t often read mysteries – something I’m trying hard to rectify – but when I do this is the type I enjoy. The type that really pulls you in and almost forces you to wrap yourself up in the characters to see each of their perspectives.
I loved the setting, the remoteness of the island how it is so beautiful, but there’s this layer of danger lurking beneath the surface.
It’s kind of a good representation of the major theme of the story which I think is appearances. How we present ourselves to others, how our personality can conform based on whose company we’re in, how we look at ourselves when we’re alone. Our insecurities, our wants, our desires, our secrets. A wedding is also a perfect accompaniment of this as well because what is a wedding but a show, a spectacle, a party, a fairy-tale that’s only real for the one day and then reality breaks through. I loved making all these connections and even while I’m writing this, I’m still making them which I think is a mark of a really well thought out story.
There were a couple of aspects in regards to the broader murder mystery that I thought were a little too coincidental, not necessarily out of place, but definitely on the verge of making things a bit too neatly wrapped together.
Overall, this is my first book by Lucy Foley, but it definitely won’t be my last. If you love the intricacies of unfolding a slow-burn mystery, you’ll be engrossed with The Guest List.
I read The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley and really enjoyed it. And after reading The Guest List, which I enjoyed, I feel like I could almost use most of my review from The Hunting Party to describe The Guest List. Not that it’s a bad thing that the books are so similar, just an observation.
Both The Guest List and The Hunting Party remind me a lot of the Christopher Pike books I read as a teen, but it’s as if those books have grown up. There are a lot more adult relations and problems, but still all the twists and draw dropping reveals that I’ve come to expect from Pike, and now Foley.
In The Hunting Party the only likeable characters were the two people who ran the lodge. In The Guest List there were more likeable characters and characters that I felt sorry for in regards to circumstances that others, as well as themselves, had brought upon themselves. There are still a bunch of rich, narcissistic, and psychopathic people in this book, and I am not ashamed to admit I was happy to see some of them get their comeuppance.
In The Guest List, the story is told between some of the guests and the wedding planner and switches time periods, but it’s never hard to follow. The way Foley ties everything up is done masterfully, even if one must suspend their belief in order for it to be believed. But that’s what is great about reading fiction, you get to just enjoy the story. I did see some of the things coming since Foley left some big clues if you’re paying a bit of attention. But when it came to two of the female guests, I enjoyed the twists for them. And while not everyone got to kill off the jerk (and we actually don’t find out who is murdered until late in the book), they way it happened and who is charged for the crime was the perfect ending.
I’m already looking forward to Lucy Foley’s next book, and highly recommend you read The Hunting Party and The Guest List.
Everyone has secrets in this who-dunnit mystery/suspense!
I read “The Hunting Party” and loved it, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Foley’s newest thriller. There is definitely a similarity between the two and I’m not sure which one I liked better.
Foley is wonderful at transforming a remote setting into the perfect murder site…very chilling and eerie. She also likes to keep it interesting by gathering an ill-matched group. Like her previous book, this one slowly builds up tension, so by the time you get to the last 10%, you can’t read fast enough! The secrets and twists that come out in that last bit make the book worth reading.
It’s narrated in various POV’s – the main characters in the wedding party. Each chapter builds up suspense and leaves you hanging, then goes on to another narrator. There were many times when I stayed up reading too late because it was hard to find a good stopping point!
I won’t go into too many specifics. You can find those in the book description or other reviews. I will say that I found Will’s ushers and best man, who were old school mates, to be an interesting bunch. Just add a little liquor (and drugs) and these “adult, professional men” returned to their boyish antics and shenanigans…so typical and realistic .
“The rituals, the male bonding. When we get together there’s this kind of pack mentality. We get carried away.”
My Rating: 4 ’s
Published: May 5th 2020 by William Morrow
Pages: 320
Thank you to Edelweiss, William Morrow and Lucy Foley for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion!
@lucyfoleytweets @WmMorrowBooks @weiss_squad
#MysteryThriller #TheGuestList #May2020
Page turner full of red herrings and diversions in the style of Agatha Christie. Full of broken and damaged characters. You don’t know who dies till the very end, so it’s nearly impossible to figure out who killed them. Highly recommend!
Rating:
Genre: Mystery Thriller
A wedding is planned On an island off the coast of Ireland. Will, the groom is a handsome television star and the bride is Jules, an ambitious magazine publisher. Everything seems to be perfect and as per the plan. But things do not seem as they look. Everybody has a secret and something to hide. Usually, with murder mysteries, there is a murder, and you as a reader will have to figure the killer. In this book, you will not know the killer and neither who got killed until near the end!
The story is told from multiple characters’ perspectives. This murder mystery is a slow burn. It took me some time to get into the story. I feel the first part was a lot slower than the second one. So if you are not a patient reader and love your thrillers to have a fast pace this might not be the right book for you. But if you enjoy your mystery to be slow burn then I think you will love this one. At first, I found that the multiple points of view to be somehow annoying as I was not getting much time with each character to know and understand their side story, but gradually I feel that the annoyance got diminished as I progressed in the book. However, I still feel that some readers will not be able to follow up that many characters at the same time especially those readers who cannot focus a lot. The chapters are short and many chapters ended with a cliffhanger that made me want to know more.
I loved the atmosphere of the book. The author has chosen a great setting for a murder mystery and at the right event (a wedding)! Think about it, an isolated island! When it comes to the characters I don’t have any particular favorite, they were all well defined and had their distinctive features. What pleased me a lot is that many of the characters had the motive to kill the victim which made it difficult for me to guess who the killer was. Not just the killer but you will also have to guess who gets killed first . That itself was a fantastic build-up. The Guest List is an interesting murder mystery that has many elements that could have made it a great read if not for the slow first half and the too many POVs. However, this read has a lot more positive perks, and all that turned it into an enjoyable experience. I liked it a lot.
This was interesting enough to make me want to know what happens, but only just barely.
The setup is that several people show up as special guests to a wedding that’s taking place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Later, more guests will arrive, which kind of steals from the whole “isolation” concept. There’s constant time jumps between “Now” when a body is found and the time leading up to then and all the baggage the characters have brought with them.
None of the characters are likable, and maybe that was intentional, but it would be nice to have one character to cheer for . And I understand the whole book is supposed to be a slow reveal of what’s going on under the surface, but the constant hinting at something bad in everyone’s past started feeling less like a gentle tap and more like the author wielding a sledgehammer with her non-dominant hand.
I also found it strange to have both the Now chapters and the “past” chapters done in present tense, and every single chapter ends jarringly abruptly and in a way that I think is meant to lend intrigue, but to me felt like the author just got tired of writing that chapter.
It seems many people love this book, but I couldn’t wait to be done with it.
Gloom Review
“And I’m not worried about it being haunted. I have my own ghosts. I carry them with me wherever I go.”
What a ride this story was!
I’ve had this book on my TBR since last year, and finally got around to reading it (my wife and I have our own little private book club, and this was our March read).
I’ll be honest… I went into this not expecting much horror, but @lucyfoleyauthor is a huge TEASE throughout the first 75% of this novel. It reminded me a bit of the writing of Mark Edwards, in that you keep thinking something supernatural is going on, but then it’s explained away. It was a bit frustrating, but I knew the genre, & really have no one to blame but myself on that issue.
That said, the mystery, drama, and sexual tensions pours from almost every page, which kept me hooked.
“Some of the stones have moved closer still, leaning in toward one another as though sharing a secret.”
And boy, oh boy, does everyone in this story have their own secret.
The author has a unique, quirky voice, & a brooding atmosphere envelopes the entire story. If you’re into mystery/thrillers, this one checks all the boxes.
I personally enjoy this genre, though they tend to feel a bit formulaic. I tend to read less than 5 a year, but I’m glad I made “The Guest List” one of them.
4/5
Excellent unnerving mystery with unique characters and exceptional narrators doing the storey-telling. Interesting format with multiple POVs and motives and twists. Very satisfying ending that I couldn’t wait to hear.
This mystery is so fun and wild and the tagline is just KILLER!
Foley does a great job of keeping you guessing, of withholding just enough information for you to wonder who the “bad people” in the story are. But most of the drama happened in the past rather than the present of the story and that’s what made it more mysterious rather than exciting and thrilling.
Such a fast-paced, exciting read.
The setting of blustery, Irish island was lovely!
It was good. None of the characters are likable, which always makes it a little harder for me to make it through a book, but I almost feel like Foley could have fleshed out the characters a little bit more. I understand that it’s not a romance book, but the ending felt a little unsatisfying for me, but the story was interesting and how Foley tied it all together was good.
DNF
It was such a good murder mystery. Everyone literally everyone had reason to want Will dead and the author did a spectacular job at keeping me guessing. I never thought Johno would be the one to pay for killing Will either but I guess that was a little extra revenge on Ether the wedding planner. This book surprised me and hooked me in from the jump.
This writer is not interested in solving the mystery of why the victim was murdered. Not that as a reader you’d actually care. This writer is interested in dealing with the 21st century madness of reality TV, social media addiction, and outrageous wedding rituals that cost a fortune and have little meaning for the intended couple’s future happiness. If the theme is destination weddings will kill you, then she succeeds, but if Foley is trying to write a compelling mystery with compelling characters, she fails. Highly recommend The Maidens by Alex Michaelides in place of this book.
I have been trying to make my way through all of Reese Witherspoon’s BOTM picks because we have similar reading tastes and because she is my favorite actress. I needed a good thriller to read and thought I would give The Guest List a chance. I really ended up enjoying this novel and all the twists and turns that followed with it. I was not expecting a lot of the twists and did not see them coming. However, at times it almost seemed too out of the box like how in the world is there even a possibility of certain situations actually happening? Some instances seemed a little too far-fetched. I won’t say which character but honestly one of the males in this book is one of my least favorite characters of all time in a book that I have read recently. I completely was off and had no idea who the actual real killer was until the very end. I enjoyed that the novel flipped back and forth between different characters’ POVs. It made the thriller all the more enjoyable and had me on the edge of my seat. This book contains a lot of sensitive topics including but not limited to rape, suicide, bullying, mental health issues, and more. So, please be wary picking it up.
Suspenseful, surprising, and with examples of karma at work.
A dramatic modern day murder mystery in a spooky setting that’s told from multiple points of view. I loved seeing how what should have been a perfect event is unraveled by everyone’s backgrounds colliding. (For the audiobook listeners out there: narration was great with the varying character voices!)
I thought the suspense of the book was really well done. As others have pointed out, there’s at least one plot hole, but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story. I did feel like the ending was rushed, and wished I could have had a few more conversations between characters to feel completely satisfied.
This was fantastic. The book opens with Jules and her impending wedding to Will. The star couple.
They’re on an Irish island. The book is told through different POV’s. I usually don’t enjoy reading this style. But on the audiobook, each character is done by a different person and it was fascinating how it all came together like an audio drama.
Each character though has a reason to hate Will and kill him. A bit extreme. The whole book is a slow churn of coincidences that serve revenge to the man who has it all.
It kept me on the edge of my seat.
I only didn’t like that the book was not told chronologically for effect maybe, so the time shifts were jarring. Other than that, every character in this book is miserable and negative. There’s no redeeming quality or positive note about anyone. Everyone’s unhappy in their marriage, their job, their childhood, all the guests are behaving like children escaping, behaving badly at a wedding. It was a bit off-putting. Even Will’s POV is done at the very end as an after-thought. For that I’ve taken off a star but overall if you’re looking for a thriller this is very good.
A celebrity wedding. A remote island. A storm. Everyone has a secret. It’s a classic setup for a twisting mystery. At the beginning, we know there’s a body, but who is it and was it foul play.
Told in a mix of events from the present and the night before and from several points of view, we see the mystery slowing unraveling.
I loved the complex characters and the way their stories intertwined. It was nearly impossible to put down. However, I will think twice if I’m ever invited to a wedding on a remote island.
I have seen this cover everywhere, and The Guest List has been in my TBR stack for awhile now… and I’m so glad I finally got around to listening to this thriller. Domestic. Psychological… it’s a slow burning thriller that takes its time setting up the story and developing the characters, but it’s well work the wait.
Foley has a writing style that is both languorous and biting. She creates flesh and blood characters, has wonderful dialogue and a plot that you’ll want to burn through until you get to the end.
A fun, suspenseful atmospheric read.