The Guest List

That might've taken while to finish, but it was still a great a read! I loved how the chapters were split with you getting perspectives from the different characters, although I have to say none of the male characters in this book were very likeable! Despite that though, it was a very good book and I would definitely recommend to others. With that in mind, I'm definitely adding The Hunting Party by Lucy to my TBR list!

I seem to have somehow lost the review I posted here after reading it, as it's no longer on Goodreads. Nevertheless, I consider it my favorite due to its gripping depiction of eerie settings and masterful plot twists. As the story unfolds, old conflicts resurface, building tension that culminates in a shocking and tragic event. The novel skillfully intertwines suspense through multiple perspectives, creating a captivating narrative. The portrayal of the island was both peaceful and unsettling, evoking a sense of mystery. While a few sensitive themes were incorporated into the story, the conclusion was flawlessly executed. Moreover, I believe that Jodie Comer from “Killing Eve” would be an excellent fit for the role of Jules if the book were ever adapted into a movie.

If you want an easy, mindless read that builds up suspense, this book is for you! It's not great, it's got a lot of issues (and far too many coincidences to tolerate), and all the build-up fizzles out to nothing, but it's entertaining, and sometimes that's all we need.

I just need to vent that the Hannah/Charlie storyline is absolutely useless to the story, and the book would have been better without them.

The Guest List was a quick, engaging read that I'm definitely ordering for our library.

I haven't read The Hunting Party, the author's previous book that I've seen reviewers say has a very similar premise to The Guest List. If it is, I'll have to read that one next.

The Guest List takes place on a small island of the coast of Ireland, where a TV celebrity and magazine editor are getting married. The wedding party is spending the night before the wedding on the island, and you soon find out there's lots of secrets and tensions between pretty much everyone. Brief chapters of the night of the wedding throughout the books reveal something bad has happened, but you don't know who, what, or where.

The story is told through 5 points of view over the course of the book. I'm usually not a fan of multiple viewpoints, but it managed to make them distinct and still have a connection to all the characters - whether sympathetic or not.

My one complaint would be the ending, which I have mixed feelings on. There was so much time leading up to it, that the resolution felt a little rushed. I would have liked a little more closure/story on some of the issues that popped out earlier in the book. On the other hand, I can appreciate leaving it up to the reader.

I couldn't help but think about the TV show Harper's Island the entire I was reading The Guest List. Wedding on an island, dark history of said island, tangled relationships, and, of course, murder. Of course, there were many, many differences, but the general atmosphere has me wanting to rewatch the show.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for a review.

One of my favourite tropes is the “locked-room” thriller. You know, the one where everyone is stuck on an island, or trapped in a spooky house (always during a storm!) and one of the characters dies. There is usually a small pool of suspects and it's fun for the reader to play detective and work out possible motives, means and methods.

In the case of The Guest List, a high profile wedding is held on a secluded island off the Irish coast. There is a storm (of course!) and a murder most foul! Who? Why? How? and most importantly who-dun-it?

I would say this is a mostly successful thriller. Its a page-turner for sure, filled with a cast of damaged and dangerous adults behaving badly (fun!) We hear from the perspective of five core characters - The Bride, The Best Man, The Bridesmaid, The Plus One and the Wedding Planner - as well as some secondary characters (including a cultish clan of ushers). It's a fun, gripping read that doesn't take itself too seriously. Perfect for a beach read, or to snuggle up with a glass of red.

My only gripe is that there are a few too many convenient coincidences and connections between the characters. But, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief and just allow Lucy Foley to take you on her sensational journey, I am sure you will enjoy the ride.

I had reservations about the fact that there's so many perspectives being told in this story.

It was hard initially to get used to, but after a few chapters it was fine. There was a good few different plot twists, not all of which were believable. It was made a 5⭐️ read by two plot twists. One was at the end where it was revealed who was the murderer. I'm not sure why but I didn't see it being that character, but I was so taken by surprise. There's another twist during the book that just had me shocked. Those two things alone made it a 5⭐️

This book was excellent in weaving so many character's lives together seamlessly, and I truly was caught off guard by the twists. This made me stay up late so I could find out what happened- and I finished it in one day. Quick, suspenseful read that's worth it for the character building and the suspense.

Book's trigger warnings at the end of this review.

OK, so this book wasn't as much like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None as I had gone in expecting. This was a really, really good mystery that I couldn't put down and with a structure that I really enjoyed. I did think that some of the pacing elements got a bit repetitive and even formulaic after a while, but overall I'm not mad. Each of the characters were so well fleshed-out that you end up with a lot of things to say about every one of the main ensemble.

The set-up is pretty simple. Successful career woman Jules Keegan is getting married on a remote island off the Irish coast to her celebrity actor boyfriend Will Slater. The action jumps between past and present, as we see the guests first realise that there might be a dead body outside, but also jumping back to the day before the wedding where the main bridal party arrives on the island. This book really got into its element using multiple character perspectives - if that's not your thing, maybe avoid this book.

At first it almost feels like Foley's message with the multiple perspectives is about how everyone's secretly insecure and envious of everyone else around them, even as the other person is envying them back. Later, we realise just how many deep dark secrets each of them are hiding from everyone else. It's the convergence of all these secrets that forms the central mystery.

Of all the characters, Hannah and Olivia were my favourites for most of the story. Olivia because she's just a regular girl stepping out of her teenage years into young adulthood but just not being around the right people, being so unsure of herself, and just being sadly misunderstood by some of her nearest and dearest. I like Hannah on a more personal level, probably because it feels like she's the closest to me in my time of life, being a mom in her 30s. All the men in this one are pretty dislikeable unfortunately, so there's not much to pick from there. I am very familiar with that almost tribal way that some people (usually men) band together over something that happened in their teenage or young adult years, and can agree with how sad it looks on 30 year olds still dredging that up.

I think the only reason why this wasn't a 4.5 or 5 stars for me is that the pacing felt a bit repetitive after a while. More under spoilers as it might give away some parts of the book: You know that certain chapters are going to end with cliffhangers, and after a while you realise that these cliffhangers are red herrings so you don't really pay attention to them after a while. In a sense, the book tries so hard to be shocking at the end of every chapter that you can see it coming. There is set-up but then there is no pay-off, and when that happens a few times you learn to ignore the set-ups. For example, when a chapter ends with the ushers spotting Freddy approaching them and “seeing what he had in his hands” in an ominous way, like he might actually be dangerous. Then it jumps to a flashback again. Then when it jumps back to the ushers, we learn that, oh, Freddy was just carrying a harmless torch and he wasn't threatening them. This is just one example but this sort of thing goes on through the book, so whenever I read another cliffhanger, I stop anticipating anything of real threat coming from it because I figured there probably won't be.

Thoughts on some of the plot twists and the ending: Somehow, after it was revealed that Olivia had gotten pregnant by the mysterious Steven from the dating app, I actually called it that it was Will under a false name. I just couldn't figure out why she wouldn't already have known him given that he is a celebrity, but then remembered later on that Will is only just a rising star and was probably a lesser-known actor when Olivia first met him. At the same time, I also guessed that it was Olivia who had sent Jules that note asking her not to marry Will. After Will's dirty deeds started being dished out, I was wondering whether he was going to be the murder victim and honestly hoping that he would be - and that was before the reveal that he had also been behind Alice's humiliation and subsequent suicide. I was really wondering if everyone would just gang up and kill Will. Aoife caught me by surprise at the end, and even more so that she'd let Johnno take the rap for her. Now that I think about it, though, it was pretty obvious it had to be her because everyone else had too much motive, so if they had done it it would actually have been anti-climactic.I was also so so so enraged by Charlie cheating on Hannah with Jules when she was bloody recovering from childbirth. I mean, I guess because pregnancy and childbirth was a recent experience for me and I know how damned painful and miserable it was, I can't imagine the stomach someone needed to have to decide that your sex drive trumped being a decent human being and standing by your partner who needs your support the most right at that moment when they're physically, emotionally, and mentally at their lowest. I'm kinda miffed that the story doesn't really give Charlie and Hannah a proper break-up which therefore leaves the potential for them to actually brush this aside. I wanted to see Hannah leave Charlie and maybe hit it off with Olivia or something, because they were the two characters who deserved more happiness.

It's easy to recommend this to just about anyone, but definitely please read this if you're a fan of murder mysteries, Agatha Christie, and thrillers.

Trigger warnings: Murder, suicide, self-harm, accidental pregnancy, abortion, bullying, infidelity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, fat shaming, female objectification

The victim was revealed towards the end of the book for a change. Loved the way her writing just lucidly flows into chapters. Could have read the the book for hours and hours. New favorite author!
PS. Listened to the audiobook for this and it had an Irish character. Bonus points for the Irish accent!
Would recommend to every murder mystery fan.

Whoa, what a ride! I really enjoyed this story.
I don't read a lot of mysteries/thrillers but I think the author did an amazing job with this one. She definitely kept me guessing who was the killer, at one point I was sure it was one character and then two pages later I was sure it was another. It came to a point that anyone could have been the killer.
I have to say that I did guess who was the victim before the end, but I wasn't completely sure until the very end.
I enjoyed the slow burn story telling, loved the haunted/remote Irish island atmosphere and the multiple POVs, in my opinion, really helped to build up the tension. There was so much history between the characters and there a lot of clues along the way. I couldn't stop reading!
Overall, a very entertaining book, with twists and turns, twisted characters and a strong Clue game vibe.