Summary: The Guest List by Lucy Foley
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?
Book Review: The Guest List
On a small island off the coast of Ireland a big celebrity wedding is thrown into shambles. People’s relationship issues come to light helped by liberal amounts of alcohol, a dark atmosphere of danger and stormy weather. On top of it all a body is found.
In The
Guest List the standalone novel by Lucy
Foley, published by Harper Collins Publishers. We follow the guests invited to magazine
owner Julia Keegan’s and TV celebrity Will Slater’s wedding on a small island
off the coast of Ireland. There is plenty of danger and rumors surrounding the venue
and when plenty of alcohol is consumed, relationships between the guests become
unhinged. -Then a murder happens.
Magazine owner Julia, Jules, Keegan is the bride who is
focused on presenting the perfectly staged wedding to be issued in her successful
magazine. I found her hard and shallow and did not care for her at all.
Hannah is the wife of the bride’s best man (male) who is a
caring, nice, friendly person who wants everybody to be happy. She seems the
most emotionally put together of the characters in this story and is therefore my
favorite.
We get to follow each guest’s perspectives in chapters of
their own, learning about their secrets. Everybody has them. Even the wedding
planner. There was some excellent character building in this story. The public
school boys were right on top of my list of disagreeable persons.
Plenty of elements of the setting added a dark vibe to the plot. Superb, vivid writing gave me the feeling of watching a horror movie. The setting was spooky, with a storm coming, darkness, and dangerous cliffs and bogs, all of which added an intensely scary feeling about the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the playing with time elements and perspectives in this story which kept interest continuously up, the plot fascinating and intense. This was the first book i have read with this kind of story building. I found the gradual revealing of clues and narrowing down of the plot really appealed to me.
The scariest part of the story was reminiscent of scenes from Lord of The Flies. Traumatic events seemed to have damaged them and were brought to life again when they were drunk. This part of the story felt well written and authentic and was my favorite. I was pleased to see some of the ushers wised up as the story progresses.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a quick read with very short chapters. Superb, vivid writing gave me the feeling of watching a horror movie. Great character building, particularly of the wedding ushers from same boarding school. A very dark, spooky vibe, some surprising twists throughout and a surprise ending. It is the first I have read by this author and I will be on the look-out for more. I enjoyed that the plot was gradually narrowing towards the end.
Fans
of Lucy
Foley would love The
Guest List. Readers of crime fictions would enjoy this too. Similar authors
to explore might be Lisa Gardner and Andrew Hunter Murray.
All
opinions in this review are completely my own.
My
rating: 5 stars / 5
Main
reasons: Excellent plot, great character building, vivid writing
Get your copy here:
Book Details (from Amazon)
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0008297169
Publisher: HarperCollins (February 20, 2020)
Publication Date: February 20, 2020
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B07VBBWN2N
About The Author (from Amazon)
Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry, before leaving to write full-time. The Hunting Party is her debut crime novel, inspired by a particularly remote spot in Scotland that fired her imagination.
Lucy is also the author of three historical novels, which have been translated into sixteen languages.
Follow her on:
Twitter: @lucyfoleytweets
Instagram: @lucy_foley_author
Facebook.com/lucyfoleyauthor
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