The Guest List
The Guest List
By Lucy Foley
Clever, Sinister, Heart-Stoppingly good, this is a wedding not to be missed!
Book review, no spoilers I swear!
Published by HarperCollins Publishers 2020 (hardback)
After the success of The Hunting Party, it was hard to imagine if Lucy Foley could pull off another whodunnit that kept you guessing till the very end. Well. I’m pleased to say that The Guest List wasn’t a disappointment, that in fact I dare say it was even better that The Hunting Party.
But before I go full fangirl on this book and how brilliant Lucy Foley is for creating such a heart-stoppingly good read I shall start with the blurb. Give you an idea of the what the book is about.
The Blurb:
Guests are invited to Cormorant Island.
The stage is set for the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. The setting is spectacular, the planning meticulous, the atmosphere alive with nostalgia as the guests toast the most golden of couples.
Yet under the cloak of happiness, dark secrets begin to spill and old grudges surface. And the wedding cake has barely been cut when someone is found dead.
As a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped – and the killer circulates amongst the guests.
It starts with a party.
It’ll end in murder.
My thoughts:
What the bloody hell!
This book was one of those books that left me lost afterwards, I hadn’t a clue what the hell I was going to do next nor what I was going to read after. It had me thinking, well what’s the point in reading anything else? Nothing can top that, surely?
Just like The Hunting Party, the story is pieced together through the point of view of five of the guests. You have Jules (bride) Olivia (bridesmaid) Aoife (wedding planner) Hannah (plus one) and Johnno (best man). Each person reveals a clue as to who these people really are. There true characters when the lights go out I guess you could say.
What I really liked about these set of characters was how much darker they were. Each character is polished on the outside but as you get to know the individuals you begin to see all that is wrong with them and it becomes hard to see them as the people they were at the start of the book. The pleasant, lovely guests, but after the events that lead up to the special day it becomes clouded. These guests aren’t who you thought they were, nor did you expect them to behave in the way you thought. Suddenly, you can’t trust any of the guests. Each one has a motive for murder and as the story unveils it becomes harder and harder to put the book down.
I was the type of reader that felt the frustration, the stress and the inability to put the book down. I was so invested in it that I would stop only to tell Beth (flatmate) of what was going on, she said that it "was the most stressed shes seen me" and we're both studying fine art.
Every time I tried to put it down something else had happened and the plot had thickened. It’s pure genius and is not your average thriller mystery. Just like the classic Agatha Christie, Lucy Foley has the power to draw you in, every twist and revelation keeps you hooked. I absolutely loved this book! Like so much that I probably won’t stop talking about it for months and I’m not even sorry for that.
Something else I wanted to add. When I went to see Lucy Foley talk at Waterstones Carlisle weeks ago, she said she likes the readers to feel like when they read her books to see it as a film. Well, I can tell you without a doubt, it certainly felt like I was watching a film play out in front of me. The description and storytelling were that of a film. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t a film I was reading but a book.
So I daren’t go on as
A) I’ll just keep going on and on.
B) I might end up spoiling it for you.
C) I’m in need of a strong brew which means I have to move from my desk.
I strongly recommend you read this book. Especially if you loved The Hunting Party or Agatha Christie or if you just like to read. Being someone who stays in the romance genre it was refreshing to step out of my comfort zone and read something different. Its something I will never regret.
Rating: 5* out of 5 (Would give more)
After all tomorrow is another day spent reading,
Till next time,
Phoebe x
The Guest List is available to buy from Waterstones (£12.99) Amazon (£8.99) Prices may vary.
The Hunting Party is also available from all good bookstores as well as through World of Books website (2nd hand editions) prices and stock may also vary.