Member Reviews
I received this ARC from Net Galley and Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review. A beautiful wedding out on a small island in Ireland turns deadly. Many friends and family gather for a wedding, but as the evening progresses, one person ends up dead. It was a good story that did connect in the end. However, I didn’t find the mystery to hold my attention. I think the build up to the end was slow going. I didn’t find myself invested in the characters.
I enjoyed reading The Guest List by author Lucy Foley so much more than I ever anticipated I would. The story had an eerie, sinister feel to it the whole way through which really captured my attention. The location just sounded so spooky, I can’t imagine wanting to have a wedding there. The characters all seemed to have their own deep, dark hidden secrets. There was only one character that seemed like a decent person to me and that was Hannah. What I really liked was that the book was written in short chapters each told by the different characters points of view. The way it read, you knew something bad was going to happen but yet you didn’t know what or with who. It kept me turning the pages in anticipation and feeling on edge. This was a great story, one I really enjoyed and will be recommending. I’d like to thank Book Club Girl and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review the arc. This gets 5 stars from me!
This was a gold old who-dunnit a la Agatha Christie. A wedding takes place on an island off the shore of Ireland. The island can only be accessed by boat. A body is found and the reader has to decide who has done it. It is told from varying perspectives, the bride, the groom, the bride's friend's wife, the bride's sister, the best man. It naturally turns out that all the main characters are somehow connected and all have a reason to despise someone in their lives. An enjoyable page-turner.
After being in a bit a reading slump, I knew I need something that would not only capture my attention but also be fast pace. Well, The Last Party by Lucy Foley certainly did both. Set on a remote Irish island with a haunted history, we are treated to the "It" wedding of Will and Jules. What is expected to be a beautiful day turns into a murder mystery complete with an unexpected storm.
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I absolutely flew through this book and could not get enough of the characters and their back stories. And while the majority of them I didn't like, I was fascinated by who they were and what they were willing to do. I also appreciated that there wasn't a neat ending because after that hot mess of an event, there shouldn't be!
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If you are looking for a good murder mystery filled with fracturing relationships and hidden truths then this one is definitely for you. I would highly recommend it.
Thank you Book Club Girl, William Morrow Books, and Netgalley for my e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, I am absolutely blown away by this one!! Is it too soon to say this is definitely a contender for my personal favorite books of the year?!
This was my first book by Lucy Foley and it definitely won’t be my last. I plan on picking up a physical copy of this one when it comes out as well as a copy of The Hunting Party.
The Guest List is full of secrets, lies, and drama - all the things I love in a good thriller. Foley’s writing had me captivated from the very beginning. Her writing flows so well and the short and sweet chapters kept me saying “just one more chapter”. I enjoyed the change in perspective each chapter between the numerous characters, getting their stories and thoughts about what was happening on the island.
I was totally floored by the twists in this one. As some of may know, I haven’t been impressed by much lately, so me saying this means this is a good one! Everything in this story is connected in such a clever way and the way Foley writes the setting of the island gave me actual goosebumps. It’s so atmospheric, creepy and unsettling at times.
If you like big twists, high tension, and creepy atmospheric reads, The Guest List is for you. I can’t recommend this one more. 5 stars!
I absolutely LOVED the Hunting Party and I had high hopes for The Guest List and I was not disappointed.
The Guest List is a slow burning psychological thriller. The story is very well written.
There is a Wedding on a remote island and the story is told in multiple perspectives, which is my favorite writing style.
The island and the description of the weather and the storm fully immersed me in the story. Strangers meeting at Wedding, with all their delicious pasts waiting to be exposed.
Secrets, lies , revenge and incredible twists make for an incredible read!!!!
What can I say... this book was amazing! There are so many twists and turns! It is truly like an Agatha Christie mystery! I don’t what to give anything away, but those word “And then the lights went out...” just perfect! You won’t regret reading this if you are true fan of mysteries and I look forward to reading more by Lucy Foley!
You know the shock you feel when you hear a juicy piece of gossip? The, "whaaaaat?" that inevitably escapes your mouth? That is this book right here.
I initially wanted to read this book for two reasons. One, I am getting married and wanted to read something wedding related. (LOL that I picked this book! Definitely not a romance.) And two, I love thrillers. But, as someone who reads SO MANY thrillers, it is difficult to surprise me. My sister, also an avid thriller reader, feels the same. Thrillers can feel a bit redundant. But HOLY COW. This book contained SO MANY TWISTS that I absolutely NEVER saw coming. There was twist after twist after twist. Seriously, there were at LEAST six twists, if not more! I mean, twists were happening right down to the end of the novel! This, by far, is one of the best thrillers I have EVER READ in my life!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers and loads of twists. The book also had a bit of a horror feel to it as well, especially with the way the author described the island. Spooky!
What a great book. It kept me engaged the whole time. And the few last chapters were like Boom... surprises coming from everywhere. I really liked it.
A perfect storm. That’s how I’d describe this thriller.
I’m a sucker for novels set in isolated places: give me cabins in the middle of nowhere, dark & winding forests, and desolate islands all day long. So of course, I was intrigued by this book.
Y’all: it REALLY delivers.
Set on a remote Irish island during a wedding celebration with a cast of characters holding dark secrets abound, The Guest List was exactly what I hoped it would be (and more).
It was wonderfully Agatha Christie-esque, with all the teeth of a twisted, modern day whodunit.
But the victim isn’t revealed until the end: that’s all part of the mystery.
Every twist and turn built up to a wild (but inevitable) crescendo. Each secret revealed itself, a piece of the puzzle coming together to form the gripping conclusion.
The story had quite a few POV characters (a few times I had to go back and check whose chapter I was reading), but getting into the head of each character was a necessary (and powerful) way to show us just how much our actions have consequences and can affect others.
All that to say: READ THIS. Just make sure you’ve cleared your calendar, because you won’t be able to put it down!
**Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins for the review copy.
Shades of Agatha Christie. A wedding on an island with wealthy guests and family and many who have secrets to hide. Bad weather and faulty electrical systems set the mood. A murder to solve and we don’t even know who the victim is until the end of this “keep me up all night” book. What a novel way to do things.
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. With that said, it was a quick read. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and had a hard time trying to figure out where the story was going. It took a long time for the discovery of the murder and in the mean time, a lot of building up of characters and their past connections with each other. I think the character development was important to the story and probably what kept me hanging on to the end. I felt like the characters were a bit annoying in their personalities though and this was probably one of the more difficult parts for me. I wouldn't let this story stand in the way from reading others by this same author.
The Guest List by Lucy Filey is a well written and suspenseful novel whose setting is an island in Ireland where a wedding will occur. This is not just any wedding but it is the wedding of a TV star on a survival show who is marrying a magazine owner. There are many guests arriving for the wedding and they are all transported by boat. This novel delves into the life of its many characters and there appear to be many connections. The groom (TV star) has many friends from his days at a prestigious boarding school both at the wedding and as part of the bridal party. These men over drink and act like high school students at times. Some of them also do cocaine. As the guests and bridal party arrive the book goes in the present, future, and past of different characters. Each chapter is written from one character.’s voice. This requires a great deal of concentration to keep everything straight and to remember that this is either in the past, present, or future. I enjoyed this writing stoke of the novel. Be ready for many surprises when reading The Guest List ! I would like to thank Harper Collins the publisher and netgalley for allowing to read this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for my honest review.
Julia "Jules" Keegan and Will Slater are the perfect couple. Jules runs an online magazine. Will is a tv star on a survival show. Their wedding is on a two mile long island off the coast of Ireland. The guests include Jules's half-sister Olivia, Will's friends from boarding school, Jules's best man Charlie and his wife Hannah.The island's only two inhabitants are wedding planner Aoife and her husband Freddie. Aoife knows that this wedding could catapult them into the spotlight.
However, it quickly becomes clear that the guests are all hiding secrets and dealing with their own issues. Jules has been warned not to marry Will. Will's father was the school headmaster and, while Will got many breaks because of that, he felt he could never get approval from his dad. Jules resents Olivia for her relationship with their mother but Olivia has dropped out of school and is struggling with something. The best man Johnno has always been Will's best friend but he's tired of everyone writing him off as stupid and unpolished. Charlie and Jules are best friends but Charlie's wife Hannah has always wondered if there is something more between them. Charlie has been acting strangely since the stag party and hasn't said what happened. Aoife is grieving a loss and has her own ghosts.
This book is a slow build which made me read it super quickly to find out what happened. The Guest List alternates between the points of view of Jules, Hannah, Aoife, Johnno and Olivia. It also moves back and forth between the day before the wedding and the wedding night. While that could be confusing, Lucy Foley does an excellent job of keeping things straight and giving enough information to keep us interested but not too much to give things away. I loved the twists and turns and how well Foley connected different stories together. The atmosphere of the island was harsh and foreboding. It creates a tension throughout the story that builds until the chilling conclusion. I really, really enjoyed this book. It's a well written, well-developed thriller with interesting characters and a spectacular setting.
A wedding on a remote island is the scene of a murder. Several members of the wedding party have a motive for killing one of their fellow participants. Who the killer is and why they commit such an act is just as surprising as who the murder victim is.
I loved this book! I enjoyed the different perspectives of each of the characters and the great detail that is given to their overall background. This is a very well thought out murder mystery that keeps you guessing til the very end.
The Guest List reminds me so much of an Agatha Christie novel. The guests are invited to a secluded island for the swank wedding of a beautiful magazine publisher and a rising TV star. Many of the guests have secrets and, as others start to uncover these secrets, you know someone is going to be killed and, of course, one of the people on the island has to be the killer. Lots of surprises and twists make this a fast, exciting read. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read.
The Guest List was SO good! This felt like a mix of a good Agatha Christie novel and the movie Clue. You know straight off that something bad has happened at a wedding taking place on a deserted island, but have no idea for sure. Then Foley takes you back to the day before the wedding and starts leading up from there, telling the story from the perspectives of multiple wedding guests. As their stories go on puzzle pieces start clicking into place and you begin to see that these guests all have something in common. And horrible enough, once I got far enough into the story I was actually rooting for something to end very badly for someone! It's a great skill for an author to have the reader rooting her on as the story unfolds. Well, well done.
Ooooh, I really enjoyed this one! Who doesn't love a wedding, the ultimate party and celebration? Especially one that takes place on an island. Everything is great, at least on the surface, until someone ends up dead. This tale is full of mistrust, arrogance, revenge, and suspicion all set against an atmospheric background that will send little shivers up your spine. The multiple POV's kept me turning the pages, looking for revelations and clues. This is my kind of book!
The Guest List by Lucy Foley is an old-fashioned whodunnit in the style of Agatha Christie. A wedding on a deserted island is the setting for the murder.....The victim and the murderer not revealed until the end. The story is told from multiple points of view and different timelines. I would have preferred less POVs because it was a bit confusing getting to know and remembering so many different central characters. Halfway through the book the speed picked up and I could wait for the mystery to be revealed. All in all a very satisfying read! I look forward to reading more of Lucy Foley's novels. Thank you NetGalley and the Facebook group, "The Book Club Girls" for the ARC!
Wow what a thrill! This starts off as a slow build up, getting the reader familiar with the characters - there's about five each with a story. The author did a great job because it then became all twisty and it was tough to put down.
It's intense, gripping, and the setting is creepy so good! Thank you to Book Club Girls, William Morrow, and NetGalley for this ARC.