Most of the 150 guests invited to the wedding of Jules Keegan and Will Slater are thrilled to head to Inis an Amplora (Cormorant Island) off the Connemara coastline. It promises to be a fabulous and exclusive event as these two beautiful and wealthy people get married on the tiny lump of granite in the Atlantic Ocean. The wedding party arrives early and is ensconced in a restored 15th-century building known as The Folly. Included in the group are the bridesmaid, Oliva, the best man, Johnno, and the ushers -- all but one are old mates of the groom. Everything has been arranged by the wedding planner, Aoife, and her chef husband, Freddy. What could possibly ruin this lovely ceremony? Simply put -- secrets and lies. NO SPOILERS.

The narrative is told from many different points of view as the weekend unfolds. The setting is unique and a bit foreboding -- a little on the Gothic side. The characters are all mostly completely unlikable. There wasn't a single person that I related to even though I'm sure I was supposed to feel for certain ones. Posh? I think not. I found the jumps between narrators quite jarring and the time leaps led to discontinuity in the story although I think that was deliberate to increase tension and suspense. Unfortunately, the plot was entirely predictable and the plethora of co-incidences was a bit too hard to swallow. After all the build-up to the climax, the ending was quite abrupt and left unexplained. I'm feeling ambivalent about the novel though I had looked forward to reading it as I'd heard good things about Foley's first novel (not yet read). I've read other reviews and see that many liked it far more than I did. The comparisons to other books written in a similar style are apt. I believe I have a copy of The Hunting Party and I will likely be reading that at some point.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This book was so good! Super twisty and I enjoyed it from the first page. I will definitely be reading more from Lucy Foley.

A great murder mystery for anyone who loves the mystery genre. A wedding the attendees won't soon forget, a slip up in the guest list, so many secrets exposed, it could have been any of the guests, but stuck on an island, the victim has nowhere to hide. The author drops one bombshell after another and keeps the reader guessing until the very end.

If you're looking for a thriller that you won't be able to put down, look no further - "The Guest List" by Lucy Foley grabs you from page one and keeps you guessing until the very end.

Set at a lavish wedding on a remote and potentially haunted island in Ireland, this whodunit is a slow-burn where every character has a secret. Told over the course of 48 hours from five alternating POVS - that of the bride, the groom, the wedding planner, the maid-of-honor/sister of the bride, the best man/childhood friend of the groom and the "plus one"/wife of the bride's best friend - tension builds from the moment the guests start arriving on the island. Add in some creepy folklore, a bunch of drunken idiot groomsmen and a terrible storm and it's a recipe for disaster. As jealousies flare, grudges get revealed, and surprising relationships come to light during the wedding, a body is discovered, leaving the reader not only trying to figure out who on the guest list is the killer, but also which one of them was killed.

I loved the book's twists and turns and each character was realistically written with a reason they could be the victim as well as a motive to murder. There were a few things that felt too convenient for me and a couple of story points I wish had more of a resolution at the end but those are small quibbles because I was completely surprised by the final reveal - bravo to the author for wrapping up this mystery in a truly satisfying way.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins and the author for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my unbiased review.

“The Guest List” was one list for a wedding I was grateful not to be on but so enjoyed reading about. The setting of the wedding in this book alone gave you this eerie feeling and then the characters... everyone is showing up and you are learning about each of them and their past and don’t think any detail wasn’t given for a reason. I love piecing together a mystery and you will think you have it figured out and well you won’t! First novel I read by Lucy Foley and won’t be my last. Released yesterday 6/2 check it out if mystery and suspense is something you like to read.
#theguestlist #lucyfoley #netgalley #arc #julesbookshelf

Thank you to Harper Collins Publishers (William Morrow) for access to a DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I kept seeing Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party everywhere. I wasn't that interested when I first starting seeing it pop up, but as I continued see it on various different lists, emails, ads, etc. I finally got worn down and the marketing efforts were successful in getting my interest levels up. So I decided I'd give in and read it. Shortly after that, I started seeing The Guest List popping up places, saw that I could request a DRC, and got super excited. All that buzz about The Hunting Party must mean there'd be similar buzz for The Guest List, right?

The excitement kept mounting and when I got The Hunting Party from the library and The Guest List as a DRC, I couldn't wait to get started on them and read them back to back. That was probably a mistake; they're essentially the same book. Similar casts of characters, atmospheric settings, mysteries that hinge on old wounds and school days resentments, and storytelling that starts at the end after someone has been murdered then goes back to the beginning to guide readers through the events leading up to the death with alternating "then" and "now" chapters so readers continue to learn about the death, what preceded it, and can start putting the pieces together to solve the mystery. Which is possible without being obvious!

I was able to pretty easily figure out most of the question marks in The Hunting Party but there were a few blanks I was glad the author filled in for me. The Guest List was a little trickier to put together, but I was able to get the general shape of the pieces, if not the specific fit. And while I did love the Irish island setting of The Guest List, I rated it one star lower than The Hunting Party only because I read it after The Hunting Party. Merely a result of timing; if I had read The Guest List first, it would have gotten four stars.

I loved this book! Loved the setting/atmosphere. Loved the alternating POVs. But what I loved most of all is the fact that I did not see the ending coming!

With mysteries, I’m usually pretty good at piecing it together and figuring it out before the end. And I did pick up on a few small things along the way, but the ending shocked me. I actually gasped. Out loud. At work. 😂

I have seen some reviews saying that the book is slow and the characters too unlikeable. Honestly, this is true. But it really works for this story. The slow pace at the beginning just builds the suspense. And the unlikeable characters made it really hard to guess who the killer is. I also think the Agatha Christie comparisons are spot-0n.

Thanks to Lucy Foley, Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC for me to review!!

The Guest List is a great page turner that will keep you guessing until the end. Just don't read it IMMEDIATELY after her previous novel The Hunting Party, because the similarities between these books will be a little too hard to ignore. :-P

It’s clear from the start that the bride, the groom, the plus one, the bridesmaid, and the wedding planner all have a lot on their plate as the grand celebration draws near. With the wedding taking place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, the expectation is that everything will be under the thumb of the high maintenance bride and experienced wedding planner. But from the moment the getaway weekend beings with the wedding party ascending on the island, a dark undercurrent swells. As the bride attempts to control her temper, her bridesmaid attempts to hold her sadness at bay. The groom quickly loses control of the groomsmen from his school days and the plus one drifts haplessly as her husband, the bride’s oldest friend, seems a little too enamored by the bride. The seemingly unflappable wedding planner keeps pace, but when a body is found suspicion runs free and no one is sure who they can trust.

VERDICT is that this is a thriller that builds momentum and will have readers up late finishing it. With the alternating viewpoints, I found the beginning of the novel to move a little slowly, but overall it was very effective. You know already that there is a dead body, but the whom and how was a mystery for me until almost the very end. I loved how even the most sympathetic characters brought complexity and potentially killer motivation to the island. This was my first Lucy Foley read but I will definitely be checking out her first novel, The Hunting Party, as well!

The Guest List
4 stars
While I was reading The Guest List, I was fairly decided that it was a 3 star book. There were a lot of characters whose chapters were told from their POV, and none of them were all that likeable or interesting to me. Jules and Will are getting married on a remote Irish island. Their wedding planner, Aoife, and her chef husband, Freddy, own a Folly (a big house) on the island that is the wedding venue. Olivia, Jules sister, is the bridesmaid, the only bridesmaid because Jules is such an awful woman that she doesn’t have any other friends to stand up for her. Johnno is the best man, Will’s school mate who has some secret, bad, history with Will. Charlie is Jules best friend, and his wife, Hannah, is his “plus-one.” Hannah has a tragedy in her past, also. A lot of seemingly not related secrets are exposed throughout the book. A murder is going to happen, the reader know it will, but the lead up to it is slow, very, very slow.
But oh, boy, when the storylines weave together, I shouted out loud! That’s when this book went from 3 stars to 4 stars! I did not see one of the storylines involved and my jaw dropped! It made trudging through this book worth it!
Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced e-copy of this book. #TheGuestList

A bride, a groom, a best man, a wedding planner, and a maid of honor attend a wedding on an island off the coast of Ireland. Each with secrets to spare and plenty of reasons to preserve their secrets. This is not a joke but rather a brief synopsis of one of my favorite books of 2020. Foley’s latest release The Guest List is a gripping, tangled tale of a wedding doomed from the very start.

The Guest List begins with a boat traveling to an island as a storm is brewing. I cannot think of anything more ominous. This ominous feeling does not let up until the end of the book. Foley does a fantastic job of loading The Guest List with angst. There are no ebbs and flows with The Guest List. The plot simply flows with edge of your seat thrills. While The Guest List is not loaded action, the loads of suspense more than makes up for it.

The Guest List has multiple main characters. Sometimes having multiple main characters can be frustrating as it is sometimes hard to keep track of who’s perspective you are reading. This is not the case with The Guest List. Each character is fully developed; each with their own unique and engaging story line.

Although I enjoyed each of the characters there was one standout I found the most interesting – the best man, Johnno. Johnno is a character who makes you wonder “what is this guy’s deal?” But in a good way.  Johnno and the groom attended school together where they became good friends. However, their personalities are so different. How and (more importantly) why are they friends? The relationship between Johnno and the groom is just one of the many relationships which readers must unravel.

The Guest List is a lighter read but there is some heavy subject matter. Grief, neglect, and betrayal are featured but somehow the book maintains a lighter feel. Foley has created a perfectly balanced story; entertaining yet thought provoking read.

Last year when I read The Hunting Party I was blown away. I knew then Foley was an author to watch. I will admit, I was a little concerned when I learned The Guest List was along the same vein as The Hunting Party. I was worried my love for The Hunting Party would cause me to unfairly compare the two books. My worrying was unwarranted. For me The Guest List has topped The Hunting Party, proving Foley will continue to expand and enhance the “locked door mystery” genre.
 
Murder and Moore Rating:
5 out of 5 Stars

The Guest List kept me turning pages through a thunderstorm on an evening flight. The flashes of lightning and turbulence provided a great atmosphere for reading this murder mystery set during an exclusive destination wedding on a remote island near Ireland. The story of the wedding, the wedding party, and their pasts is told from multiple points of view—it’s narrated by five characters (the owner of the island resort, the bride, the sister of the bride, the wife of the bride’s male best friend, the groom’s childhood friend) with breaks that fill in the events of the wedding day. I am not a big fan of multiple narrator books, but I think the approach works well in this book. Each narrator has a distinct voice and perspective, and each reveals small details that the author skillfully weaves across accounts to allow the reader to make connections between the characters. I was able to use those details to guess some of the twists but not all. I think book clubs would enjoy comparing which details they picked up on and which they missed. I will definitely look for the author’s other books.

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley, and the Book Club Girls for the opportunity to read an advance copy. My opinion is my own.

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.

Family secrets! Betrayal! MURDER! On a remote Irish island! During a dang WEDDING!!!

Don't let the multitude of characters and POVs put you off--each character's role is so distinct, I never got confused as to who was who. The quick-changing perspectives moved the story along at an intensely furious speed. For me, this was a perfect summer thriller. I finished in two sittings.

I'd recommend it to readers who liked In a Dark, Dark Wood and Big Little Lies.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced mystery about a wedding on a remote island and the secrets hidden by the guests and wedding party. It was a very Agatha Christie-esque whodunit. None of the characters were very likable, with the exception of maybe Hannah, but it didn’t matter. The ending also felt a bit too rushed for me. Overall, a very solid mystery!

I saw a lot of hype about this book and so I went into it really expecting an awesome page turner. Unfortunately I was extremely disappointed. This was a hard book to get into - it tried to grip you in the beginning but failed. I stuck with it and finally about half way through things started to get a little more interesting. The ending was pretty predictable and felt really unsatisfying. Overall, it was a quick read.

The Guest List is a fun, quick thriller and will make a good summer read.

It opens with a wedding being set up on an island off the coast of Ireland, which is deserted either because: (a) the locals got tired of living without electricity and running water or (b) the island is haunted by the ghosts of all the people who have drowned after being sucked down into the bog that covers most of the island. (No, this isn't a traditional ghost story.) While this premise is not unique, it does set up a scene where you know nothing good can come of having a wedding here.

And the bride and groom, a blogger/influencer and an up-and-coming reality television celebrity respectfully, are about as nice as they sound. The groom, Will, just oozes charm, but when the power goes out during the wedding reception, we see some of his handsome exterior start to crack. Then, a waitress screams and in shock swears she saw a body outside the tent. The reader goes through the book not knowing who the body is and who is responsible for it being there until the end.

I really liked how the timeline of this book jumped back and forth between the actual wedding itself and the day before, which doesn't sound like a lot of time, but the reader learns a lot about the characters' pasts even while only jumping 24 hours, which allowed the author to build a story and the suspense without bogging the reader down with too much long backstory.

While this was not an Agatha Christie novel in anything but setting and format, it was a fun, quick thriller that has a fulfilling ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book. It has not influenced my opinion.

Wow, this book was so engrossing! For a lot of the beginning, it’s a slow build, enough that you wonder what the actual mystery is, but Foley provides small glimpses into the tragedy between longer moments in the past to show you how things got to that point. I didn’t mind the jumping back and forth in time, because that was minimal. I liked slowly getting to know more and more about the characters, to seeing the puzzle pieces of their connection fit into place. The last third of the book is very exciting and it made it well worth the slow-building tension of the earlier two-thirds. While only a handful of the characters are likeable, I did enjoy seeing things from the range of perspectives provided. The ending is a little unsatisfying in that while the “big bad” is taken down, many of the characters are in such a sorry state. I wouldn’t call it a happy ending, but I didn’t feel upset by it, either.

This book will definitely appeal to avid mystery/thriller readers and fans of Foley’s works.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Guest List but this thriller hooked me from the beginning. Foley does an excellent job with her descriptions of both the characters and the setting. I found it impressive how the writing goes back and forth only between two days of time, yet we gain knowledge from years past as we see events through the different perspectives of the characters. Every person on the island has a secret. The key is figuring out which secrets are deceptive and which ones are kept due to shame.

*** A few points of caution. The f-word is used pretty regularly throughout this novel. While it is used fittingly to match the character in most places, I still cringe at how often it is used. There are some steamy scenes a couple of places that one may want to skim through. Lastly, this book contains some potential triggers for those sensitive to reading about depression and/or suicide.

This was an average mystery that was elevated by its unique setting. Will and Jules are a beautiful, successful couple holding their wedding on a remote Irish island. The book alternates between several perspectives, including the bride, her best friend's wife, her sister, and the best man. Several of the groom's former classmates are at the wedding, making vague references to events that happened when they were at school. The bride's sister is very unhappy but has no one she can confide in. Each character is hiding a secret, and each has suffered a painful event in their past. "The Guest List" is well written and I liked the island setting. The tension builds gradually and the characters were well done. However, I felt the book fell apart towards the end and became somewhat ludicrous. I enjoyed Lucy Foley's previous book, and this will satisfy thriller fans, but it wasn't a standout.