The Guest List Summary

The Guest List - A Comprehensive Summary

The Guest List is a murder mystery and psychological thriller by Lucy Foley. Its narrative, primarily set in the past, shifts perspective from one character to another as minor details of the murder are being revealed bit by bit. The reader is kept in the dark about who the murderer is or even who the victim is until the last few chapters of the book. Instead, it focuses on the angst and personal grudges of the different characters. The story development is character-driven, as its non-linear plot explores their feelings and relationships with each other.
Celebrity couple Jules Keegan and Will Slater are getting married and are arranging to have their wedding on a private island off the Connemara coast of Ireland, in a big mansion called The Folly. However, plans go haywire when the guests suddenly get stuck on the island and someone turns up dead. There are several characters in the book, each having dark secrets of their own. Apart from the happy couple, there are Jules’ parents, Araminta and Ronan. Ronan is accompanied by his current wife, Séverine. Her half-sister, Olivia, who is her bridesmaid, is also present. She has also invited her best friend, Charlie, and his wife, Hannah.
On the other hand, Will has invited his friends from school: Johnno, Angus, Duncan, Peter, and Femi. Apart from the couple’s family and friends, the owners of The Folly, Freddie and Aoife, are also staying in the mansion along with a few servers present to help with the ceremony. Will and his five classmates appear to be obsessed with their schooldays as they relive the past through their lively chatter. Along with other privileged kids, they all went to a public school called Trevellyan, which is revealed to have dangerous initiation rites ー lowerclassmen are dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night to be left out alone in the woods.
This led to several boys having breakdowns. However, some of them returned from it with newfound “courage” and the desire to seek revenge and the chance to prey on next year’s newcomers. The fact that Will’s father was the headmaster of the school somewhat protected him from the traumatic rite. There are also references to Loner, a young boy who adored Will and would do anything for him. He and his friends took advantage of this and bullied Loner extensively.
Hannah and Olivia also carry burdens. Hannah ruminates about her sister, Alice, who broke up with a young man she was going steady with while in university. In an act of revenge, he circulated a malicious video of her around the campus. Alice found the shame too much to bear and committed suicide. Hannah later finds out at the wedding that the man who used to be Alice’s boyfriend is Will. Olivia is in a similar situation. When her boyfriend left her, she hooked up with another man, who unbeknownst to her gave a false name, through a dating application. She got pregnant after some casual sex with “Steven” who had begun ignoring her messages and calls thereafter.


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