The Guest List
A Reese's Book Club Pick
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4.1 • 8.6K Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLERS OF THE YEAR
“I loved this book. It gave me the same waves of happiness I get from curling up with a classic Christie...The alternating points of view keep you guessing, and guessing wrong.” — Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient
"Evok[es] the great Agatha Christie classics…Pay close attention to seemingly throwaway details about the characters’ pasts. They are all clues.” -- New York Times Book Review
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
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?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This delectable murder mystery is everything we want in a whip-smart, escapist novel. The Guest List unfolds over the course of a lavish wedding weekend on a remote Irish island. When the glam guests arrive for the wildly anticipated nuptials of social-media darling Jules and reality TV star Will, everyone expects an unforgettable weekend—and let’s just say no one is disappointed. Each of Lucy Foley’s wily, colorful characters is nursing a laundry list of explosive grievances, so everyone’s a suspect when the wedding turns deadly. Recalling the best of Agatha Christie, but with its own very modern sensibility, this book is an elegant and twisty delight.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set on a remote island off the Irish coast where a massacre once occurred, this entertaining if uneven mystery from Foley (The Hunting Party) opens just after the high-profile wedding of Will Slater, the star of the reality TV show Survive the Night, and Julia Keegan, an online magazine editor. During the reception, the lights go out, prompting a "scream of terror," which turns out to have come from a server, who reports having seen a lot of blood. Flashbacks from various perspectives, including the bride and her sister, the maid of honor, recount what preceded the server's grim discovery a body. Meanwhile, Julia is on edge after having received an anonymous note warning her not to marry Will, because he's not who he seems. Foley defers disclosing the murder victim's identity until quite late, but she undercuts the suspense with obvious indications of who it is. The tension of the setup isn't quite matched by the reveals, though the nicely creepy setting compensates somewhat. Readers seeking thrills will find plenty.
Customer Reviews
Enjoyable
It does start off a bit slow and doesn’t pick up till around the last 1/4 of the book. It is very well written and I think Lucy does a phenomenal job with character descriptions and scenery. The ending was a bit too far fetched for me. That said, I did enjoy it and will definitely be reading more of Lucy’s books.
Loss of interest.
Too many characters, sometimes I would lose focus, because of the lack of interest after a while. I had trouble focusing on who was talking pertaining to which character. Suspenseful near towards the end, but I had to keep charging through to finally get there…..
Not fun or very interesting
Not a very good story. Not many enjoyable characters. Suspenseful at times.