Book Review: The Guest List by Lucy Foley (ALC)

The Guest List

Author: Lucy Foley

Narrators: Jot Davis, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Sarah Ovens, & Rich Keeble

Publication Date: 02 June 2020

Genre: Adult Fiction – Thriller/Murder Mystery

Length Time: 9 Hours 53 Minutes

Publisher: Harper Audio

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the 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?

The Guest List is an atmospheric murder mystery that takes places on the remote island of Coromant, just off the coast of Ireland. Celebrity couple Julia ‘Jules’ Keegan and Will Slater are set to wed in what will be undoubtedly an extravagant affair since Jules is the publisher of a very successful online magazine and Will is an upcoming TV star on a survivalist show. They are the it couple that commands the attention of every room, so having a wedding at a remote island that has a bit of a shady past seems just like something the two of them would cook up.

The weekend of events has been planned by the wedding planner Aoife, and her husband Freddy is handling all of the catering. As you guessed it though, a wild storm comes and knocks out all the power leaving sinister things to go bump in the night. The timeline alternates to before and after the events of that night. And we quickly learn that a body has been discovered, and now we have to figure out who it is and find the murderer before anyone else ends up dead on this forsaken island.

I’m honestly really glad that I did the audio for this one due to the sheer amount of characters involved in this story since each chapter was from a different POV. Since the audio was a full cast, it was really easy to decipher which chapter belonged to which character.

This story is more of a slow burn mystery where we focus on getting to know each of the characters and their backstories. We unravel the strands that hold these friends together, and I’ll be honest, most of these characters are REALLY unlikable. If you’re looking for people with redeeming qualities, look elsewhere. That being said, getting to know each of the characters and their secrets was like being let in on some really juicy gossip, so I definitely enjoyed it.

There were definitely some moments in the story that I found a bit predictable, but most of the twists along the way were pleasant surprises. The ultimate reveal at then end left me floored so bravo!

Thank you to Harper Audio and Libro.FM for providing an ALC, this did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.