“And I’m not worried about it being haunted. I have my own ghosts. I carry them with me wherever I go.”
Lucy Foley is fast becoming one of the best mystery authors in the world. We did a book review of her novel The Hunting Party earlier this year, and absolutely fell in love with the tension she created, the dynamics she built and the revelations she had hidden in plain sight. In fact, we loved The Hunting Party so much that I went out and picked up its follow-up, The Guest List before we’d even finished it.
We weren’t sure how much ‘Foley-fatigue’ might creep into our overall impressions of The Guest List, but we think we’ve got a clear enough head to give an impartial enough review that judges everything on merit. With that in mind, check out our The Guest List book review here at What We Reading!
Date Published: 2020
Author: Lucy Foley
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Pages: 330
GoodReads Rating: 3.85/5
Premise
The Guest List is set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland where guests are gathering to celebrate the wedding of Jules and Will. The pair are affluent and good-looking and their ambition has landed them both positions most people would kill for. Such a lifestyle is perhaps what led them to book a venue on this storm-battered island that has been plagued by a dark history, with even the locals fleeing from it.
The story is told via five different perspectives from the wedding party, with old grievances, mistrust and a growing tension steadily rising over the weekend the story is set across. Like with The Hunting Party, The Guest List focuses more on the character’s personalities and the dynamics within the group, with Foley once again showcasing her expertise at nurturing that ‘it’s all going to kick off, isn’t it?’ vibe.
Once again, the eventual reveal of who the victim and perpetrators are is left right to the very end of the book.
What Worked
As mentioned up top, Lucy Foley is so good at creating characters, plonking down in these state-of-the-art contemporary surroundings and letting their secrets naturally spill out over the course of a read. The lavish setting of the wedding juxtaposed against the eerie surroundings of a stormy Irish island made for an interesting setting, delivering some genuinely creepy vibes at times.
In comparison to The Hunting Party, The Guest List felt like tensions were amped up right from the get-go. The overall pacing of the book was noticeably quicker, with each perspective’s chapter feeling a lot punchier than Foley’s previous work. Faster doesn’t always equal better, but in the case of The Guest List, we think it works well for creating a quick page-turning thriller book.
Finally, every mystery-thriller novel is judged most seriously on its ability to deliver a fitting payoff, and Foley once again delivers. By about the halfway mark, we had a pretty good idea of who the victim would be, but the final reveal of the perpetrator behind it all never even crossed our minds so stellar work on that front!
What Didn’t
In comparison to other Lucy Foley books, the mystery over which member of the wedding party would eventually be revealed as the victim of the piece seemed to be rather predictable. That cliche where the victim bounces from one threatening interaction to another in the space of a few chapters takes a lot of the suspense and mystery away, and the final third of The Guest List really suffers for it.
Other than that, we thought the characters on the whole were much more unlikeable when compared to other books like The Hunting Party. We get the idea is to have these guys are supposed to be self-absorbed having all grown up in these sorts of lifestyles, but none of them really went on an arc that didn’t feel completely predictable.
They weren’t badly written or a pain to spend time with, they just didn’t feel as nuanced as in other mystery books.
Verdict
Lucy Foley seriously knows how to set up a chilling scene. Like with The Hunting Party, the Irish setting makes for a wonderfully claustrophobic setting for a whodunnit, and the switching between perspectives once again succeeds in casting suspicion on a number of characters.
Compared to The Hunting Party, we felt that these perspectives had a bit more variety in how the characters were delivered, with Johnno (the best man), Olivia (the bride’s sister) and Aoife (the wedding planner) being the best examples of the much confidence in variety Foley brings.
The Guest List is 76 pages shorter than The Hunting Party, and the shorter chapters definitely give the book a choppier, faster-paced feel. For those looking for a fun, page-turning experience it makes for a cracking read but, personally, we feel Foley’s brilliance comes significantly from the tension she is able to build through slower-burning dynamics.
We preferred The Hunting Party, but The Guest List is still a seriously solid thriller book that has rightfully helped make Lucy Foley one of the best British authors right now!
Our Rating: 4/5
Views From Around The Reading World
“This was my favourite book that I’ve read all year. It was so flawlessly executed from top to bottom, and the mystery came together so effortlessly that I found myself gasping at each reveal.”
Quote supplied by Jocelyn from Write Through The Night
“The Guest List is ‘a classic whodunnit’ which maintains its grip over the readers till the end and keeps them guessing about the killer.”
Quote supplied by Vishal from Hilly Reviews
“No doubt Lucy Foley is considered among the greatest writers at such a young age. The way she described the characters and the twists within the novel just keeps you motivated to read more. The way Lucy plotted the story right from the start till the very end is just mesmerizing. Being a student of Forensic science, crime thrillers just attracts me towards them. I have read a lot of crime thrillers, and THE GUEST LIST is also among what I would suggest others to surely read.”
Quote supplied by Suksham Pargal from Illogical Script
“This was a definite page-turner for me. I couldn’t wait to get down to the bottom of it because, unlike classic whodunits, we actually don’t know who died until well into the book. So not only was I in quest of the killer but the victim as well! We know that someone dies early in the book, but we only find out who it is late in the book.”
Quote supplied by Elodie from A Life With Love
“The coolest thing about this murder mystery is that you don’t even know who was murdered until about three-quarters of the way through. And you don’t learn who actually did it (or why) until almost the very end.
This plotline was terrific for keeping me hooked! Ok, maybe it took me a few days or so to really get into it…but once I did, I couldn’t put it down! It really had that gripping, cliffhanger effect that I love.”
Quote supplied by Malissa from Malissa Greenwood
“The book’s subtitle claims: ‘you’d kill to be on this guest list’. I say that’s quite the exaggeration. In fact, this wouldn’t be my pick for a recent finely crafted mystery thriller and so I’d advise RSVPing with a ‘no’. But, by all means, give it a read if you can’t get enough of mystery books.”
Quote supplied by Starvind Astrophotography from Starvind
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
