RATING: ★★★★★
TITLE: The Guest List
AUTHOR: Lucy Foley
RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020
SETTING: Ireland
PUBLISHER: William Morrow Books, Harper Audio
GENRE(S): Adult Contemporary Mystery/Thriller, Murder Mystery, Whodunit
BLURB
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?
What a delightfully winding story this was.
It is scary to think all of the secrets a person can harbor. And when you get a group of people, all with their own respective sets of secrets and lies, all together, things are bound to come rolling out. The unraveling of this story was such a fun ride.
While I read a few chapters in the book, I mostly listened to the audiobook which is voiced by a whole cast of characters. Their story telling was what did it for me, I think. The narration and flow was perfection.
There were a few things that I saw coming in this book, but then again, there were a couple of things, still, that caught me by surprise. I loved learning along with the wedding guests, the truths that are revealed. How intertwined each of these people’s lives were, even unbeknownst to them.
feather bound books 