I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley Published by HarperCollins Publishers on March 19th 2020
ISBN: 9780062978738
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Crime, Psychological
Pages: 448
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
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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 spins a wonderous tale of the wedding of the year. Set the scene…you’re hearing about the upcoming nuptials everywhere. You know it would do you well to be spotted there – you know it would advance you. Then that invite drops through your door. The marriage of reality TV star Will Slater and the stunning Jules Keegan, a magazine publisher. The event is to take place on the isolated, Cormorant Island situated off the Irish coast. I’m almost at a loss for words to review The Guest List. The reason being? Imagine Einstein wrote a thriller and left clues jotted in code…this taps on just how much of a genius Lucy Foley is.
I’m in love with the way Lucy Foley writes. The multi-perspectives don’t feel confusing, they feel enriching. Her descriptions makes you want to wander off the beaten path. Don’t go alone though because something is likely to snap at heels if you wander too far. The narrative is razor sharp and will cut into your bonds to set you free. The reader is supplied with a heady cocktail mixed with tension, palpating causing fear and cold hard chaos. If you want to have the living daylights scared out of you it has to be Lucy foley. The Psychological Thriller is an uber popular genre these days, but it takes a true genius to juggle so many balls/contextual twists and still be able to keep fresh, raw and unique.
The guests arrive and not for one moment do you not feel the electricity of raw tension running and zapping through every scene. There is the ugly side of the human existence just bubbling at the surface – jealously and secrets. Lucy Foley has hit the nail on the head with her realistic realism being injected here. Not for one moment do I believe this doesn’t go on in everyday weddings, but, we are conditioned to hide it. The ugly parts of our personality shoved deep down.
Can pasts ever be truly forgotten or are the wedding guests walking amongst someone inherently despicable? The vows are said, the rings exchanged and the bemouth of a cake is barely cut when a body is discovered within the marshes. Let me tell you, not many books can transport you into a character’s shoes, but The Guest List does this with such laser precision. This is the exact point when the story shrouds the guests in a blanket of eerie fog. Suspicions turn on each other, they can’t see their true form and the greyness leaves Goosebumps on your flesh.
Panic rises. The guests are trapped on an isolated island being bombarded by gale force winds and storms. There is no escape. Can they work out who the calculated killer is that seems to be hiding in plain sight, do they want to? It’s an ingenious plot that will have you gripped until the grand unveiling. Be prepared to feel the suffocation, the heart in throat pain and storyline that just wont quit. I wanted more and had it delivered to me on a silver platter. Do not ever doubt the depths a human being can slither to.
The Guest List is akin to tiptoeing on a frozen lake, you think you have it in control, and focussed and then Lucy Foley plunges you into its icy depths when you least expect it. I was in the book’s clutches, scrambling to get free but it’s a fruitless endeavour.
Thanks to Anne Cater @ Random Things Tours for my spot on the blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry, before leaving to write full-time. The Hunting Party is her debut crime novel, inspired by a particularly remote spot in Scotland that fired her imagination.