Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - The Guest List

Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

72 reviews

chloek608's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-adult murder mystery with multiple points of view
-island and private school settings
-whodunnit that has a big backstory but intertwines amazingly at the end

This is quite a big book and I must admit it took me a while to get into. The story is told by multiple characters and each give their backstory of how they know the couple getting married and how they have ended up on the island for this wedding. The last third of this book was enthralling and the way it set up many characters for a motive for the murder, it had me guessing right to the end. I do think the story could have been shorter though.

We have TV famous Will marrying Jules the successful magazine owner. The perfect couple, or so it seems. Their whirlwind romance has led to this hasty marriage.

Will’s best man Johnno has not been able to move past an incident that occurred during their school days. They went to an all-boys boarding school that had traditions and pranks that sometimes took it too far.

Johnno held a lot of guilt for a prank he helped Will pull off at high school and in hindsight he knew Will had tricked him into doing his dirty work, all to cover up him stealing exam papers to cheat in his GCSE’s.

The prank involved taking a 1st year down onto the beach and tying them against the railings. The prank was called survival. It was meant to be a test of courage and they find their way back to school. Johnno realised too late that the tide coming in would make it impossible for the boy to survive.

The bride’s sister and Hannah both have similar reasons to hate Will. He’d seduced Olivia and Hannah’s sister, ruined their lives, abandoned them and moved on. Both girls were suicidal because of him.

The amazing twist I did not see coming was that Aoife, the wedding host had lured the couple their just to confront Will, you see as it turns out she is the little boy’s sister. She finally got revenge.

Content Warnings

glutenfreemaggie's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

kateea7536's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Unlike anything I’ve ever read. Simply incredible. So many twists and turns and secrets and lies that it was just fascinating as it unfolded. It is rare that such good and vivid writing is paired with a plot that unwravels so flawlessly without being clunky. I love how little I knew even halfway through the book - the characters were set up sooo well that you felt lied to as the reader. Even side characters were given substance and depth so that every part felt relevant to the story. There were lots of false alarm moments of tension that ramped up and then diffused, which kept me on my toes. The stark contrast between foolish child-like men and the intricate murder mystery was unique and captivating and also contributed to lots of looks at how females are treated and schoolboy culture, which can be highly toxic. So many ideas and themes were covered but it never felt like too much and this has shot into one of my top 5 books of all time.

Content Warnings

zerkleoflife's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took me a realllllly long time to get into. Part of it was getting used to the British writing style (I’m American and didn’t immediately understand some of the vocabulary). But you don’t find out that someone could have died until page 63, and then you don’t even find out who died until page 285. But even though it took me a month to get through the first 1/3 of the book, I finished the rest in 2 days! The author developed the characters really well, and the plot twists were phenomenal. I recommend it overall, but definitely check the content warnings before reading!!!

Content Warnings

hellokatya's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

wow. i truly sat for a few minutes just saying wow.
this book — the latter half — was amazing. the cliffhangers were spectacular, so difficult to put down, and really kept you so engaged and invested.
the first 25% are very slow, the only reason it was docked a quarter of a star, but it picks up from there and is addicting.
i could not keep my nose out of this book and i highly, HIGHLY recommend. especially as a binge read.
will most definitely be looking into more lucy foley books after this one.

i also would’ve liked to have found out who the married people were in the newly wed’s bedroom was, but that’s neither here nor there

Content Warnings

ptitirodactyle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

a lot of skinny valorization/fat shaming + a bit of a problematic depiction of self-harm imho

I also figured out pretty much all of the twists in advance, so the book didn’t have me gasping.

it’s not a bad novel per se, but there are much better thrillers out there. I very much preferred The Paris Apartment.

I’m guessing that I was supposed to be happy with the ending, but it left me bittersweet. There is no justice at all, all the women hurt by Will are gonna continue to suffer because of what he did to them.

Content Warnings