A review by geraldine
The Guest List by Lucy Foley

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

it was alright. i got what it was trying to do and everything and honestly it was pretty quick read once i actually like... finished the other books i was reading and focused on only this one. pretty fast moving book despite the entire story being told over a 24 hour period or so. kept me engaged in the story the whole time.

definitely did not see a few of the later twists coming,

especially because i mistakenly thought aoife's sibling heavily implied to have passed away was a sister and not a brother. so i fully missed that setup until the end. and while some made sense (aoife's brother, olivia's history with will) i thought some of the twists and connections were a bit contrived. like will also being the one who was harassing hannah's sister. obviously on a character level we KNOW he would easily be capable of it but it just felt like a stretch, even after giving the book the benefit of the doubt and going with the rest.

also speaking of will i really don't think we needed anything from his perspective because it truly did not add anything to the narrative. not saying we needed will to be sympathetic or that i wanted to know his Deep Thoughts about harassing women but what is the point of showing his thoughts if we're not going to get any nuance? he really just comes across like a monster (like he already did!!!) and we don't learn anything new from it

was still glad to see him get stabbed bc if someone else wasn't going to do it i personally would have astral projected into the book and done it myself. how's THAT for a plot twist. get his ass

man i wanna go to a wedding and get free food that lamb and potatoes sounded soooooo good