A review by chloek608
The Guest List by Lucy Foley

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. 

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