The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It promised to be the poshest wedding of the season. The bride, Jules Keegan, is the founder of The Download, one of the hottest, most influential, online magazines of the day. The groom, Will Slater, is the handsome and charismatic star of the successful television show, Survive the Night. On a remote island off the coast of Ireland, the nuptials are to be exchanged in front of 200 of their closest and dearest friends…or are they? Someone thinks the bride is making a terrible mistake.

What an enjoyable suspenseful story! Told in short chapters from the alternating viewpoints of different members of the wedding party or those closest to them, the story of the bride and groom and their families and friends is revealed much like a slow-burning fuse. It is an incredibly atmospheric telling with its setting on an abandoned island with a dire history, its luxuriously appointed ‘Folly,’ the crumbling ruins of the old church, treacherous bogs, and a black storm brewing in the near distance.

As each character takes a turn at narrating, the author gives and leaves out just enough information to keep the reader in the dark or guessing but not connecting the dots too soon. I know I missed some clues along the way to the big reveal later on. One thing I experienced is some characters I didn’t care for at the start of the story, and ones I did, flip places in my emotions by the end. That change in attitude was entertaining in itself. But the end does come, and it is a doozy!

I recommend The Guest List for mystery and thriller readers that don’t mind that slow, inexorable burn to the exciting denouement.

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