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Review: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Title: The Guest List
Author: Lucy Foley
Year Published: 2020


Genre: Adult fiction (thriller)
Pages: 313
Rating: 4 out of 5

Location (my 2020 Google Reading map)Ireland

FTC Disclosure: I bought this book with my own money

Summary (from the inside flap of the book): 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?


Review: I got this as my April Book of the Month book and am glad that I did. I am a fan of multiple narrators so this one worked for me with 5 narrators (and a 6th at the end) who all have a different relationship to the wedding events, give new information, and round out the story. 

All of these characters weren't necessarily people that one would like, but we can relate to them. They are in their 30s, figuring out marriage and kids, work, and yearning for what they once had whether that is a carefree youth, popularity, or missing family.

And the setting of this story. Who in their right mind plans their wedding on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland?! The boat trip to the island is super choppy, the island is covered in bog that sucks you in if you misstep, the wind blows a gale and there's no cell service. Bad choice for a wedding, great choice for a thriller.

Challenges for which this counts: 
This book counts for the Popsugar challenge because the book includes one of the 7 deadly sins (wrath).

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