The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Reviews
Three Stars
Best for:
Fans of her previous book; fans of Liane Moriarty’s work.
In a nutshell:
Jules and Will are getting married on an island off the coast of Ireland. Someone will be dead by the end of the weekend.
Worth quoting:
N/A
Why I chose it:
I just finished one of the author’s other books and am always looking for good audio books to listen to while running.
Review:
I love a twist that I didn’t quite guess but also makes sense.
This is another book told from multiple perspectives – there’s the event planner and owner of the location Aoife, bride Jules, groom Will, best man Johnno, bridesmaid Olivia, and ‘plus one’ (wife of the bride’s best friend) Hannah. Everyone has something going on. Will is a minor reality TV star; John-O has started his own whiskey company. Olivia (half-sister of the bride) has dropped out of university under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Hannah is a bit uncomfortable with her husband Charlie’s close relationship with the bride.
The events unfold over just a couple of days – the day before and the day of the wedding. A narrator provides interstitials letting the reader know details about a body found the night of the wedding. But who is it? And who killed them?
Without giving anything away, I would say that the book unravels in a considered and thoughtful manner, and nothing is too far-fetched. We feel for some of the characters, but also some are quite unlikable. I listened to the audio book, and the voicing of the men was particularly good – I had a visceral reaction to the chapters focused on the public school (in the British sense) boys getting back together after their glory days as teens.
One sort of recurring theme is how these entitled men treat people they deem week or unworthy – smaller kids they went to school with, women they dated. These men are gross but are also serving in positions of fame and power. Blech. I think this sort of meta social commentary led me to enjoy this one more than The Hunting Party, her previous similar book.
What’s next for this book:
I think this author has another similar book so I’ll probably check that one out to.
