Book Review: The Guest List

 

The first of three Lucy Foley books that I read in a row, and the first of her novels for me.

A luxury wedding is set on a remote Irish island, a dead body is found during the celebration, and a storm has cut off access to the mainland. The Guest List by Lucy Foley hooks you in with the blurb before you start reading.  

The story is non-linear and cuts between different characters in the days leading up to the wedding, and then to the present during the wedding reception where they are trying to find out what is going on regarding a body, in alternating chapters.

To be honest, I almost stopped reading during the first chapter as it didn’t look like a story I would normally enjoy reading, but I decided to carry on to see how the rest of the story went. (The fact that I needed to read a thriller novel for work also might have had something to do with me pushing on).

The twist at the end for me was more of who the killer was, than who the actual victim was. The character was the last one on my list of suspects that I made as I read through the novel.

The characters themselves were not nice people, I would hate to have been stuck on an island with any of them. I felt none of them had any real redeeming features to them, so I had no sympathy for the victim at all and I honestly don’t think you are supposed too anyway. The only character I could find any sympathy for was the killer with their motive.  

I finished this book but I’m not sure if I actually enjoyed it to be honest.

I would recommend this book to those who like crime thrillers, and those who enjoy non-linear story-telling.

This is a review of a library book that I borrowed via Libby.