The Guest List

by Lucy Foley

Other authorsGrace Han (Cover designer)
Ebook, 2020

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Description

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?… (more)

Media reviews

Foley...outdoes herself again with this page-turning thriller; it's like experiencing Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None rolled into one ... The island and the ancient folly where the wedding party stays are themselves characters, adding to the feeling of
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almost supernatural mystery and the unease that something is lurking in the shadows and getting ready to strike ... Only a handful of thriller writers can accomplish what Foley does here: weave a complex plot from the perspectives of eight characters plus an omniscient narrator without causing confusion or reader exhaustion when the plot bounces from one person to the next. Fans of Christie, Louise Penny, and Ruth Rendell will absolutely love this book, which doesn't reveal its secrets until the very last page.
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1 more
Foley defers disclosing the murder victim’s identity until quite late, but she undercuts the suspense with obvious indications of who it is. The tension of the setup isn’t quite matched by the reveals, though the nicely creepy setting compensates somewhat. Readers seeking thrills will find
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plenty.
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Awards

Audie Award (Finalist — Mystery — 2021)
Irish Book Award (Nominee — Crime Fiction — 2020)
Theakstons Old Peculier Prize (Longlist — 2021)
Reese's Book Club (2020-06 — 2020)
LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — June 2020)

Language

Original publication date

2020
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