Lucy Foley is wonderful at creating a moody setting and putting a bunch of messed up people together in that place. Much like The Hunting Party, The Guest List relies on a remote location and a bunch of old friends with secrets to create a tense and mysterious premise. It is told in multiple points of view and from two timelines-- the evening of a wedding when a body is found, and the events leading up to the wedding.

If you like delicious thrillers, the wilderness, and British/ Irish novels, then you can't go wrong here! There are things you see coming and some you don't! Enjoy!

The Guest List was a very enjoyable, character-driven story. It was told from multiple perspectives over varying timelines over the course of a weekend. The characters were gathered for a wedding on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. It was clear there was a murder, but who was it, who did it and why. The chapters were short, which I love, and encouraged page turning. A nice quick read that kept me guessing and entertained.

Once again Lucy Foley as written a solid whodunnit with a branched out cast of characters who all have something to hide. Like in THE HUNTING PARTY, putting people with secrets in a remote and isolated location is a recipe for scandal and murder. We go into the story knowing that something has gone wrong, and as the layers are slowly peeled back with the input from our cast of unreliable narrators, the pieces slowly and deftly fall into place. There are a number of mysteries here, and Foley pulls most of them off with ease, laying groundwork where you didn't know it was being laid. I think that she also perfectly captures the dangers of people with too much privilege, and how they can wreak havoc whether intentionally or not. I was pretty much kept guessing up until the end, and I thought that the reveals were all well done and went off without many, if any, hitches. Plus, the descriptions of the remote island were both haunting and also beautiful. It made me want to go there, even if foul things were afoot.

THE GUEST LIST is another fun mystery from Lucy Foley. Let it take you into its web, as I'm sure that you'll be just as surprised and satisfied as I was.

The Guest List centers around a fancy wedding between Jules, who runs an online home magazine, and Will, the burgeoning star of a survival TV show. Jules wants her wedding to be trendsetting so she hosts it on a rocky, somewhat forboding island off the coast of Ireland - the guests are shuttled back and forth via boat. The setting is important - this is a moody and atmospheric book, and the island is almost a character in its own right. There are cliffs and caves and treacherous peat bogs. Even more treacherous than the island, though, are the guests, especially the wedding party. Jules's best friend and his wife are there, as is Will's oldest friend and best man. Jules's kind-of-estranged family is also in attendance, and Will's school friends. One thing I enjoyed about this book is that we know something bad has happened but not what (though it's not too tough to figure out what the "what" is). And while I figured out a lot of the connections between the characters (and what they were hiding) before they were revealed, the final twist took me by surprise, which I really enjoyed. I don't think I realized this was a thriller when I picked it up, though, and I thought it would be a somewhat cozier mystery. So this one wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but that's on me, not the book. I also detested Will and his friends, with their weird public school rituals and Lord of the Flies cosplay. But I found the women - particularly Hannah and Olivia - to be interesting characters, and ultimately I could not put this one down. I think thriller lovers will definitely enjoy this book; it reminded me somewhat of Ruth Ware.

This was the first book by Lucy Foley that I had read. I'm looking forward to going back and reading The Hunting Party now.
This book takes place over two days at a remote island off the coast of Ireland. The setting is a weekend wedding where secrets are revealed and one of the attendees winds up dead - only you don't know who right away. The book is suspenseful as you go back and forth between the present - when someone screams leading to the discovery of the body and to the day before when a select few guests arrive on the island. With each chapter we learn more about the main characters - their past history with each other and learn that many of them have a reason to be resentful of the eventual victim, making it anyone's guess as to who the murderer would be.

I had fun reading this classic whodunit mystery. This is a slow burn mystery that takes place during a destination wedding on an isolated island off the coast of Ireland. The island setting provided the perfect atmosphere giving the story a wild and menacing vibe - it was pure mood. At the beginning the reader learns there was a body found on the island, but the identity of the victim remains unknown until the very end. The story is told through many POVs starting the day before the wedding as select guests begin arriving on the island and a third-person narrative set in the present. I was guessing until the very end!

NetGalley ARC | Another one of my favorite books of 2020 so far, I NEEDED this murder mystery set off the coast of Ireland. Find the most spoiled 'frat' boys that you want to slug, dysfunctional families and friends, lots of booze, and the wedding weekend from hell. Not to mention the contemporary take on celebs, Instagram, and the blogging life.

The Guest List has amazingly eerie vibes that will keep you reading all night long to figure out 'whodunit.' I am all in for this one, and I love how all of the pieces fit together--even if it seems a bit too connected in the end. My mouth still dropped, and I LOVED IT.

You can find my complete review on The Uncorked Librarian: https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/may-2020-book-releases.

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

3 solid stars. I really enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced with short chapters that bounced around to different characters but all tied together in the end. The description of the setting is very realistic. The character interactions and time changes from past to current were easy to understand and there was enough suspense and plot twists for me to want to finish the book quickly. I spent most of the book trying to figure out who was killed, who was the murderer, and how everyone was connected.

A wedding, high school friends, multiple perspectives, one dead body. This is the bomb that is dropped on you the first few pages of this novel and immediately I am hooked. Jules Keegan and Will Slater's wedding sounds like one for the decade: a hardworking socialite and famous TV actor on a discreet Irish island perfectly and meticulously planned down the the last fork on the table. When all of their friends and family gather for this one event, multiple secrets are revealed and there is something about the island that makes people do crazy things...I enjoyed the changing perspectives of the people and how when the novel flipped between past and present, at first names weren't use in the present , and once characters were introduced, they slowly were formed. If you love a juicy quick-read thriller with some whodunnit Agatha Christie vibes, this one is for you.

An atmospheric page turner! I've forced myself to stay away from "thrillers", as most have fallen flat for me, but was intrigued when I saw this was a #BOTM choice & then it popped up on #Netgalley. Glad I downloaded it because I loved it! An Agatha Christie mystery for the modern age: Set on a rugged, remote Irish island where a cast of characters come together for a lavish wedding. Dark secrets are revealed with each character's perspective.

Hooks you rightly from the start. A glamorous couple plan the perfect wedding on a remote yet beautiful island. Every character is richly described. Foley perfectly captures authentic relationships between sisters, parents, spouses and school mates. twists and turns abound and an ending you might think you see coming but will shock you none the less.

Excellent read! Very quick page turner with lots of intricate twists. At times I struggled with the language style. It was fun to insert accents into the speech but the dialect itself slowed my progression. I did feel that a few of the characters could’ve been explained a bit deeper.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3264222386

Jules and Will are set to get married on a remote island off the Irish coast. Both are well known people, Jules being the owner of a magazine and Will the star of a survival reality tv show. All of their friends and loved ones gather for the wedding when someone is discovered to have been murdered amidst a strong storm the night of the wedding.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. The storyline was okay and had an interesting premise, but a lot of it fell short for me. It took a long time to build up and I found myself thinking if there was every going to be a point. There were a lot of time jumps between the day before the wedding, morning/day of the wedding, and the actual night of the wedding itself, all leading up to the murder and how it was discovered.

I didn't relate to any of the characters or particularly enjoy them. I wouldn't say they were unlikable, but I definitely didn't feel a strong connection to them either. I think part of the reason I didn't relate to the characters as much is because there were SO many viewpoints. Every time you turned the page it felt like a different person was telling the story and then it would take a long time to get back to the same person. Although, even with the multiple POV's I never found that I had a hard time telling the character's apart, that part was easy.

What slightly saved it for me in the end was the final twist. I didn't see it coming, but I also didn't find it extremely shocking either.

One thing I did like was the use of language to create the overall atmosphere and the nostalgia of the characters. Overall, it was well-written, just not exactly a favorite thriller of mine.

Quick moving crime thriller which takes you to a remote island wedding. It's not who did it, it's more like who didn't do it. Pack mentality takes over the guests during the pre-wedding get-together and reception, itself. The story weaves together what is currently happening in one chapter and how it was influenced by past actions in another from multi-perspectives. Snuggle down for a weekend ride because you're going to want to know just what happens when the past is confronted with the now...
AND THEN THE LIGHTS GO out

I thought this sophomore effort by Lucy Foley even better than her first book The Hunting Party. The location was the right amount of romantic and dangerous and the plotting was much tighter.

As I read this book, I thought repeatedly "oh, what tangled webs we weave...." I loved this book. I appreciated the well-thought out characters, and was shocked to see how well everyone's situation melded into each other's. I had true sympathy for some characters, rage or dislike towards others, and I couldn't wait to see how this played out. I appreciated the fact that the characters seemed to be self aware, or in on the fact that some of the goings-on or revelations were almost too far fetched to be true..... yet said situations never seemed trite or ridiculous. This book was just SO well done. I cannot wait to read what this author writes in the future.

Lucy Foley never disappoints. She has a true talent for writing cleverly crafted mysteries that keep the reader guessing pretty much until the end. The Guest List is a unique mix of Agatha Christie's best-known stories: Murder on the Orient Express and Then There Were None, where the guilty are plenty and the secrets kept are everywhere.

A beautiful bride, a famous groom, and a destination wedding, what should be the makings of a romantic weekend turn sinister when a scream interrupts the reception. This mystery is an intricate weaving of details that will keep readers guessing until the very end. Told through multiple points of view, readers get snippets of narrative from the groom’s boarding school buddies, the bride’s sister, and several others that build up to a surprising climax. The setting of the island is charming yet ominous with descriptions of the grand guest rooms while also mentioning the graveyard near the church. Foley’s reserved storytelling and superb character development make for a grim and gripping read.

4 stars!

As anyone following me knows, I love a good thriller, but I have trouble finding them. I didn't read the author's first book, The Hunting Party and now I definitely plan on going back. I thought reading The Guest List now would be perfect since BOTM chose it as an April pick and I've been reading so many heavy books I needed a break. I couldn't have been more pleased!

You've read the synopsis, a very hot and in the headlines couple, (Jules and Will) are getting married on a remote island. Yet appearances aren't what they seem and there are some very dark secrets that follow many people in the wedding party. It's creepy, sexy and sinister in all the right ways. Who is the guest that travels to the island, but won't make it back? Who commits the crime? I live for these stories and this one didn't disappoint.

It vaguely reminds me of Agatha Christie's, And Then There Were None, where you learn a little bit more about people as each chapter goes by. Pretty soon, you're suspecting everyone. THAT is something that is hard to pull off. How do you make it believeable? Well, I'm glad to say that Ms. Foley succeeded. I thought this book was superb and I enjoyed the surprises. Just when I was starting to get a little antsy, the book really picked up in pace and I couldn't have been happier with how it ended. I think one of the best parts about the book is that anyone could have committed the crime. Each time I caught myself thinking that I knew who it was, I'd read another chapter and be convinced it was another character. Lastly, I really enjoyed the writing. It was atmospheric and full of depth for how short the chapters were. In fact, the closer to the end we got, the shorter the chapters became and I thought this was a clever plot device. I definitely plan to add Lucy Foley to my list of must read authors. I can't wait for her next book!

Thank you to Brittani Hilles at William Morrow for providing me an egalley to read and provide an honest review.

Review Date: 04/07/2020
Publication Date: 05/05/2020

A wedding celebration on a remote location takes a dark turn in this page-turning thriller by Lucy Foley (author of The Hunting Party). Jules plans what she hopes will be a perfect day, but the various pasts of her guests collide fatally in this atmospheric book. The story is told from the perspective of various attendees and participants, and the setting – a blustery and forbidding island off the coast of Ireland – is one of the main characters.