The Guest List is a fun, quick thriller and will make a good summer read.

It opens with a wedding being set up on an island off the coast of Ireland, which is deserted either because: (a) the locals got tired of living without electricity and running water or (b) the island is haunted by the ghosts of all the people who have drowned after being sucked down into the bog that covers most of the island. (No, this isn't a traditional ghost story.) While this premise is not unique, it does set up a scene where you know nothing good can come of having a wedding here.

And the bride and groom, a blogger/influencer and an up-and-coming reality television celebrity respectfully, are about as nice as they sound. The groom, Will, just oozes charm, but when the power goes out during the wedding reception, we see some of his handsome exterior start to crack. Then, a waitress screams and in shock swears she saw a body outside the tent. The reader goes through the book not knowing who the body is and who is responsible for it being there until the end.

I really liked how the timeline of this book jumped back and forth between the actual wedding itself and the day before, which doesn't sound like a lot of time, but the reader learns a lot about the characters' pasts even while only jumping 24 hours, which allowed the author to build a story and the suspense without bogging the reader down with too much long backstory.

While this was not an Agatha Christie novel in anything but setting and format, it was a fun, quick thriller that has a fulfilling ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book. It has not influenced my opinion.

Wow, this book was so engrossing! For a lot of the beginning, it’s a slow build, enough that you wonder what the actual mystery is, but Foley provides small glimpses into the tragedy between longer moments in the past to show you how things got to that point. I didn’t mind the jumping back and forth in time, because that was minimal. I liked slowly getting to know more and more about the characters, to seeing the puzzle pieces of their connection fit into place. The last third of the book is very exciting and it made it well worth the slow-building tension of the earlier two-thirds. While only a handful of the characters are likeable, I did enjoy seeing things from the range of perspectives provided. The ending is a little unsatisfying in that while the “big bad” is taken down, many of the characters are in such a sorry state. I wouldn’t call it a happy ending, but I didn’t feel upset by it, either.

This book will definitely appeal to avid mystery/thriller readers and fans of Foley’s works.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Guest List but this thriller hooked me from the beginning. Foley does an excellent job with her descriptions of both the characters and the setting. I found it impressive how the writing goes back and forth only between two days of time, yet we gain knowledge from years past as we see events through the different perspectives of the characters. Every person on the island has a secret. The key is figuring out which secrets are deceptive and which ones are kept due to shame.

*** A few points of caution. The f-word is used pretty regularly throughout this novel. While it is used fittingly to match the character in most places, I still cringe at how often it is used. There are some steamy scenes a couple of places that one may want to skim through. Lastly, this book contains some potential triggers for those sensitive to reading about depression and/or suicide.

This was an average mystery that was elevated by its unique setting. Will and Jules are a beautiful, successful couple holding their wedding on a remote Irish island. The book alternates between several perspectives, including the bride, her best friend's wife, her sister, and the best man. Several of the groom's former classmates are at the wedding, making vague references to events that happened when they were at school. The bride's sister is very unhappy but has no one she can confide in. Each character is hiding a secret, and each has suffered a painful event in their past. "The Guest List" is well written and I liked the island setting. The tension builds gradually and the characters were well done. However, I felt the book fell apart towards the end and became somewhat ludicrous. I enjoyed Lucy Foley's previous book, and this will satisfy thriller fans, but it wasn't a standout.

Loved this book! It was dark enough to fit the setting of a spooky island. It kept me guessing until the end of the book. Enough twists and turns to keep it interesting until the end. Great character development as well as great plot. Will add to my collection for lending to friends for sure.

The Guest List is the perfect summer read. Lucy Foley takes the formula she used in her previous novel, The Hunting Party, and turns it up to 11, for an immersive, page-turning mystery. There is no new ground being tread here, as Foley is borrowing heavily from Agatha Christie in her locked-door style, but the characters here are well fleshed out and interesting, which was somewhat lacking in The Hunting Party.

In The Guest List, a body is found at a wedding on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. But who is dead? And who did it? Foley expertly investigates several guests' motives and pasts, before threading them all together for an ending that keeps you guessing. The guests are all distinct here, with different voices and motives, and that makes for a refreshing read. The twists keep coming, and readers won't be able to see the end coming.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Locked-door mysteries are a weakness of mine, and this one definitely delivers.

This was billed as a thriller, but it really has lot of mystery elements in it as well. In the beginning, the reader knows something dreadful has happened to one of the characters but you have to keep reading to discover the victim and guilty party among the large cast of characters. It kept me guessing until the very end! Although it is told from several different viewpoints, the author did a good job of giving each character his/her own voice so that I didn't have a challenge keeping them straight. And I really enjoyed the remote Irish island setting, which definitely upped the books mysterious atmosphere.

This would make an excellent book club pick for fans of authors like Ruth Ware. Our patrons cannot get enough when it comes to innovative thrillers and suspense. It reminded me of a great Agatha Christie combined with Tana French and I can see several demographics of book club readers enjoying this selection.

This story was A-MA-ZING!!!! I usually don’t care for thrillers because they rarely manage to transport me or move me. Lucy Foley did exactly that and then some. I knew I was going to enjoy this book because of the story occurs in a closed space (a remote island) over the time frame of a couple of days. Old secrets and tragedies resurface, the story is being told through different angles (makes it richer), and all actors seem to have a reason to be the murderer.

All characters seem pretty shallow and caricatural early in the book. The more I was reading, the more human they were becoming and the more I started to care for them. Lucy Foley is a tremendous writer and technician: she knows how to build a smart story and suck the reader right into it. From page 1, each chapter was bringing another piece to the big puzzle. Bowing down to Ms. Foley’s talent.

My favorite 2020 thriller so far! And it gets to my all-time favorite list.

Thank you Net Galley and William Morrow for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Friends, family, and loved ones gather on a remote island off the coast of Ireland to celebrate the marriage of a perfect couple. In fact, all anyone seems to be able to talk or think about is how good Jules and Will look standing next to each other. And they do seem a perfect match. He, a reality TV personality, the star of his own survival show. She, the founder and CEO of a successful blog and lifestyle brand. But when tragedy hits on their wedding day, one is left to wonder if looks are in fact deceiving.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley is an exciting thriller told both in split narrative and split timeline. Chapters alternates from perspective to perspective, and readers are treated to the thoughts of the bride, several wedding party members, wedding guests, and the wedding planner. The story jumps back and forth in time during the wedding weekend on the island, as Foley expertly reveals tantalizing bits of information little by little. She likes to take her time with the reveals, which only adds to the delicious suspense.

Foley excels at weaving a good mystery, drawing us in, leading us astray, only to shock with a juicy reveal that changes everything. While some of her twists were predictable, some were genuinely a surprise! And even those that felt obvious were still exciting to follow, thanks to Foley’s skill with suspense. Her characters are created with true humanity and feel very real, their actions believable. What happens when you feel like you don’t belong? When you already doubt yourself, and then someone takes advantage of your insecurity? How much harm can be done, and what are the ripple effects? This book examines the tensions between classes and the danger of ‘boys just being boys’. It will inflame your rage and satisfy your thirst for vengeance.

And can I just take a second to discuss this SETTING!? Talk about setting as a character. Treacherous cliffs, deadly tides, quietly fatal bogs, winds that threaten to rip you apart. Foley selects settings that are both stunning and brutal. Nature alone would kill you in these places, but their beauty is so enticing. This is just like how I would imagine a siren to be. The island itself is so dangerous and holds so much death, grief, and history that you can never quite count it out as the perpetrator.

This was a fast-paced, plot-driven, wild ride full of twists and turns! Reading The Guest List was a welcome delight. It swept me up and kept me entertained. Make no mistake, Foley is the Christie of our time.

While the psychological thriller is not really my cup of tea, I found this book to be pretty compelling and suspenseful. The wild, isolated island setting is done well, and I for one didn't see the twist coming (though I may be in the minority here as I almost never see twists coming). As in many thrillers, most of the characters have some sort of secret, so it's not always easy to find someone to root for -- but the villainy is so villainous that everyone else is a pretty sympathetic character in comparison. I look forward to recommending this to patrons!

Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A wedding is held on a remote island. Mysterious happenings occur and in the end, a murder results. The twists and turns make this novel an interesting read.

Lucy Foley became one of my favorite authors after reading "The Hunting Party." That being said, this book had a lot of parallels to her previous book. The characters both go off to an isolated place and someone dies mysteriously but we don't know who is dead or who killed them until the end. However, I am here for that. I love the similarities. Some people might not. But I loved the first one so I was pleasantly surprised to find I was almost reliving my reading of "The Hunting Party."

I really felt like I could connect to some of the characters in this book and others may have had similar experiences to what the characters did.

I was also genuinely surprised with some of the twists! Which rarely happens anymore because I read so many thrillers. It can be hard to surprise me.

So, if you are not a thriller newbie, this one would be great for you!

I picked up this book because it was compared to Agatha Christie and I love her stuff. Also, the cover reminded me of her story, And then there were none. It very much has that feel in the beginning. I felt like I got to know a lot about each character, but at halfway through and again at about 60 percent through, I kept asking, who died? It took a while to find out what happened, but in the end, it very much made sense. It was a good read although it felt a little drawn out at times. The characters were weaved together in ways I could not have guessed and I promise, if you stick with it, the story does make sense at the end.

Thank you William Morrow Books for gifting me a copy of THE GUEST LIST to read and review!

I sat down to read a few pages of this book on Tuesday morning and then the next thing I know, I have read 200. I was hooked from start to finish. Lucy Foley is an immensely talented writer and knows the ins and outs of writing a gripping thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

With each chapter, more pieces of the puzzle were laid out in front of me and as I started to put it all together, I was in awe of how perfectly Foley wove all of the wedding guests' stories together. The last 50 pages were one surprising twist after another.

I can’t wait to see what Lucy Foley writes next!

THE GUEST LIST was picked up by Book of the Month as one of their April choices but will officially be published on June 2, 2020.

Wow! Another winner from Lucy Foley! I really enjoyed the author’s last novel, The Hunting Party and the same goes for her latest, The Guest List! This book has all of my required ingredients for an addictive thriller. So many motives, multiple suspects, several perspectives, and major suspense! I found myself questioning the entire list of characters and ended up being completely shocked in the end. For this reason alone, the novel receives high praise from me. I had every intention of going back and forth between reading the physical book and listening to the audiobook, but ended up listening the whole way through! My ears could not resist the lovely accents. I could listen to the narrators all day long. I highly recommend the audiobook, it was fantastic.

Any book that promises to evoke Agatha Christie vibes has big shoes to fill, and Lucy Foley has done a pretty good job doing so with The Guest List. Set against the backdrop of a haunting Irish island, The Guest List follows the progression of a wedding weekend as strangers and friends come together to celebrate and to escape their lives. We encounter conflict past and present, and more than a few dark secrets.

While the story itself wasn’t entirely unexpected – the plot twists and turns weren’t predictable, but nor were they totally surprising – it was a compelling, gratifying read full of rich characters with complex motivations and histories. The island seemed to be another character in the story, looming, and adding an air of foreboding and creepiness to the entire story. Pro tip: don’t read this one when you’re home alone at night if you’re at all skittish!

All considered, this was a worthwhile, if creepy, read. I would recommend it to patrons, and have already recommended it to friends.

I loved this thriller, and plan to included it in my summer book roundup on Mashable.com, going live fourth of July weekend.

This was such a good thriller! It starts off with a wedding on a remote island and as you get into each chapter you realize the guests are not what they seem. There are many secrets that lead to a lot of twists that I really enjoyed. It was well paced and kept my attention the entire time! The alternating view points were written very well. Sometimes multiple view points can get a little confusing but the author did a very good job here. The ending completely shocked me and I loved the fact that I didn't see it coming.

Nicely paced, edge-of-your seat story about the prominent wedding of Jules and Will on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Make your list and check it twice...!