The Guest List: A Novel

I do enjoy the authors writing style. She weaves a very interesting tale. Nothing is as it seems. And everything unravels in the end to show the truth. I expected a few things, but the ending did catch me off guard.

This book reminded me so much of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." It's set in Ireland, on an island, at a wedding of a celebrity (groom) and a magazine developer (bride). Friends and family gather for a night before the wedding, and a murder occurs on the night of the wedding. You don't find out who died until the end of the book, or who killed someone. This was a great twist to the book that I really liked. There were so many possibilities, since all you knew was that the waitress screamed when she found the dead body, and then passed out...so you don't find out until later who it was. This makes the victim and the murderer both mysteries. It turns out that the groom and the bride have enemies among most of the people there, so it really could be anyone. I loved this book, and can't wait to read others by this author.

This wasn't really my thing. It felt like a reverse murder mystery, which turns out I don't like, and I wasn't engaged in the characters. It did start to pick up and then the ending wasn't my favourite. The author is a very good writer though, so that bumped up the score.

My book clubs seem set on reading thrillers of late and frankly they are starting to blur one into another. Not this one! This mystery/thriller has just the right amount of interesting characters and atmospheric setting. Very reminiscent of Knives Out or an Agatha Christie. Would recommend but I do hope for a different genre next month.

The narrative and time jumps were terrifically woven together. Lucy Foley served a surprising and wonderfully written dose of vengeance in this thriller.