The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Author: Lucy Foley

Title: The Guest List

Pulisher: Harper Collins 

Published: 2020

Pages: 375

Genre: Thriller 

 

     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?

     Lucy Foley is an author whose name I have seen come up time and again but never had the pleasure to read. So on a recent trip to the book store, I decided to take advantage not only of the buy one get one-half price but to finally become acquainted with this author. Whilst I am always a great fan of detective thrillers in recent years I have become more familiar with what I suppose you would call the domestic thriller genre. Books that allow us to sink into other people's lives and have a good rummage around in their closest to see what skeletons can be extracted for our own macabre amusement. The Guest List seems to fall very squarely into this genre. On top of that due to it being set on a storm-swept island you can add into the mix a sort of locked-room mystery. By the nature of the beast, we already know that one of these people has been up to no good buy the whos and the hows are left up to us to play detective.

     This is a novel of not only shifting people but time periods, all swirling around the fateful wedding night. Each of these people seems familiar to us like we have seen them at weddings or gatherings of our own friends before. It makes it easier for us to slip into this private affair and to witness with their eyes this series of unfortunate events unfold. We are tasked with the challenging task of try to work out just who amongst this party we can trust. Like a deadly game of guess who we must pick away at this well-crafted facade and discover the true beating heart of this little family. For the moment however they all seem like a nice if sometimes a little miss guided, group of friends.  For me, it is the discovering of their secrets that bring the thrill to such books. We all like to speculate whilst people watching what dark secret they might be keeping all balled up in themselves, or is that just me? 

     And for Foley, she does like to tease us with this group's many deceptions. I enjoyed how she likes to play with us, there is something so deliciously deceiving about these so-called friends. But she always finds a way to keep it within the realms of possibility. As each petal of this deadly rose is peeled back you find yourself partly in shock at the revelation, but also feeling sadness for those that have been hurt this time. It is a beautifully crafted work of fiction and as the pages slipped by I found myself more and more intertwined in this storm that ravaged not only the island but also these people's lives. How easy it was for me to get lost in her words not wanting to put it down. Each revelation was just more of a spur to go on? Within the first few chapters, you become locked into this need to have an answer as to just what has been going on. And if that is not the mark of a great writer then I don't know what is. She has a way of captivating her audience. Maybe this is in part with the guest list because she starts to get you to care just before she rips the rug out from under you. But either way by the time you find your way to this well-crafted crescendo, you find yourself consumed by deadly secrets and dirty deeds.

     As the nights start to close in I can't think of a better book to lose yourself in. With so much going on you find yourself wrapped up in these people's worlds clawing to find out just what each of them is capable of. This may not be a detective book but it sure did not stop me from playing one in the hunt for the truth. With this one book, Foley has convinced me that she is a writer that I will be lucky to spend more time with. Her worlds are complex, brooding, and never dull, so for those who count themselves as fans of the thriller genre, I challenge you to discover all this group of friend's dark little secrets.