I found this to be the perfect example of a page turner! The more I read, the more I wanted to know!! It builds up brilliantly, allowing you a look at the story unfolding from different points of view and letting you try to work out just how it would all play out - I thought I'd guessed it but I was wrong!!

A wedding party travels to Ireland and what should be a celebration turns into disaster with the murder of one of the party - you don't find out who until much later and that helps build up the tension as there are a lot of people bearing grudges! Add alcohol to the mix and the masks come off and long standing tension needs to be resolved! And boy does it get resolved!!

Told from the point of view from the bride, the best man, the bridesmaid, the plus one and the wedding planner, it's a story that springs backwards and forwards seamlessly as the before, during and after are played out and it's often not pretty! Squabbles, resentment and revenge are brought to the fore! And with a bad storm approaching, there's an undercurrent of doom hanging over everybody!

My favourite characters were Hannah (the plus one) and Olivia (the bridesmaid) as they were the characters I found the most relatable and down to earth! They were down to earth, while some other characters were in danger of disappearing up their own backsides!! Dealing with their own issues, they found the company of each other a safe space to be and could open up easily to one another.

With alcohol flowing, and a toxic male environment it doesn't take long before secrets of the past are revealed adding to the drama of the weekend and I enjoyed the tension building immensely and can't wait to see what Lucy Foley has in store for us with her next book!!

Oh wow, what an intriguing, gripping and atmospheric read this is! This is my first read by Lucy Foley, but after reading The Guest List it most definitely won’t be my last. The perfect book to read at this time of year, with the rain lashing down and the wind howling outside, this was a book that transported me to the deserted island off the coast of Ireland which is the chilling setting of this outstanding thriller.

Online magazine editor Jules is about to marry TV celebrity Will in what will be the most prolific wedding of the year. Wedding planner Aoiffe can’t believe her luck that the couple have chosen her recently restored property, located on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, as their venue.

The day before the wedding the main wedding party arrive by boat, with the remainder of the guests due to arrive on the morning of the big day itself. But then the weather changes and the island becomes increasingly more isolated, the atmosphere claustrophobic and the tension rising as the story begins to unfold.

Told from various points of view, the details of what has happened slowly emerge, leading to twists, turns and some genuinely shocking moments as the lives of this largely unlikeable cast of characters begin to unravel. There is an underlying sense of anger and resentment between these people that is so palpable you could cut the tension with a knife. As I raced through the pages, not wanting to put this book down for even a minute, I felt a rising sense of dread as the wedding guests lives spiralled out of control, heading towards what could only be described as an inevitable disaster.

I loved every word of this stunning thriller. The island itself was a huge part of why this gripping story worked so well. It became a character in its own right, the atmosphere of the dark and craggy island being battered by a storm, marrying together perfectly with the darkness and ugliness of the wedding party itself.

With twists, turns and surprises that kept me on my toes throughout, The Guest List is a clever and complex thriller that I would highly recommend. Lucy Foley’s writing is superb and I can’t wait to read more from this talented author in the future.

Outstanding!

I really enjoyed Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party so was excited to read The Guest List. The story follows the Wedding of Jules and Will, which takes place on a remote island and is told from the perspective of different characters. The story also jumps between the past and the present as events unfold leading up to the wedding.

I really liked the characters in this book and felt the narrative flowed well between them. The build up to current events had me hooked and for once I didn't guess what had happened!

The set up was very similar to The Hunting Party but I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading Lucy's next book.

This is one Guest List I wouldn't want to be on! It's clear from the off that this wedding is doomed to be nothing other than a complete disaster. It should be the wedding of the century, considering the status of the bride and groom, but instead it becomes a nightmare. The story is very cleverly told, with each chapter written from the perspective of key characters. It's the first book I've read by Lucy Foley and I'm excited to read more.

I couldn't wait for my stop on this blog tour this week because I was just itching to tell you about this book...
Absolutely brilliant, go out and buy it today.....
I cannot recommend it highly enough...
It is a dramatic read, it will give you the chills most definitely and you will be turning the pages pretty quickly..
This novel is set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland.
A beautiful location for a wedding if you have lovely sunshine that glistens on the water but not so nice if you have a storm brewing outside. A storm gives a place such a dark and sinister air to its surroundings.
We meet an array of characters in this story all of whom have travelled for the wedding of celebrity Will Slater and journalist Jules Keegan.
Each have their insecurities and secrets they bring with them but wish to hide.
I loved how Lucy told the story through the main players attending the wedding, the bridesmaid, the bride, the groom, the best friend and the wife of the bride's friend.....
It gave such different perspectives on two people and the relationships they have with each person.
We are told early in the story that there is a body...so completely a case of who dunnit and why....
I must admit I didn't have a clue until the final reveal.....
A mighty read, well worth taking the time for this one...

Although it's only February, 2020 is already turning out to be a year of awesome books and The Guest List by Lucy Foley is an absolute cracker. Filled with tension and unease, and crammed full of secrets, Lucy Foley has very cleverly crafted a murder mystery unlike any other I have read before. You might be wondering how it could be different to other whodunnits, well simply because the reader is kept completely in the dark as to which one of the guests is dead.

When reading murder mysteries or crime thrillers, readers turn into amateur sleuths. We sift through the evidence set out before us and examine motive of each character. It's impossible to do this with The Guest List as each character may have motive, but for different potential victims. Although naturally I did try to guess who was dead and 'whodunnit', all of the unknown variables sent my brain into a tizz so I gave up and just enjoyed the show.

I have never enjoyed a book so much with so many unlikeable characters in it. This might sound odd, but it's the individual characteristics and history of each character that drives the story. Everyone seems to have something to hide or holds a grudge against someone, so there was no way that this was ever going to be the perfect wedding to Will that Jules dreamed of. Especially not when Will's old school friends turned up and regressed into a wolfish pack of annoying teenage boys. I could've quite easily pushed any one of them over the edge of the cliff.

The Guest List may very well be compared to an Agatha Christie novel but for building suspense and holding on to all of its secrets until the last possible moment, I think it's even better than any Christie novels I've ever read. The Guest List is even better than a 'whodunnit, it's a 'you'llneverguesswhodunnit' because you don't know who 'it' is.

With a very cleverly crafted plot, The Guest List is as impossible to second guess as it is to put down. It's an absolutely sensational book that I'll be recommending to all.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

This is my second Lucy Foley book and it did not disappoint. Just a brilliant plot where a wedding is held at a remote location, all the guests from both the bride & groom's past all come together. I love how you do not know who the victim is till the end. Brilliantly written and very engaging and most of all a satisfying ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for in exchange for a honest review.

Lucy Foley, author of The Hunting Party is back with another great locked room mystery, set in a remote place with characters you wouldn’t mind murdering yourself. I really enjoyed The Hunting Party and was intrigued by The Guest List and couldn’t wait to read it, especially as the premise sounded so intriguing.

Set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, The Guest List sees a number of people gather together to celebrate the wedding of Jules and Will at a recently renovated Folly. Jules is the editor of an online magazine; she is impossibly glamorous, a trendsetter and has to have the best that money can buy. He is the drop dead gorgeous star of a TV show called Survival who makes Bear Grylls look like a big old scaredy cat. This wedding between two beautiful and glamorous people is going to be *the* event of the year, that is until a body is found. But whose body is it and what happened to them?

Lucy Foley pinwheels back in time to the beginning of the wedding celebrations, introducing us to both Jules and Will, to her troubled and worryingly thin sister Olivia, to her best friend Charlie and his wife Hannah and Will’s best friend Johnno. The Folly, owned and run by Aoife and her husband Freddy is a beautiful place but it is remote. It is the middle of summer and despite the sunshine a storm is brewing and this small island will be buffeted by the wind.

The events leading up to the wedding are fed to us from the viewpoints of these people. It becomes clear that there are secrets and worries which threaten to overspill and tensions are building. The threatening storm mixed with the mounting pressure combines to create a page turning narrative. There is an overarching sense of doom in this intricately plotted novel and the multi-person narrative ensures that the truth is always tantalisingly just out of reach.

This narrative structure also allows us to really get to know the characters. Lucy Foley blows life into this motley crew and whilst I was endeared to some I absolutely detested others. Will went to a boarding school of which his father was headmaster, he is still very close to his school friends, despite them being boorish and cruel. The depiction of the wealthy elite who revert to chanting in Latin during drinking games and playing practical “jokes” on one another is wonderful. There is a real depth to the characters allowing us to get under their skins.

But who is dead? Well, I'm not going to tell you that. What I will say is that whilst I worked one thing out there were some major shocks too. I love a jaw dropping moment, something which takes me completely by surprise and The Guest List had this in spades. It is the perfect escapism book; a cracking plot, great characters and stacks of intrigue and suspense.

After reading and loving The Hunting Party last year this was a must read for me and it did not disappoint me at all. It’s brilliant. Tense. Thrilling. Suspense filled especially towards the end. A real page turner to sink your teeth into. A book to keep your eye on this year.

Brilliantly written. Gripping. The story is told through multiple point of views and it works really well. We get to know each individual character and their background and story. Everyone has a story and must relate to one specific place. The past is still on many of the guests minds in this story and some want answers and revenge for what happened.

The ending oh wow wow wow a million times. Cannot beat a good ending. I think the ending made this book even better for me personally. Amazing! Lucy sure knows how to draw the reader in and capture their attention to the last page. I want to say it ended perfectly but some may not agree. Hmmm.

Absolutely loved reading this. Loved the island even if it was a little creepy and the cover is beautiful. A well deserved four stars from me, highly recommend. This is not your average wedding… I wouldn’t have liked to attend this wedding. The whole story is cleverly written. Everything connects. EVERYTHING. but how?

The Guest List was a book that once I started I struggled to put down. Because the chapters are very short and each one features a different character I was always encouraged to read a little longer.

The multiple narrators include the bride, bridesmaid, plus- one, wedding planner, best man and groom. A couple of these I had sympathy for immediately, a few others I had to get to know more and a few I didn’t like at all. I can’t name any, for much of this novel you don’t know who the victim or the killer is. All I can say is it was a bit of a surprise for both.

There are also the characters who you don’t get to know that well but learn enough just from their brief appearances. There were a few times when I felt outrage at the behaviour of the ushers and other guests.

There is almost a Christie feel to this novel. The way that all that events from the past are revealed, and how those connected feel about it. The bleak setting, with the ancient burial site, peat bogs and the threat from the sea. The feeling that Aiofe, the wedding planner, has that she would always be an outsider and never fully accepted by the locals.

I read most of this novel in one day, hooked on the storyline and wondering who would die. When it was revealed I had to cover the page so I wouldn’t accidentally see who it was. And the way the killer was revealed was wonderful, various accounts of lights failing had me sitting on the edge of my seat.

This is a novel that will hook many, a brilliant read that is perfect for a day when bad weather stops you from leaving the house.

Wow, I loved everything about this book.

The setting, the character development, the building of the story, the swapping between current events and the previous days. I felt the way it was written really helped to build the tension and it was such a page turner!!

I did not guess who had done it at all, it was all incredibly cleverly woven in!

The characters were all written so well and I found it very difficult to put down.

Five huge stars for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my review for The Guest List by Lucy Foley. It’s written by the same author who wrote The Hunting Party. This book is about the wedding of the year that was going to be held on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. It could certainly put the place on the map if everything went well and got a good write up in the Press. The bride had a wedding planner and between them, the wedding had been planned to the very last detail, even including engraved napkin rings for the guests!

The couple getting married are a rising television star, Will Slater and a smart and ambitious magazine publisher, Jules Keegan. She had struck a very good deal to get the place at a rock bottom price but knew the publicity would draw the crowds in for them.
The only way to access the Island was by boat, the bridal party went over the day before the wedding and all the other guests were coming for the wedding and the celebrations after, hopefully the weather would hold but that was something you could never guarantee where they were.

The day of the wedding sees the weather becoming more breezy, tempers are a bit fraught and frayed, things are said that cannot be unsaid, things are happening, the only person seeing everything that is going on unobserved is the wedding planner as she just blends in but then she can keep a secret. The wedding happens, the drinks flow at the reception, everyone is getting merrier and the drink is flowing as it gets darker and the wind picks up. Later in the evening when it is dark, the gale has arrived, the electricity is shortening out every so often, there is a shrill scream from a waitress, she manages to say, ‘There’s a body.’ Then faints.

What do they do? Who is missing from the guests? They are spread over three marquees after all. Do they spread out and search? Could she be certain she actually saw something?

The book tells the story in a diary format with offerings from : The Bride, The plus one, The best man, The wedding planner, The bridesmaid

I just loved reading this book. It was so easy to get into but it was like being on a roller coaster with lots of hills. The suspense was built up then you were dropped from a height to have to go through it again, nerve wrecking! Worth it though in the end. 5 out of 5 from me

The Guest List spins a wonderous tale of the wedding of the year. Set the scene…you’re hearing about the upcoming nuptials everywhere. You know it would do you well to be spotted there – you know it would advance you. Then that invite drops through your door. The marriage of reality TV star Will Slater and the stunning Jules Keegan, a magazine publisher. The event is to take place on the isolated, Cormorant Island situated off the Irish coast. I’m almost at a loss for words to review The Guest List. The reason being? Imagine Einstein wrote a thriller and left clues jotted in code…this taps on just how much of a genius Lucy Foley is.

I’m in love with the way Lucy Foley writes. The multi-perspectives don’t feel confusing, they feel enriching. Her descriptions makes you want to wander off the beaten path. Don’t go alone though because something is likely to snap at heels if you wander too far. The narrative is razor sharp and will cut into your bonds to set you free. The reader is supplied with a heady cocktail mixed with tension, palpating causing fear and cold hard chaos. If you want to have the living daylights scared out of you it has to be Lucy foley. The Psychological Thriller is an uber popular genre these days, but it takes a true genius to juggle so many balls/contextual twists and still be able to keep fresh, raw and unique.

The guests arrive and not for one moment do you not feel the electricity of raw tension running and zapping through every scene. There is the ugly side of the human existence just bubbling at the surface – jealously and secrets. Lucy Foley has hit the nail on the head with her realistic realism being injected here. Not for one moment do I believe this doesn’t go on in everyday weddings, but, we are conditioned to hide it. The ugly parts of our personality shoved deep down.

Can pasts ever be truly forgotten or are the wedding guests walking amongst someone inherently despicable? The vows are said, the rings exchanged and the bemouth of a cake is barely cut when a body is discovered within the marshes. Let me tell you, not many books can transport you into a character’s shoes, but The Guest List does this with such laser precision. This is the exact point when the story shrouds the guests in a blanket of eerie fog. Suspicions turn on each other, they can’t see their true form and the greyness leaves Goosebumps on your flesh.

Panic rises. The guests are trapped on an isolated island being bombarded by gale force winds and storms. There is no escape. Can they work out who the calculated killer is that seems to be hiding in plain sight, do they want to? It’s an ingenious plot that will have you gripped until the grand unveiling. Be prepared to feel the suffocation, the heart in throat pain and storyline that just wont quit. I wanted more and had it delivered to me on a silver platter. Do not ever doubt the depths a human being can slither to.

The Guest List is akin to tiptoeing on a frozen lake, you think you have it in control, and focussed and then Lucy Foley plunges you into its icy depths when you least expect it. I was in the book’s clutches, scrambling to get free but it’s a fruitless endeavour.

I have to confess that I still haven't read Lucy Foley's previous thriller The Hunting Party so this was my first taste of her change of direction in writing style as I had previously only read her debut The Book of Lost and Found. I had high expectations as the concept alone sounding intriguing and having recently finished reading the book I can say that it definitely didn't disappoint.

Who doesn't love a wedding? Especially a celebrity one on Inis Amploir, a remote island off the Irish coastline, but as we soon discover everything is not as picture-perfect as it seems and someone is out for revenge...

The sinister tone for everything that follows is set from the opening chapter when we discover that on the wedding night a body has been discovered during a power cut caused by a storm. But what exactly happened and why slowly unfolds as we are introduced to the various characters who all have a story to tell and a part to play in events that led up to that fateful night.

The whole story is narrated over a 24 hour time period, from the arrival on the island the day before the wedding and then snippets from various characters throughout the day until the final reveal on the wedding night.

It's clear that there's no love lost between some of the wedding guests so it makes you wonder why they were invited especially given the logistics and organisation needed by wedding planner Aoife to make sure that everyone turns up. The group includes the bride Julia's divorced parents and her troubled half-sister Olivia who is the sole bridesmaid, the groom Will's parents and his old public school friends who never seem to grow up when they're together, as well as Charlie, Julia's oldest friend, and his wife Hannah who definitely feels like she's an outsider.

I loved the whole locked-room concept, except in this instance it's a remote island - and the fact that everyone is trapped on the island until the storm blows over and ferries can come and collect them. Whenever I read a murder mystery I am constantly on the look out for clues and reading The Guest List was no different as I was constantly second guessing myself trying to work out who had been killed, who the killer was and what their motive was. Well played to Lucy Foley as she completely bamboozled me as although I had worked out who had died, I was way off base with the killer...

We find the guests heading off on boats, towards Cormorant Island or Inis Amploir if your Gaelic. Now if you know your folklore tales you'll also know that the Cormorant bird is a sign of evil, greed and bad luck - not something that has stopped Jules and Will deciding to hold their wedding on the island though.

Both successful in their chosen careers, Jules is the owner of The Download, a successful online magazine. And Will is the presenter of Survive The Night a TV show that finds Will scaling mountains and being all outdoorsy and intrepid. The strong caveman type. Yet devilishly handsome, and he knows it.

Joining them is Olivia - Jules half sister, she's very fragile, the total opposite of ballsy, confident Jules. Charlie and Hannah - Charlie is Jules best friend, they grew up together. Hannah is Charlie's wife and feels left out - she's the plus one. And then there's the ushers - Duncan, Peter, Femi and Angus - A mixed bag of Will's school friends. And then theres Johnno - Will's Best Man - who also went to Trevallans School - Will's Dad was the Head Master - Johnno got in on a scholarship and he's never been allowed to forget it.

Add in to this the brides and grooms Parents and step parents, and various guests plus Aoife - the wedding planner and Freddy, her husband, chef and islands owners.

The wedding party arrived the night before the other guests and the stags start drinking games and talking about old times, becoming rather tribal and childish. Hannah and Olivia seem to hit it off, better than others. Jules and her Mother have words and it seems to spiral from there for Jules. The plan for her big day is beginning to shatter in front of her eyes. And she has to regain control of it.

The next day brings further numbers of guests to the island, but also a storm is on the horizon that creates power cuts and black outs in the marquee. It's become clear that something happened on the stag do and it seems there's tension between nearly everyone there now. Drinks are flowing , guests get caught out, secrets are being spilled and overheard by others, people are becoming clumsy. A body is found, confusion and blame are rife. Someone is responsible and the conclusion is reaching its crescendo.

Lucy has the great knack of characterisation - we have met someone a bit like every character at the wedding, they are people you have encountered and may or may not have liked. I really enjoyed Lucy's previous book - The Hunting Party for the very same reason. Although scenery and place are mentioned and described beautifully, its her characters that for me, make her books so very enjoyable. Because, we don't like everyone all the time, its just not possible and we all know someone a little like Will, Jules or Miranda, larger than life characters that stand out, for not always the best reasons, but they are there and they make impacts on all of us.

Bestselling author Lucy Foley follows The Hunting Party with this equally entertaining atmospheric murder mystery.

The Guest List tracks the high profile wedding of television presenter Will Slater and online magazine publisher Julia (Jules) Keegan and the setting is Cormorant Island, a storm-swept island off the Irish coast.

The reader is introduced to the guests as they arrive by boat; the bride, Jules; the best man (Johnno, old school friend of Will); the bridesmaid (Olivia, Jules’ younger half-sister); the plus one (Hannah, wife of Jules’ old friend Charlie); the wedding planner (Aoife, the owner of the wedding venue); the caterer (Freddy, Aoife's husband).

This slow burning psychological thriller is very well written. The characters are really well depicted - some are abhorrent, there’s the odd diva, a likeable few, and then there's the ushers, an arrogant, entitled, privately educated bunch who act like they are all still schoolboys.

For me, two things really stood out in The Guest List. The first was the setting. The island was a wonderful creation with it’s merciless bogs, treacherous terrain, and murderous cliffs adding to the Gothic charm, and making it the perfect place for a wedding that was certain to end badly.

The second was discovering that The Guest List was actually a double mystery. Not only is it a whodunit, but the reader isn't party to the identity of the victim, either. I knew that someone was dead, probably not from natural causes, but I didn't know who it was!

There is a great deal to admire in this clever novel, and I would recommend it to fans of the genre with every confidence. There were many things I definitely didn’t see coming, and the ending was a real surprise.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my request, from HarperCollins UK via NetGalley and this review is my own unbiased opinion. Thank you also to Pigeonhole and Lucy Foley for the opportunity to read this book!

The Guest List - By Lucy Foley

This is the second of Lucy’s books that I have read and from a completely different genre. The characters are all interesting in their own right and in some cases very relatable. Hannah particularly. Some likeable - some not so much. There are lots of twists and turns in this book - some of which I saw coming and some that took me completely by surprise. I love the idea of the setting, it really added to the atmosphere of the story and definitely helped me visualise the island. I loved the Christie edge to it too. I can’t wait to read the hunting party now.

I haven’t read anything by Lucy Foley before so I was really looking forward to reading The Guest List.

The scene of the story is Jules and Will’s wedding which is taking place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. As the guests arrive we learn that there are lots of secrets among them. The wedding cake has barely been cut when one of the guests is found dead. And as a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped.

Lucy Foley has done a great job of creating a dark and haunting atmosphere in this book, making this a compelling and addictive read. The story is told through multiple narrators and the tension builds as the secrets and lies are slowly revealed. The character portrayal is excellent, the characters are diverse - some likeable others not so much. The storyline is well constructed and flows along nicely. I particularly liked the chapters leading up to the end of the book and how the author builds up the suspense. It kept me guessing right up until the end.

Highly recommended - I found this really hard to put down.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy Lucy's books, I love how you have to try and figure out who has been murdered and by whom, and trying to piece together the story. ⁣
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There are a lot of twists and turns which point fingers at all of the characters. There are 5 POVs throughout the book, but these are well written and easy to follow. ⁣
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The only things that let the book down for me is I found it very similar to The Hunting Party and I found the ending quite disappointing and anticlimactic.

Disappointing. The story is told from multiple points of view but the voices of the characters were indistinguishable and lacked any differentiation. The plot lacked subtlety, every significant development was signalled chapters ahead, removing any sort of surprise. I did persevere to the very end but it wasn't a particularly rewarding experience.