Paperbacks and Planners

Title: The Guest List
Author: Lucy Foley
Genre: Mystery
Edition/Pages: Hardcover (BOTM), 313 pages
Goodreads page

I received an ARC copy of this from William Morrow via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Jules and Will have invited their nearest and dearest to a remote island off the coast of Ireland for their wedding. Each guest is harboring secrets and lies. Slowly, their dark pasts are uncovered, culminating on the night of the wedding, when one of them turns up dead.

Overview

➸ POV: 1st Person, Multi-POV (5 total POVs)

➸ Aoife: Wedding Planner, Runs island venue with husband Freddy

➸ Hannah: Married to Charlie – the best man and best friend of the bride, Mom of 2

➸ Jules: Bride, Owner of successful online magazine

➸ Johnno: Best man to groom

➸ Olivia: Bridesmaid and half sister of bride, 19

➸ Content Warnings: On page self harm, Disordered eating, Murder, Bullying, Drug abuse

My Thoughts

This is the second mystery I’ve read by this author and they write some of the best slow burn whodunits! This book is a massive web of lies with a slow, suspenseful, and satisfying reveal!

This book has many POVs which took me awhile to get used to but it also made this a crazy fast read! Each POV is only a few pages so I was always thinking – oh I’ll just read one more! I love when mystery/thrillers have hooks that leave you desperate to return to that character, and this book definitely had that!

This was the slowest of slow burn mysteries. It took me a bit to become invested in these characters, but once I did I was flying through pages trying to figure out everyones secrets. I loved the pacing, the slow burn made the reveal that much more satisfying. And I definitely was not able to predict this one! All in all, it was a solid reveal!

The only things that kept this from a higher rating were the slow start and the ending. Since we got so many POVs the introductions when on a little longer than I would have liked. There were so many characters to meet and learn that I was about 1/4 of the way through before the plot really got going. And while I was absolutely shocked by the reveal (I quite literally gasped!), I felt like the final couple chapters fell flat. They kind of felt like the HEA epilogue of a romance… and it was not my fave. Watching the remaining characters return to their lives seemed unnecessary to me.

Overall this was another great whodunit from this author! They are definitely becoming a favorite of mine for classic feeling mysteries! This had amazing reveals, lots of suspense, and an extremely atmospheric and chilling setting. I can’t wait to read whatever Lucy Foley releases next!

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