You Are Invited…The Guest List – Book Review

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner  – The bridesmaid – The body

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?

No. of pages:- 322 pages

Date published:- June 2nd 2020

Publisher:- William Morrow

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 4/5 stars

I have yet to read Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party but instead started with this Guest List. Thanks Scribd for making it available as a ebook reader!

Julie and Will are having their dream wedding in a remote island and the story is told from the perspectives of five people–the bride, Julie, the wedding planner Aoife, the bridesmaid, Olivia, the bridegroom, Johnny and the plus one, Hannah. The story divides between the time when a body was discovered during the wedding night to the events before the wedding night, in the perspectives of Julie, Aoife, Olivia, Johnny and Hannah. Each of these characters seem to have some sort of connection with each other–Hannah’s husband Charlie used to date Julie, Johnny is Will’s best mate and Olivia is Julie’s half sister. And one of them could be the murderer and one of them could be the victim…

Heck, the thought of having a dream wedding in a remote island sounds tempting and so I like this idea where the wedding guests gets stranded in an island and one of them gets murdered…and that one of them could be the killer. This book sort of reminded me of One by One by Ruth Ware except a bit different–one gets killed and someone in the group is the murderer. It’s interesting to read each and every one of these five perspectives and as a reader, you would wonder, are they connected with each other in some way? Later on, towards the middle part, we find the connection, all leading to the groom of the wedding Will.

The writing was good and though it started a bit slow, the story began to gain its climax and momentum by the middle part of the book. The characters are somewhat OK to me–I didn’t much like Julie but I kind of warmed towards Hannah and Olivia who seemed to be the odd ones out of the group. Will seemed to be the douchebag in the story. The ending was unexpected, with twists and turns on the way and the pace began to get fast by the middle of the book. Overall, it was a twisty thriller that will keep you reader hooked into the story.

Since I am satisfied with this book, I am waiting for her latest book, the Paris Apartment and will be reading the Hunting Party soon!