The Guest List: A Reese's Book Club Pick

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We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our GENERIC MYSTERY QUESTIONS to start a discussion for THE GUEST LIST … then take off on your own:

Cocoran, Lucy (21 September 2021). "The Are The Best Bingeable Books You Can't Put Down". Marie Claire . Retrieved 27 December 2021. Best man Johnno, seems confused what he’s doing about his life, sharing a really big secret with Will from their high school times, giving him nightmares and making him fell like chasing by the past time ghosts. And he learns something crucial to change his life forever and gives him a motive to do something dangerous…The other thing that didn’t sit well for me was simply the utter convenience and unbelievability of the plot and how some of these characters were connected to the murder victim. It didn’t elicit that “OMG, I didn’t see that coming!” Rather, for me, it just elicited eye-rolls. On top of that, it took forever to reveal the murder victim, due to the time jump, rotating narrators style of the chapters. I understand this is to build intrigue and suspense - good mysteries do that - but since I didn’t like any of the characters, by the time the victim was revealed, I just didn’t really care. Lucy Foley is a British novelist, born and still living in London. She is best known for her works of historical fiction, but she also published two murder mysteries, The Hunting Party (2019) and The Guest List (2020). Flashing forward to the present, we now find out that the dead body in question is Will's. The four ushers went to look for it, and see his bloody body. Johnno walks up to them with a knife. ) Overall, it was a passable way to spend a few hours, but it doesn't quite rise above all the other modern thrillers in this over-saturated genre. It's just if you're going to build up an entire story on nothing but anticipation and petty drama, when it finally gets to the payoff, it better blow me away. And this just didn't.

This is fast-paced and easy to read. I figured out the murderer early on, but I didn’t know who had been murdered or why. There are a lot of red herrings thrown in to make one question their arm-chair detective skills. Some elements of the plot came together with a little too easily--it just so happened that one person in attendance had a link to another in a way that was just way too convenient. However, this connection did add another potential candidate as the murderer. a b c Delgado, Adriana (1 May 2020). "The Guest List". Library Journal . Retrieved 27 December 2021. I found this book to be impossible to put down. Right away, it creates this creepy spooky eerie vibe on this island, and I was pretty obsessed with the atmosphere of this book. This entire book takes place within two days, during a wedding. The story mainly takes place the day before the wedding and then it flash forwards we see what happened the night of the wedding - when someone is murdered. I like that we don’t find out who it is that is murdered until nearly the end, I was trying to figure it out the entire book. And I love that we follow from the POV from six different characters. You’d think it would be confusing but it was actually really easy after a while, and I loved all the storylines happening. I love that everyone had a motive so you are still trying to figure out who did it. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?Hope you enjoyed book club questions for The Guest List! Here are some more recommendations along with links to book club questions. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley At the sixty percent mark, I was officially out of patience. (In my mind, I had started writing an absolutely scathing review.) I was also reading an e-book, so I was acutely aware of my progress. But then, finally, thankfully, stuff started to happen. What did you think about the reveal thatAoife is the sister of Darcey? What did you think about her reasons for having their wedding at the island? Were you surprised that she ends up being the one to murder Will? Yes, he and Will carried out the prank that caused Darcey/Loner’s death. So maybe they both got what they deserved. But many of us (including me) felt a little sorry for Johnno. Where is Darcey/Loner’s body, anyway? These are all the characters we follow so quite a lot! I have to say, I did not love the big focus on the boarding school men (there’s more of them in the story; we just don’t read their perspectives). I just didn’t think those guys were very intriguing. There is a reason we follow Johnno’s perspective throughout but some of his actions just didn’t make sense and not in a “suspicious way” but in a head scratcher move from the author. If you’ve read the story, message me and I’ll tell you what I mean.

So I put on my detective hat and get ready to puzzle this out, with much glee. But here is the first problem: not only do we not know the murderer, we don't know who the victim is either. So right off the bat, some of the fun is taken out of the whole thing.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.