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“Will Slater is not the man you think he is. He’s a cheat and a liar. Don’t marry him“, reads a foreboding note received by Jules Keegan, just a couple of weeks before her wedding. Jules is a highly organized and driven businesswoman, the founder and head of The Download, a successful internet blog turned lifestyle magazine. Jules has spent months planning the perfect wedding, befitting of a lifestyle guru like herself, complete with a gorgeous location on Inis an Amplóra, an island off the coast of Ireland, and the perfect husband: the handsome reality TV star, Will Slater. Jules and Will have only been dating for a couple of months, and their whirlwind romance may not be as perfect as it seems to onlookers. In Lucy Foley’s bestselling suspense novel, The Guest List, it becomes increasingly clear that Jules may not know her fiancee as well as she thought she did.
The other players in the mystery include Aoife, the organized and meticulous wedding planner and owner of the wedding venue, who has given Jules a massive discount on the island as a venue. Wedding visitors include Olivia, Jules’ college-age half sister and only bridesmaid, who is struggling with depression and self harm after a bad breakup and some other mysterious traumatic circumstances. Then there is Charlie, Jules’ longtime best friend, and his wife Hannah, who feels that Charlie and Jules have a closer relationship than either will let on, and immediately feels unwelcome and strange upon arriving at the island. Hannah is dealing with demons of her own, including a straining marriage, and she offers an interesting perspective on the extravagance of the wedding festivities and the ultra privileged guests. There is Johnno, Will’s best friend and best man who feels out of place and judged by Jules and the other uppity wedding participants. Johnno met Will at Trevellyn, an elite school where Johnno was on sports scholarship and Will’s dad was headmaster, and it seems Johnno has always carried a chip on his shoulder about being surrounded by the private school set despite his own lack of economic privilege.
The novel is narrated by Jules, Will, and the aforementioned set of bit characters, who each offer unique and fascinating insight into the wedding weekend and the events leading up to it. Each and every one of them has buried secrets, many of which coalesce during the tumultuous weekend of Jules and Will’s wedding. This novel is about the thin veneer of privilege and the parts of ourselves that we share with strangers or on the internet, and Foley points out that there is always more than meets the eye. The Guest List questions how wealth, privilege, and charm can rot individuals from the core.
Perhaps one of the most crucial elements of a successfully plotted thriller is atmosphere, and this novel is an excellent example of that. The island of Inis an Amplóra is the perfect Gothic and vaguely creepy setting: complete with fog, muddy terrain, high winds, and a legendary grave site where the mass burial of an Irish religious minority allegedly took place. The island is clearly haunted by its violent past, and many characters describe the feeling of foreboding and dread that can be sensed under the island’s natural beauty. The setting is a clear mirror for one of the novel’s central villains, Will, whose striking appearance and charming demeanor belie a darkness underneath. The wild setting is also a clear nod to Will’s survivalist reality show Survive the Night, which itself has a questionable relationship to reality.
The Guest List is a well-paced and multilayered mystery, populated by characters holding on to secrets of their own. The conclusion to the novel is both satisfying and unnerving, closing some mysteries while leaving others open. The novel’s strength lies most in its fascinating female characters, Foley has crafted some deeply complicated but endearing figures in Jules, Olivia, and Hannah, three expertly written women dealing with incredibly challenging circumstances. Foley has only cemented her place as one of the most exciting suspense novelists working today, rising to the stature of some of her bestselling peers, an amazing feat at her young age.
Further Reading: Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party and The Invitation strike a similar balance of suspense and mystery. If you like well-written suspense, really anything by Lisa Jewell or Riley Sager will be up your alley.