Book 29/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Guest List is set off the coast of Ireland and the island, together with The Folly where the wedding was held, was quite atmospheric and made for a good locked-island murder mystery. The best thing about this whodunnit is the mystery is not only about who the culprit is, but also who the victim is. I thought that was quite brilliant and innovative as I’ve never read, nor do I know of, a book with such an execution. Right off the bat it was clear that secrets and old grievances abound and it was a lot of fun trying to figure out whose grievance actually led to murder. And who was murdered.
The story is told from five POVs: Jules, the bride; Will, the groom; Johnno, the best man; Olivia, the bride’s half-sister and bridesmaid; and Hannah, the plus one married to Charlie who is Jules’s best friend. You’d think it would be quite taxing to keep track of all five perspectives but that was not the case at all as each of the POVs was unique and interesting. How I hated the groomsmen though! I cannot stand loud, obnoxious dickbags in real life and turns out I dislike them just as much in print.
This won the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller in 2020, but it didn’t quite hit the spot for me. For most of the book there is a constant feeling of anticipation and foreboding, as if something bad is going to happen, but nothing actually does. That said, I loved how in retrospect the author left us lots of little clues that came together and were revealed in the end (obvs can’t give an example without spoiling anything), but there was too much teasing/foreplay and it took too long to get to the good stuff, which ultimately didn’t work for me.
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 