By Megan Lord
Young adult fiction continues to become one of the most popular genres – mostly for adults. Join us each issue to find your next YA read.
Big Little Lies meets an Agatha Christie novel.
You get a multi-perspective mystery that comes together in the end seamlessly. I’d give The Guest List by Lucy Foley a 4/5 – I felt the foreboding gloom throughout and thought that could be toned down a little or made more of a rollercoaster experience than a full book feeling. There’s got to be some lightness and happiness at a wedding, right? But you just kind of feel something bad is happening the whole time.
Multi-Perspective can sometimes be a little overwhelming- but this author pulled it off very well. The author intertwined the stories and lives very well. You “watched” everything happen over the course of time and through these stories, and then you understood and had strong feelings about the outcomes and empathy for the deserving characters, and anger towards others.
The drinking game turned bad is always relatable one way or another with any group of people who have a history together. You always know once old high school or college drinking games re-surface a pot is going to be stirred, stories are coming out, and history doesn’t stay in the past.
This is the type of mystery that has multiple stories and sides to stories unfolding and you can’t help but be emotionally involved and intrigued by every perspective and all the webs coming together. And the end – well I will never ruin a good ending for anyone – but I’ll say yes, the author pulled it off very well. I’ll be checking out the other title from this Author: The Hunting Party with high expectations.
The Guest List
Lucy Foley
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?
Article originally Published in the April / May 2023 Issue: Voices