This book was the first in our Siblings’ Book Club for 2021, and was our third overall pick. I had never heard of it or the author before, but now having finished it, I’m pretty sure Lucy Foley’s previous hit, The Hunting Party, has made it onto my must-read list.

We all came to The Guest List with different expectations: some had heard it was Agatha Christie-like, and some thought it was in the style of Clue. I brought no notions to the book, as normal. I just sort of jumped right in, and even without having an ideas about it, I was still surprised.

This book has a style all its own. I can’t recall if I’ve ever read a book stylized in such a way, with varying first-person perspectives from chapter to chapter. It was unique and, as I got deeper into it, exciting. I’ve got to admit, though, that’s not how I felt at the beginning. Looking at the Table of Contents upon first opening the book was straight-up intimidating. All those chapters! All those names. I almost didn’t want to proceed.

The story takes place on ‘Inis an Amplóra, or Cormorant Island off the coasts of Ireland. From the get-go, you can feel it’s cold and windy, colored in deep blues, greens, greys, and blacks. But then again, there’s the white of the bride….and eventually the red of blood. This is a murder mystery that slowly unravels the further you read.

Several in our club predicted the ending, though I didn’t. in fact, I never tried. I rarely try to decipher an author’s mysterious intentions when reading a book, instead preferring to be surprised by every turn of the page. I’m not an idiot, I just turn off that analytical part of my brain long enough to enjoy being entertained. It’s the same skill I use to play Carcassonne against myself after the family’s already gone to bed. Part of me is gonna win, and the other two will lose. I just never know which.

When writing to the club my overall impressions of this book, I broke it down into style, characters, and plot. I’ll do the same here.

As for style, I’ll state explicitly that Foley should NOT have allowed her publisher to put the Table of Contents into the book. No one ever requires such a useless tool when reading fiction, and it should be deleted from every project of hers moving forward. Personal opinion, sure, but a necessary one. Her ability to write from so many first-person perspectives shows immense authorial skill, which is why I’m looking forward to finding The Hunting Party at some point.

My brother listened to this book on audio and loved the dramatized version, replete with Irish-accented actors and all. I’m sure that was an exquisite listen.

One criticism of style, however, was how some thoughts from the characters seemed a bit exaggerated. Olivia’s reasons for cutting, Johnno’s utter admiration for Will, etc. Other characters felt so real, so convincingly personal, especially Hannah. Everyone loves and feels for Hannah! And everyone was supremely happy, too, that we never got inside Charlie’s head…what a bleak and dirty world that would have been!

I’ve already dipped into characters now, but as for how I viewed the characters in my own mind: I had figured the whole time that the bride was blonde, not a black-haired beauty. She seemed too prissy to be a brunette, but what do I know about women!?

Aifoe (I pronounced it as “Effy” in my mind, like from Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, though I don’t know if that’s accurately Irish or nor) was a woman I pictured to be like Mr. Kaplan from The Blacklist, you know that little old woman with the pantsuits and glasses? There were references to her passing beauty, but I never caught it. She was all business, and therefore the moderately unattractive older woman in my mind (please don’t cancel me, Culture, for thinking that way).

As for plot, I truly enjoyed the mystery of it all. Who’s going to die? Who will have killed them? Is superstition with spooks and ghosts at all involved? At few points, I was seriously worried they were! I do wonder how closely the plot to this story would mirror that of The Hunting Party. Will it be awith similar plot and characters just in a different setting? I sincerely hope not!

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. There was plenty of language and some TMI scenes of a sexual nature, but that’s what you get these days, I guess. This was pretty far outside my normal reading fare, so I’m glad to have read it.

©2021 E.T.