The Guest List is yet another book on Reese’s Book Club list and I have to say that the marketing for this book is amazing. On the cover it reads, “You’d Kill to Be on It” which is just a great slogan. Of course, getting an endorsement from Reese is great, the reviews are generally great, and it’s been described over and over as “Agatha Christie-esque.” Well, color me sold!
As a side note, I like reading book reviews as much as I like writing them and I came across this book review of The Guest List written on Novel Lives and it’s absolutely hilarious. I wouldn’t say I felt salty over the book, the way she did, but Susan brings up some fantastic points and it’s a really fun read. So if you’ve read the book and you are feeling a little heated, head that way when you’re done here.
Here’s the back cover description for the book:
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
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?
A Dark and Stormy Night…
While I agree with some of the negative reviews that this book feels more like women’s fiction where there happens to be a murder thrown in (the solving of the murder is not the focus of the book), I can see why it’s listed as a thriller. It has an atmospheric quality to it, with the chilly wind that might blow the tents down or knock out the electricity at any moment, with little moments like someone showing up in a mask to spook someone else, and the looming knowledge right from the beginning that someone dies. However, it doesn’t feel like a thriller where you are gripping the edge of your seat and worrying about the characters.
It feels like that movie Knives Out, where there is a cast of characters that are so caught up in themselves that they aren’t even focused on the murder at all. It’s almost funny because of that. Oh wait- Knives Out is based on Agatha Christie’s works so… yes, you can see why people make the comparison. It’s fitting. Does that mean the writing is at the same level as Agatha Christie or that Lucy Foley is destined to be the next Agatha? … Maybe? I enjoyed all of the Christie-esque elements of the story; the setting, the characters, and the visuals.
I could definitely imagine what the movie version of this book would be like. And while many people were a little upset that the characters aren’t altogether likable, they also aren’t entirely unlikeable- they are just fictional and it feels like it. I can buy into that. For instance, I absolutely love The White Lotus which often features similar characters: rich beyond penalty, narcissistic, and situations that are entirely absurd. But it’s so much that you don’t really care if it’s realism.
The Boys’ School Motto
This is not a spoiler and is mentioned in the early chapters. I think it’s fair to say it’s also foreshadowing. In the book, the men say this chant together at the beginning of the story. It takes up at least a full page and in the book is described as such:
“‘The first part,’ Angus says, ‘is: ‘Do brave deeds and endure,’ which was the school motto. The second part was added in by us boys: ‘If I can’t move heaven, then I shall raise hell.'”
The Guest List, page 98
Being a nerd with too much time on my hands, I ran over to Google Translate to see what it““““““““““““““““` would come up with, and – while not relevant to the story- it did make me laugh.
POV
This story shifts point-of-view from five unique perspectives. Literally, at the beginning of the description, it says. “The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body” and these are the POVs that we follow. Well, roughly – “the body” happens to be the moment that the murder takes place but it’s obviously not from the perspective of the dead person.
The bride is Jules, the plus one is Hannah, the best man is Johnno, the wedding planner is Aoife, the bridesmaid is Olivia, and the body is….. (a spoiler.)
I think that this method of storytelling makes it really fun and is partly why so many readers, including myself, draw the lines between this book and Agatha Christie. Each character has their own motivations and while they are, mostly, trying to please the bride, there are deep threads of jealousy and old wounds are getting in the way.
The Murder
So, I saw some reviews that said that they felt like it was obvious who the victim was going to be. I didn’t feel that way at all. There is a lot of misdirection going on, and as a reader, I was aware of that. So, it was hard to know exactly which misdirection was pointing in the wrong direction. It was odd to read a murder mystery where the person who is murdered is revealed at the end of the book, rather than the beginning.
Overall, I enjoyed this part of the story because it definitely kept me guessing and I liked the slow unraveling of the story, through all the different perspectives and storylines.
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