REVIEW: ‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley
Image courtesy of William Morrow / Provided by official site.
Lucy Foley’s new mystery novel, The Guest List, details the expectant buildup and thrilling consequences of a celebrity wedding on a remote island off western Ireland. The story is expertly drawn and presented Rashomon-style from several different viewpoints. The writing is quick and crafty, with each chapter peeling away in quick succession, leading to a surprising and satisfying ending. This is a page-turner, no doubt about it.
One of the best choices that Foley makes as a writer is presenting each chapter from a different POV. This allows her to keep the first person throughout the entirety of these 300-plus pages, but still get into the minds of each protagonist.
The characters — assembled much like an Agatha Christie murder mystery — include the bride-to-be, the groom-to-be, the best man, the bride’s sister, a plus-one and the wedding planner, with the rest of the wedding party taking on supporting roles. Although much of the story involves the buildup to the ceremony, interspersed throughout the narrative are quick passages about the wedding itself, and it becomes obvious that these nuptials are doomed in some unknown way. Piecing together what happened, and who may be the cause, is one of the joys of reading The Guest List.
The groom and bride are difficult characters to identify with because they come from an upper strata of society that is unattainable for all but a few people. Jules, the bride, runs a successful online magazine, one big enough to host a part at the tony Victoria and Albert Museum in London (ahem). Will, Jules’ partner, is the host of a survivor reality TV show — a man who is described as handsome and fit in about a million different ways.
More interesting are Johnno, Will’s best man, a friend since childhood who has not seen his life and career chart a similar trajectory. He is always falling behind and envious of the success that Will and his ushers have attained in life. Aoife, the wedding planner, is fascinating. She’s dedicated to making this wedding work out; it’s the first ceremony in her grand plan to make this remote Irish island a destination for similar nuptials. Hannah sometimes feels like the odd person out, something of a plot device to help the other characters speak their minds and open up. She is labeled as the plus-one — the wife of Jules’ best friend, Charlie, who is an usher in the wedding. There’s also a sadness and hurt that permeate the character of Olivia, Jules’ sister and her bridesmaid.
Needless to say, each of these characters has a secret to tell and some darkness in their background. Figuring out their past pain and their present motivations provides The Guest List with an almost infectious quality.
Foley is an expert at describing the landscape of the island’s environment, which is surrounded by a peat bog, sharp cliffs, choppy waves and uncertain footfalls. Dennis Lehane’s rendering of Shutter Island comes to mind. There’s a graveyard out yonder and also a cave that proves pivotal to the narrative. Sometimes one wishes she would focus less on the characters and more on these surroundings, which are eerie and creepy, oddly perfect settings for both a beautiful wedding and the ensuing mayhem.
Foley, sometimes billed as this generation’s Agatha Christie, has spun an intricate tale with a clever storytelling technique of first-person narration that changes with each new chapter. There are characters who are likable and relatable, and others that are a bit too fabricated and distant. This mysterious story, which has important modern-day themes and subtle commentary woven throughout (the #MeToo movement and the toxicity of male privilege hover over the narrative), makes it an interesting, engaging read that drives the readers — quite quickly — to the surprising finale.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Guest List by Lucy Foley. William Morrow. 320 pages. $27.99. Click here for more information.
