It is a truth universally acknowledged that Reese Witherspoon is the Book Club Queen. Don’t fight me on this, you will only lose. Anyways, two weeks ago, I accompanied my mom on her trip to BJ’s to buy groceries. As I always tend to do on these essential need hauls, I snuck over to the “book section” which, in reality, is two very large tables pushed together and scattered with books. It is here that I picked up The Guest List tagged with the “Reese’s Book Club” sticker and ran back to the cart to hide it beneath the toilet paper until checkout. Thank you to my parents as always for supplying me with literature, this review is dedicated to the both of you.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a crime novel centered around a murder at a wedding with the following suspects: the bride, bridesmaid, best man, plus one, and wedding planner. With a supposedly perfect celebrity couple, who would have a motive to kill? Who is the victim? How did they die?? This book trapezes from one suspect to the other giving us clues and brewing turmoil within the group.
I started this book expecting the drama to kick off straight away. That being said, I felt as if the first 100 pages things felt a little slow, I kept waiting for the things to click into place and have a better idea of whodunnit. However, just as I started to put the book down and head to the kitchen, things got juicy and I didn’t get my third cup of tea until after I had finished the book. The end was a whirlwind and I felt myself outwardly gasping as connections were made between the suspects and the victim.
I finished the book feeling oddly satisfied, despite the happenings of a gruesome murder, that none of the weddings I’ve attended were as… um exhilarating.
I will say that the book lacks diversity in its characters, all of them were white and very, very heterosexual. However, there is a lot of credit to be given to how well Foley describes the setting and backdrop. It was very easy to imagine the whole scene and I needed to remind myself that I, in fact, was not at the wedding.
The Guest List is the perfect book to curl up with a cup of tea on a rainy day.
If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, this is the perfect modern day crime story.