“The Wedding Night. The lights go out. Outside a storm is raging. It shrieks around them, it batters the tent. It feels personal, this storm. This isn’t the first time the electric has shorted. They’re beginning to feel afraid. This darkness feels somehow ominous, intent. Then from outside comes a new sound. You might almost mistake it for the wind. But it rises in pitch and volume until it is unmistakable.”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and those are some lines from the opening chapter of Lucy Foley’s mystery The Guest List: You’d Kill to Be On It. The bride, Jules, has chosen a remote island off the coast of Ireland to have her wedding. Getting to the island is treacherous through choppy seas. And then there’s the sheer cliffs and the quicksand-like bogs just off the boardwalks that make it a very unusual setting for a happy event.
Jules is a successful magazine publisher who is marrying Will Slater, the handsome star of a reality survival show. Jules has made sure that every last detail is perfect. Some of the guests are staying at the wedding venue, an old refurbished foley run by a husband and wife team. The guests include Jules’ half sister Olivia, her longtime friend Charlie and his wife Hannah, and Johnno, the best man and Will’s high school classmate.
The chapters alternate from the point of view of several of the characters and a description of the wedding night. The opening chapter reveals that someone has been murdered, but who and who did it? Once the victim is identified it seems at least four people have a valid motive. The author keeps us guessing until the last ten pages.
If you’re looking for a tale of mystery and revenge, then you must read The Guest List by Lucy Foley.
