I loved The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley and I loved this book too. Certainly there are similarities in that the reader is introduced to a group of friends in a hostile environment who get far more than they were expecting. This time they are brought together on a sea-swept island off the coast of Ireland to celebrate Will and Jules wedding. And of course it isn't as simple as that, oh dear me no. There are secrets, unexpected twists, ghastly revelations and horrible coincidences to deal with. Not to mention the bleakness of the weather and the terrible feelings of danger and dread that mounts irresistibly page by page. You just know that no matter how grand the setting, how expensive the occasion how glossy and glamorous the wedding party is, it won't end well. And it doesn't. Highly recommended.

Lucy Foley’s books remind me of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Ensemble casts, hidden relationships, mysterious disappearances and deaths. The Guest List, much like The Hunting Party, would make a brilliant play, as the story skips between The Night Of and Before, you can imagine the stage hands running out to set the scene, sudden costume changes from beautiful wedding gowns to soaking wet, covered with seaweed and peat.

It starts with an island. Remote, separated from the Irish mainland. A couple. Jules and Will, getting married.
The weather on the island foreshadows what’s to come - the day Before we have gentle warm skies, The Night Of? Howling winds, breaking waves, darkness. As with The Hunting Party, the location and the weather feel like additional characters in Foley’s ensemble - tearing through our main cast and stripping them all bare until the truth is laid out, strewn over the boggy landscape - like a body, waiting to be found.
I was kindly gifted a DRC of The Guest List by Lucy Foley from @harpercollinsuk / @harperfiction and @netgalley - coming out 20/02/2020. A must read.

There's a lot to unpack with this book so bear with me. The TLDR version is this is a great book, you should read it as soon as you get the chance.

So, what do we have? A rich story in a bleak setting that takes the concept of mystery and delivers a double shot of the good stuff. The characters are interesting, and the plot has enough twists and turns to open an entire theme park full of rollercoasters. If you want to be drawn in and find yourself second-guessing everything? This is the book for you. Not only are you asking who did it, you're also wondering who they did it to.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room about this book - The Hunting Party. I first read the blurb and thought "A bunch of old friends in a remote place for a celebration and someone dies? Sounds a bit like The Hunting Party to me." And then I saw the author and realised it's not just the core plot these books have in common. Which made me wonder. I loved The Hunting Party, just what would such a similar concept be like from the same author? And the answer is not that unexpected; as soon as I started reading the entire structure was very familiar. Which meant I proceeded with great caution - was this going to be a pale imitation? Happily, no. There are subtle differences. I'll hold my hand up, I was too cynical. If this was a series I wouldn't think twice about such similarities, in fact I'd be happy that the sequel followed the same path, so why should I be worried about an accomplished writer continuing to write in a style that they do so well? If you liked The Hunting Party I suspect you'll like this too.

So what are the differences? Well, they're small but mostly serve to make the whole thing slightly more accessible to more people. Forget that blurb claiming there are 13 guests - they're the focus of the story for sure, but there are dozens more people around the edges. That does make the whole thing slightly move civilised and less bleak, but, as someone who adored that hostility in the former book, I didn't find my enjoyment particularly lessened.

The plot twists are slightly gentler too, without actually killing the mystery. My hunches were far stronger, but even to the very last moments I never fully trusted my judgement, and rightly so it seems. And this is truly what makes Foley's writing stand out. I can admire so many aspects of this book, but those final pages where everything falls into place is where the true majesty of her writing shows. Like the storm lifting from the island, the most brutal pages give way to a comforting peace as a clarity arrives. It's superb. As I said at the start, read it at the first opportunity.

Lucy Foley uses the same basic set-up in The Guest List as she did in The Hunting Party. A group of privileged old 'friends' who don't really like each other very much descend on an isolated location and murder ensues, although we don't find out who the victim was until late in both of these novels. In The Guest List, the location is a tiny island - barely more than a rock - off the coast of Ireland, and the occasion is a wedding. Again, the novel is narrated by a series of characters: the bride, the best man, the bridesmaid, the plus one and the wedding planner. It also suffers from similar structural problems to The Hunting Party, with a long build-up and a rushed denouement. Although I enjoyed the atmospheric setting and I love set-piece novels, I didn't find this as captivating as the previous book. 3.5 stars.

I will cross-post this review to Amazon after the publication date.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Thanks @netgalley @lucyfoleyauthor and @harpercollinsuk for my arc
Publication date 20th February 2020
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On an island off the coast of Ireland the wedding of the year is taking place. And then someone turns up dead. Everyone on the island is a suspect.
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This book was absolutely fantastic. I literally couldn’t put it down. Dark and creepy and atmospheric. It was an amazing murder mystery whodunnit, reminiscent of an Agatha Christie book. I feel I should I mention this book had so much more though. The characters were very well written and well rounded and each added their own story. Loved it. Highly recommended xxxxx

Structurally, this repeats the format of Foley's The Hunting Party: a group of friends and others, everyone with a secret - and nearly everyone with a motive for murder... though we don't find out who's dead till nearly the end. The voices all sound the same and some of the various 1st person narratives start to drag and get repetitive but there's enough gossip and scandal to keep the pages turning. We obviously don't expect great literature in this genre but even so two massive coincidences revealed are one too many. Still, a fun and entertaining read.

A wedding party on a remote island off the Connemara coast. A wild stormy night and a body. The narrative moves between the stormy wedding night and the events leading up to it. The primary voices are the bride, her younger sister, her best friend's wife, and the wedding planner.

An atmospheric thriller, the island and other plot settings are well-described. There are twists and turns towards the end. An enjoyable page-turner.