Summary

A wedding party. A remote island. 150 guests. Each with a secret. Each with a motive to murder. A storm. A killer among the guests.

Jules, the bride, is the director of an online fashion magazine. Will, the groom, is a TV actor in a popular show on survival in the wild. They are a match made in heaven. But does everyone think so? The exotic island has a past, and so does its guests. Is there coming together at the island a coincidence or a cruel twist of fate? The wedding cake is cut, but so is the lifeline of a person. The fury of the storm brings the realization that a killer also roams among them.

My review

I loved the Guest List because it managed to create a mystery around the murderer and around who gets murdered. That revelation is as shocking as the reveal of the murderer.

The chapters are told in the first person mainly by different pivotal characters like Jules-the bride, Olivia-the bridesmaid, Hannah – Jules's best friend’s wife, Jonnah- the best man and Aoife-the wedding planner. It’s an interesting way to put the story. I loved it. The writing switches effortlessly between the past and present with titles like Now and Earlier Today or the Day before. So it’s easy to keep track.

The characters were defined with perfection to visualize the pale and skinny Olivia and tall and handsome Will with a disarming smile, and the stern but beautiful and elegant bride Julia. Even the minor characters like Jules's mom and Will’s dad or Charlie were so brilliantly created that their picture in my mind was clear.

The world-building was extraordinary. The haunted island with its crashing waves, mysterious bog, and steep cliffs was so dramatic it would make you believe in ghosts. I feel like visiting the island now.

The story was well played out. There were several twists, and I was hooked and didn’t realize when I came to an end.

Final Verdict

And yet once I knew who was murdered, I was pretty sure about the murderer and their motive. Only for this reason that I could foreguess the murderer, I will reduce a star from my rating and award four stars to this well-written book.

I am hoping it will soon be adapted into a movie. It has all the makings of one. I would compare it with Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express for its likeness to an exotic locale similar to the snowy mountains in the classic. Also, like Hercule Poirot mentions,

“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” 

Reading the Guest List reminded me of this famous quote.

Who Should Read This

I recommend it to fans of thriller novels. Beginners looking to explore the genre will also find this one easy and exciting. This is going to remain an excellent novel in the genre for a while, I’m guessing.

Happy reading!

Other Books Like The Guest List