The Guest List Book Review

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was an overall easy read to get through, and I did find the reveal to be pretty interesting, albeit far-fetched. I mainly have that opinion because there were multiple reveals, and they all felt a little too convenient. I think this is a great summer read to dive into when you’re laying out on the beach on vacation, but it’s not the highest quality mystery thriller out there. It was fun to read and it was paced pretty well with the end being a bit of a whirlwind. But, the ending still left me with a lot of unanswered questions, and I prefer things to be somewhat wrapped up at the end of a mystery thriller.

There are multiple points of view in this book. I want to say there are at least seven different points of view to read from throughout the book. I didn’t find that confusing, but I know some people will. My issue with the many points of view was that the majority were people I really disliked. I think there were maybe 2-3 characters I actually enjoyed, and even those characters were a bit depressing in their thoughts and feelings. At least they were likable. A majority of the characters were unlikeable, but I guess that tracks about people at a rich person’s wedding.

The last quarter of the book was a breeze to get through as so many things were revealed. It was almost an overload of revelations honestly. Things were so interconnected it felt a bit unreal though. My other issue with the reveals was that the author clearly excluded certain information early on to make the big reveals more impactful, and I just thought it would have been better to have the realization of certain events more spaced out. Don’t get me wrong, they were all great and juicy – you won’t be disappointed by them.

My biggest issue with this book was that the ending didn’t fully wrap up for me, and I think that’s a result of having so many different points of view. The book is focused on the wedding destination, so once the wedding is over we no longer get the view into the lives of the characters. However, I found myself wanting to know the effects this big wedding event had on multiple characters and relationships after the book ended. One particular conversation I wanted to see was between Hannah and her husband about things she found out related to her sister. There were plenty of other things I would’ve liked to gain more insight on, but that conversation was really a big one I wanted to read about.

I think this was a fun read overall, and worth picking up if you want something quick and easy. As I stated before, this is an excellent summer read just don’t expect anything groundbreaking storywise. If you don’t like a lot of the characters like I did, the rest of the book is still worth reading. It reminded me of a book version of a White Lotus season. This one was entertaining but it may not fill up your cup fully.


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