The Guest List A Novel

It's a clever "Who did it" murder mystery, only that we didn't know what happened until halfway of the book. It was all very interesting before that until it fell flat halfway, hence the 3 stars. Will and Jules are high-profile couple who wanted to hold a wedding on an isolated island on the west coast of Ireland. It would be fancy and they spared no expenses, but some of the guests were entangled to each other's timeline without them knowing beforehand. All in all, a good summer / beach read.

This was so freaking well done!! Everyone had a very strong motive to kill and it had me seriously wondering...who done it?? I love it!!!!

Dang! I wish there was more to the story towards the end. The build-up was insane. I thought I wouldn't be able to get used to the multiple POVs, but I liked how my brain was challenged to stay on track with what's happening to every character. However, as I've mentioned, I think the build-up was kind of too much, and I wanted to read the ending halfway through the book. Something that I like about the mystery in this book though is that the readers won't just have to know or watch out for who the suspect is, but who the victim(s) would be as well.

This book is how I imagine Knives Out would be written as a book, plot twist after plot twist, greatly puzzle-pieced together, and multiple character POV's. Loved this book and read in one sitting.

Entertaining! Slow-burn!

This is a classic whodunit and you'll be guessing the entire time. I especially loved the setting of the book, an isolated and supposedly haunted island. The whole story gave off a creepy vibe, which was fun. My biggest struggle with this book is that I felt like there were too many character perspectives and timelines, making it just feel like too much was going on at once. I found myself constantly turning back to remind myself where I was in the story.

I’m not a huge fan of thrillers, but this was alright. It was a quick read and I like that. The one thing I will say that every one of these characters in this book are awful.

thought about dnf at the beggining, but i'm glad i kept reading because i saw what the book was addressing: that toxic masculinity and misogyny destroy lives. i'm crazy about this subject.

Slow beginning, but well wrapped up with a bow at the end. Plot twists that shock and lots of relatability and questioning that keep you reading.

Literally so slow in the beginning but it picked up towards the end and I thought it was entertaining. I think there were definitely some things that I wish were different in the end but overall it was okay.

A bit slow for most of the book, but I did like how everything connected in the end!

Highly intrigued the whole way through I was trying to decide whether to give this 4 or 5* after recently thinking I give 5* away too easily. This book had me fully enveloped the whole way and had me trying to work out where it was going and constantly being surprised when I got it wrong. It's smartly.written with the different first person views giving different angles to the setting and events. It very much feels like a modern Agatha Christie. Great story with some great moments in the final third.

Too long

a let down. i love reading multiple pov, but i didn't like the structure of this book; the characters were all the same and indistinguishable and the multiple pov didn't add to the excitement of the story. it was so slow and there were no thrilling/exciting part because it was too predictable. too much coincidence honestly can ruin a good plot imo. personally, i think that there are better thriller books than this hence the rating.

When the lights went out, (view spoiler)[she (hide spoiler)] raised hell An absolute gem of writing. I've always been a fan of the closed room, atmospheric, whodunnits, but this took it to a completely different level. Where in the classic murder mysteries, the murder is the inciting incident and the rest of the story focuses on finding the culprit and the tension caused by it; The Guest List rejects the traditional structure and gave something better. Surprisingly, the murder in the story serves as the climax and the whole tension stems from the actions and interactions of the characters well before the wedding. This unique kind of writing seems very much the embodiment of 'show, not tell', when compared to the former. Multiple POV writing is another thing that I love. It makes information revelation all the more intriguing and it is executed here perfectly. The way timelines are handles makes the story even more interesting. Furthermore, the slow-burn style of writing is at full display here. It is taken to a point where the aftermath of the murder is totally ignored in favor of the development and the build-up to it. Although that might sound a little negative, it certainly isn't. It rather elevates the tension and character-driven nature of the story, making the whole thing even more effective. (view spoiler)[Finally, I believe the best mysteries aren't those that make the readers feel totally surprised at the climax, rather ones which makes them feel that everything was right in front of them all along, they were just too occupied otherwise to notice it. The Guest List is the epitome of the latter. The whole idea of the invisible wedding planner feels completely natural and pretty irrelevant in all the havoc that was being caused on the island. Furthermore, the author did a wonderful job of making Aoife the least interesting character (again something that might sound negative but believe me it isn't), which makes her seem completely harmless among the sea of guests that had all the reason to kill the groom. This, along with the culmination of her backstory that was being hinted at throughout the length of the novel, made her the perfect killer. (hide spoiler)] In conclusion, I feel like although I still like the whole idea of a group of individuals searching the killer in a closed space, all the while doubting if the person next to them is it. From now on, this distinguished style of mystery writing is probably what I'm going to look for, every time I read this genre.

it was predictable but also not? i did like how things connected near the end but i could see why it would be boring haha

Page turner! Couldn’t put the book down when I picked it up also major plot twist at the end didn’t see that coming!

It didn't feel like I was reading a thriller/mystery. The ending was also pretty weak.

i really love how men are such assholes in this book and they got what they deserved.

I read the first 200 pages in one sitting, which I think says all that needs to be said.

Thrilling, engaging, captivating. I enjoyed the pace and multiple perspectives in this novel. Some relationships were predictable but I was surprised by the ending. Very much enjoyed it.