Scan barcode
A review by jampsonn16
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
4.0
Solid 3.75 stars
As you can guess, I'm still having my struggles with adult mystery thrillers and their general lack of intrigue and shooketh factor that I'm looking for. This was a bit of a step up because there were a few surprising things, but in the end it still fell a bit flat for me.
Let's start with the positive: this kept me engaged, I was actually interested in our characters' backstories, it's not that easy to guess who gets killed or who the killer is, and the ending wasn't terrible. I found myself looking forward to picking this up once I put it down and it was an enjoyable ride while it lasted.
Now let's go with the negative. Small thing but biggy for me: the atmosphere. Personally, I didn't really feel the creepiness that Foley was trying to convey. She spent so much time describing the island - how it looked, where it was located, what the earth was like, what the building looked like etc. I know this was to create intrigue and give us a sense of location, but I couldn't visualize it that well and a lot of the terms she used (i.e. folly, peat bog, turf, etc.) were lost on me because I'm not familiar with them. When she said peat bog, I had to stop and google what that was. When she said folly, I had to remind myself that that was the building. Just small things that helped contribute to my overall meh feeling about the story.
The main thing that makes this story not perfect for me is its predictability. I love a good "a-ha" moment when you get confirmation that you were right in your early assumptions, but I tend to hate when you're right about almost everything. After we first heard Olivia's story and how it was connected, the rest of the pieces just started falling into place, but it wasn't as satisfying to watch it all come to an end. The only shining beacon of light was discovering who the killer was and their motives - even though I guessed it, it was such a great moment.
I'd recommend this above other adult thrillers - it will likely keep you engaged and invested, which is more than I can say for the others I've read. But if you're a seasoned reader of this genre, the twists and revelations probably won't surprise you.
As you can guess, I'm still having my struggles with adult mystery thrillers and their general lack of intrigue and shooketh factor that I'm looking for. This was a bit of a step up because there were a few surprising things, but in the end it still fell a bit flat for me.
Let's start with the positive: this kept me engaged, I was actually interested in our characters' backstories, it's not that easy to guess who gets killed or who the killer is, and the ending wasn't terrible. I found myself looking forward to picking this up once I put it down and it was an enjoyable ride while it lasted.
Now let's go with the negative. Small thing but biggy for me: the atmosphere. Personally, I didn't really feel the creepiness that Foley was trying to convey. She spent so much time describing the island - how it looked, where it was located, what the earth was like, what the building looked like etc. I know this was to create intrigue and give us a sense of location, but I couldn't visualize it that well and a lot of the terms she used (i.e. folly, peat bog, turf, etc.) were lost on me because I'm not familiar with them. When she said peat bog, I had to stop and google what that was. When she said folly, I had to remind myself that that was the building. Just small things that helped contribute to my overall meh feeling about the story.
The main thing that makes this story not perfect for me is its predictability. I love a good "a-ha" moment when you get confirmation that you were right in your early assumptions, but I tend to hate when you're right about almost everything. After we first heard Olivia's story and how it was connected, the rest of the pieces just started falling into place, but it wasn't as satisfying to watch it all come to an end. The only shining beacon of light was discovering who the killer was and their motives - even though I guessed it, it was such a great moment.
I'd recommend this above other adult thrillers - it will likely keep you engaged and invested, which is more than I can say for the others I've read. But if you're a seasoned reader of this genre, the twists and revelations probably won't surprise you.