The Guest List by Lucy Foley

I've heard so many good things about The Guest List by Lucy Foley so I was eager to dive in. Set on a now uninhabited Irish island the novel focuses on the upcoming nuptials of successful online magazine editor Jules and the suave, charming and privately educated Will.  Bride and groom must face some unexpected truths as  family and friends disembark onto the mysterious island bringing with them more baggage than expected. The exclusive wedding, the first of its kind on this island, may bring more attention than originally planned.

The first thing to say about this novel is that it's written from various characters point of view, alternating viewpoint every chapter. The chapters also don't follow a chronological timeline instead it uses a mix of past memories and current events. It feels a little clumsy and I did on occasion forget which character I was reading as but the plot is reasonably easy to follow. I think the book needed to be written from various viewpoints to fully explain each characters history but I did find the constant switching quite irritating. 

In terms of the characters, they were well defined. I thought the public school boys were well captured and I really connected with Hannah, the wife of Charlie and Olivia, Jules sister. There were some characters that I just didn't like, I couldn't get on with Jules, Charlie and Will in particular.

I loved the setting of the island. It really boosted the atmosphere and the layout of the land with the bogs and rumours of buried bodies added an extra element of suspense, though the impending storm felt a bit cliché. 

The 'whodunnit' element of the novel was handled well. There were plenty of suspects to choose between, each with a plausible motive. I liked that it took a while to find out who the victim was. I did guess the murderer a few chapters before the end though I didn't work out the motive, that remained a surprise.

Overall it was a good read but not a great read. The method and motive for murder was plausible but the novel overall felt a little old fashioned and typical of the 'whodunnit' genre. 

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