The Guest List

 The Guest List by Lucy Foley (2020) 313 pages

Jules, a successful online magazine publisher is set to marry Will, an up-and-coming reality television star. Their opulent wedding is to take place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, at a castle-like estate owned by Aoife, a wedding planner, and her husband Freddy, a chef. The members of the wedding party and the guests include Jules's half sister Olivia, Jules's best friend Charlie and his wife Hannah, Will's best man Johnno, and the four ushers, all of whom went to boarding school with Will and Johnno. Secrets abound in this group. And as happy as the beautiful bridal couple seem, Jules finds herself obsessing about an anonymous note she received, telling her not to marry Will, that he is a cheat and a liar.

The story is structured in a series of time shifts. It starts at the moment in the huge outdoor reception tent when a storm has caused the power to fail, and brings us back in time in certain characters' lives to set the stage, and then advances the plot until we're back at "now." We know from the beginning that someone will die and someone is a murderer. (It's not a spoiler; it's on the book flap!) As the story and the suspense build, it's clear that the victim and the murderer could be anyone!