The Guest List by Lucy Foley

 

I read The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley earlier this year and was sort of meh about it, but a lot of people have suggested that The Guest List is a better book from Foley, so I put it on my hold list at the library and waited for months for it to come in.  Months, I say! Well, do you think the wait was worth it?

The Good: Foley can make a creepy setting. It felt claustrophobic, that cold Irish island, far away from "real" society. I felt the dampness in my bones. I also could visualize the rustic beauty of the landscape and the ruins.  Foley's descriptions lend so much to the whole spooky vibe of the thing.

She also did a great job of slowly building suspense. Much like in The Guest List, you don't actually know who the victim is until late in the book.  If you're a fan of a gradual buildup, you'll really like this. If you want more of a procedural whodunit, this won't be for you. It's much more of a psychological whodunit. 

The Bad: There are a couple of big plot holes.  One involves people who should have been at the same place and, based on that, known their relationship to another person. Instead, Foley just ignores that these characters were at the same place. There's also another plot hole about a surprise invitation that drove me crazy. Anyway, if you can ignore that the plot in a very plot-driven novel is not well executed, you're a better person than I am.

Overall take: I think Lucy Foley is not the writer for me. I like a mystery novel as much as the next girl, but there's something about her writing that feels a bit cold and distanced from the reader. I know this book was popular and I can see why because things got insane in the last chapters of the book, but I don't think I'll be reading any more from this author.  

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

 

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is a closed door mystery in which nine friends go on vacation to a lodge in the Scottish Highlands to celebrate New Year's, a tradition they've upheld since their days at Oxford.  We know early on that one of the guests is murdered, but we spend the majority of the book delving into backstories and learning about the group's dynamics. We learn about who knows each other best, who's keeping secrets, and we also delve into the lives of the lodge's manager and caretaker.

There's a lot to like about this book.  Foley did a great job of scene setting. I could feel myself in the Highlands with this incredible glass structure as snow falls all around me. I felt the creepiness of the Icelandic guests and how inappropriate their arrival was. It was an immersive place.  I also felt like some of the character development, particularly of the women in the group, was also well done.  The characters of Katie, Miranda, and Heather were stand outs for me, although poor Samira is nothing more than a boring caricature of what a new mother is like. 

But there's also something forced about the book.  Referring to the murder victim as "the guest" for hundreds of pages just got an eyeroll from me.  The ending seemed rushed and I have a lot of issues with the charges placed against the murderer.  I wanted more about the fallout from the events of that New Year's Eve in Scotland.  

I think I'd recommend this book, but I wouldn't say it's the best mystery around.  It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon on the couch, though.

Things I looked up:

What Katy Did - This is an 1872 children's book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under the pen name of Susan Coolidge. (page 13)

Cy Twombley - An American artist known for works of scribbling and graffiti. See below. (page 28)

Cluedo - This is what the Brits call the board game Clue. (page 38) 

Lines of note:

1. But that's the thing about old friends, isn't it? Sometimes they don't even realize that they no longer have anything in common. That maybe they don't even like each other anymore. (page 58)

If there's nothing this pandemic has taught me, it's that maybe I don't need to talk to all the people I was friends with in high school.

2. There are people who hold out for love, capital letters LOVE, and don't stop until they've found it. There are those who give up because they don't find it.  Boom or bust - all or nothing. And then, perhaps in the majority, there are those who settle. And I think we're the sensible ones. Because love doesn't always mean longevity. (page 148)

Is there anything sadder than this pronouncement about love?