The Guest List

The Guest List is a suspense novel by British author Lucy Foley, translated into Chinese by Zhou Li and published by New Star Press. The story takes place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland: the groom, Will, is a handsome and charming television star; the bride, Jules, is an intelligent and ambitious online magazine publisher. Every detail of the wedding has been carefully designed—the remote location makes it hard for guests to leave, and the banquet finery, cake, and whiskey are all in place as a group of old friends gathers again. Champagne is opened, the feast begins, and it should be the happiest day—until a body is found. The novel reveals from the start that someone has died, but withholds who the victim is and who the killer is, instead letting several characters—the wedding planner, the bride, the bridesmaid, the guests—take turns narrating their perspectives, with time shifting between the day before the wedding, the wedding day, and "now" after the storm. As old secrets, social-media grudges, school-day history, and romantic calculations are peeled back one by one, the jealousy and hostility beneath the guests' surface politeness rise to the surface. The killer could be anyone, or everyone; the only certainty is that one guest will not leave the island alive.