The Guest List: A Novel

The atmosphere of this novel is one of its most notable strengths. The weather and setting add to the sense of impending doom that permeates the entire story, and as the storm outside builds up, and the many secrets each character holds slowly surface, the tension mounts and you want to keep reading after each chapter seems to end in a mini cliffhanger. If life didn’t get in the way and I could live my dream of having several days (who am I kidding, I’d want more than that, but we’ll be slightly realistic and stick with days) with nothing to do but read all the books I’ve had piling up, I would have read this one in one sitting. Each chapter is its own separate thread, at least at first, so it can also be a good book to read one little bit at a time, but I suspect other readers, like myself, will eventually want to just blast through the rest of it at some point., The point of view of the novel switches between several characters throughout, but they’re all distinct enough that it doesn’t get confusing. I would also encourage readers to pay attention to the seemingly throw away details, because quite a few of them pop up later, and end up being pretty important. There are definitely some twists and turns towards the end, some of which I saw coming, but several of which I definitely didn’t, and it winds up to a satisfying conclusion, even though there are a few plot holes left along the way. Sure, you might have to suspend your disbelief a bit for a few of them, but in the end I think it’s more than worth it. Normally I wouldn’t care about a bunch of rich people going to a wedding, and I’m honestly not much of one for murder mysteries, but I like how you don’t even know who the victim is for most of the novel, so you can’t get a bead on who the killer might be. The mounting tension sometimes feels akin to watching the moments before a train wreck. You’re uncomfortable because you know what’s about to happen will be ugly, but you can’t quite turn away. Sure, some of the characters deserve their fates, and that’s part of the satisfying conclusion, but the sense of impending doom you’ll feel while reading the novel will probably keep you up at night like it did for me.

Con esta historia me enganchó para leer dos libros más de ella, lamentablemente todos sus libros se parecen y sus finales son predecibles y no tan atragantes. Empiezas bien la historia pero conforme se va acabando te llevas muchas decepciones. Pero como stand-alone esta bien. Entretenido

This book had a great plot, a good ending, but had some misplaced story line.