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A Novel

By: Lucy Foley

Narrated by: Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Sarah Ovens, Rich Keeble

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

A Reese's Book Club Pick

“I loved this book. It gave me the same waves of happiness I get from curling up with a classic Christie.... The alternating points of view keep you guessing, and guessing wrong.” (Alex Michaelides, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Silent Patient)

"Evok[es] the great Agatha Christie classics.... Pay close attention to seemingly throwaway details about the characters’ pasts. They are all clues.” (New York Times Book Review)

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times best-selling author of The Hunting Party.

The bride - the plus one - the best man - the wedding planner - the bridesmaid - the body.

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why? 

©2020 Lucy Foley (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

I stand corrected

I originally gave this book a pretty rough review. As the weeks have gone by I kept thinking I should go back and give it another shot.
There it was, just sitting in my library, beckoning...
I so enjoyed The Hunting Party that I just HAD to try this one again and I am so glad that I did. As the book progresses it got a lot spookier, the tension grows, the atmosphere builds, it was wonderful.
Once I got over my initial issues with it (somewhat shallow stereotypes, a lot of characters to keep up with, and annoying male frat boy antics) I fell in love with this creepy, claustrophobic story. Definitely worth a listen and a credit, I am very glad that I gave it another chance. The ending was brilliant, it was a total surprise and completely fleshed out. I so appreciate it when an ending is as thorough and well thought out as the rest of the book. This is somewhat rare in the mystery genre. Also the narration was phenomenal. I especially love love loved Hannah and Aoife.
All of the performances were excellent. I related to Olivia. I especially liked the way that initially she seems quite shallow and lost but as things progress, her perspective becomes more relatable and more reliable. The Hunting Party is truly one of my all time favorite books, like literally top 3 of all time and this one is equally entertaining. Give it a shot and be patient, don’t be put off by how annoying some of these characters are in the beginning. As the plot progresses they become much more sympathetic, real, and interesting.
As they become more exposed they become more human.
Don’t give up too quickly, give it a chance to get good ☠️☠️☠️

Superb

I hope my review precedes “Trash”. Sometimes I make the mistake of reading only the first few reviews and allow them to persuade me too much. I allowed “Trash” to do this with this book for me. But everyone has their own opinions.
And this is mine.
This book is awesome in many ways, and the ending so... different than what I expected that I will go back and reread many times.
The narration- amazing
The description of the Irish island and it’s wildness- amazing
The characters- well, you have to read it. I LOVED Hannah, btw.

Trash. Don’t bother

I got this as a pre-order because there had been much ballyhoo about this book, including comparisons to Agatha Christie, and I like good mysteries. I had to stop listening since the characterizations are terrible and cliche (rather dated and sexist as well) and the writing is pedestrian at best. If you haven’t read PD James’ books with the female detective, do that instead—she’s an actual writer.

This book is Dreck.

Entertaining

I was really excited for this book, Pre-ordered it. I felt like the narration was done perfectly. I finished this in a day, I couldn’t put it down. It was so enticing and it was full of drama. There isn’t one like-able character, but i can’t help but feel drawn in. As the story goes on, I feel like it wasn’t that much of a mystery or a thriller. I feel like the past and the present had a different tones, with the present claiming to be “scary” which i couldn’t understand. The story was good and well let’s just say, karma ? I also feel like it was fairly easy to follow, with all the arrows pointing directly to all the answers. With all that being said, it was good and entertaining. The best thing about this book, it paints a clear picture.

I also feel that it has some trigger warning, it’s not explicit but dabbles in unwanted sexual acts, depression, suicide, post natal depression, cheating, toxic relationships, bullying, drugs.

Not *quite* Agatha

This was a really good book- and the performance was spot on- but I was slightly mislead by some of the reviews .
Maybe more precise would be to call it a modern twist on Christie - the setting is definitely evocative, and the characters are well written and well dramatized. This was no Victorian era mystery though. Although the sex didn’t get overly graphic, it was there, peppered throughout, and was explicit enough that parents should know- this is not remotely kid friendly. I’ve been looking for another good mystery to listen to with my 8th grade daughter - this is NOT the book. 😬
All in all a good book- I would recommend.
But as for those Agatha Christie comparisons- not so much.

Could not wait for it to be over

I love it when you download a book and just cannot wait to be able to listen again or do not want to stop and you know you should. This one I could not wait until it was over. Kept thinking it would get better but it did not. Made me hate young stupid men. I really do not like books where I cannot like any of the characters. Too many coincidences to be believable. Overall disappointed that it got such great reviews. Will take this offer off my list.

Save your money!

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a book THIS bad! Characters were underdeveloped. Plot was choppy. I listened to the end to see if it would redeem itself and sadly it did not

Entertaining, slightly shallow storyline

This book was entertaining, but slightly shallow in the character development and plot line. Nice nod to Christie, but don’t go in expecting a new And Then There Were None.

Solid and Interesting

interesting and easy to stay engaged with. the characters were not overly complex, but the pace was quick.

I could also add a trigger warning as there is a part that is very deatiled in describing self harm.

Overall I really enjoyed it!

Easy listen with some nice but slightly predictable twists

I enjoyed this book as a simple “who did it” book. The voices change in narrators was enjoyable, though the female narrators putting on the male public school boy voices was slightly irritating an stupid for me. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as “the hunting party” by Lucy Foley which was fantastic. This seemed to have a far more predictable and less complex story line.