2024 the best seller book list review

Price: $16.99 - $9.76
(as of Dec 10, 2024 11:32:14 UTC - Details)

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A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLERS OF THE YEAR

“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, #1 New York Times bestselling 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 bestselling 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?

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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars

108,841

4.0 out of 5 stars

38,339

4.1 out of 5 stars

53,680

4.0 out of 5 stars

10,855

4.3 out of 5 stars

35

Price

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks (August 3, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062868942
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062868947
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.76 x 8 inches
Reviewer: tennille.lesnar
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Guest List
Review: Such a great book! Reading this specific book made me want to read the rest of this author's books. The ending is so unexpected and this book kept me interested the entire time!

Reviewer: Gabrielle Grosbety
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Character driven, atmospherically thrilling closed murder mystery tale
Review: The Guest List is an intriguing mystery until the end as there are little moments of lucidity sprinkled in as the night of the murder plays out that lead you to crave more. And you don’t even know who was murdered until the end as secrets go behind closed doors initially and are sparingly revealed. The story will flash back between past and present and give you just enough that you’re left wanting more. Your desire never fully satiated in all the right ways until the big reveal at the end. I loved all the twists and turns to get there. As this is very much a character driven, atmospherically thrilling story where we get to know people while feeling like we still don’t know what they’re capable of.Jules, a magazine founder and publisher, and Will, a smarmy survival show TV celebrity, who are also the bride and groom, look beautifully radiant and accomplished on the outside, but are they who they seem? Everyone has skeletons in their closets especially the most seemingly well-polished and pristine.Nonetheless, even if ugly secrets threaten to rear their cataclysmic heads and rain on the much anticipated brightness of the big wedding day, guests are invited to congregate for the wedding of Jules and Will amidst the haunting backdrop of the island the event is taking place on with precipitous cliffs that become a character of their own with all the forbidden wildness, reckless incivility, and rule-breaking treachery comparable to that of the Yorkshire Moors in Wuthering Heights.Even though there were more perspectives than I would’ve normally liked, it actually worked for me here. My favorite characters being Olivia, the bridesmaid, and Hannah, the wife of one of the groom’s friends who has to confront her husband’s submission into the herd-like mentality that exists among members of the wedding who went to the same school in the groom’s past and like to chant almost ritualistically that if they "can’t move heaven they will raise hell."Olivia has troubles and secrets of her own, though, that she’s just biting back. And shares intimate moments in a hidden away cave where they become more openly clear on the island with the flame of a flickering candle the only source of light in Hannah’s company where she feels most free to talk and let her guard down. I thought those characters were some of the most well-drawn and developed. Their backstories being crucial to the scintillating climax.One thing I didn’t like was some of the writing itself, specifically the overuse of the expression “boys will be boys” because I think that’s a terrible excuse to let terrible behavior get a pass although I suppose that’s kind of the point in this context (even if it still quietly irked me). Because boys won’t be boys they will be held accountable for their actions.However, this story was still enjoyable and popcorn-worthily entertaining with also important statements on how the past and our actions will come back to haunt us much like how this isolated island forebodingly looms and inches closer and closer.

Reviewer: JAB
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Different than Expected
Review: As one of the most purchased mystery novels of 2020, “The Guest List” appears to have produced a range of reactions from reviewers. From being hailed as genius to castigated as abysmal, the book has proven to be somewhat divisive among literary fans.Taking place on an island off the coast of Ireland, a power couple consisting of a television star and a magazine publisher are set to be married. Then as the wedding festivities proceed, someone ends up dead. In telling the novel’s events, alternating perspectives are given from several narrators that primarily include the bride herself, the best man, the wedding planner, a plus-one who is married to a friend of the bride, and the bridesmaid who is also the bride’s half-sister. As the narrative progresses, several plot twists occur and the book maintains a suspenseful tone that makes it hard to put down at times.However, a key problem with the book is not necessarily one with the novel itself but with the marketing of it, which affects the expectations of readers. Although branded as a sort of modern whodunit, similar to ones written by Agatha Christie, “The Guest List” plays out much more like a social drama that happens to culminate in a murder, rather than being a murder mystery in itself. That said, the book does not entail an investigation of a murder that has already happened but instead depicts the making of a murder that has yet to take place. While readers are teased with snippets of a waitress screaming about a dead body on the island and search parties going out to investigate, the vast majority of the book revolves around flashbacks that lead up to the wedding and subsequent murder. Thus, it is not explicitly stated who died until the book itself is nearly over. Thereafter, the murderer is rapidly revealed and despite an epilogue, the novel ends somewhat awkwardly and abruptly. Until the final thirty pages or so, the book’s content revolves around the relationships between the main characters and the secrets that lie in their respective pasts. While some may enjoy the gradual tension, others may find that the book unnecessarily drags things out that have already become obvious. Another feature of the book is that its dialogue tries to be witty and perhaps socially relevant, especially during passages involving sex and online dating habits, but just feels cringeworthy at parts. Although these issues don’t completely render the book meritless, they are consistently aggravating and prevent the storyline from being as well told as it could have been.In general, “The Guest List” is one of those books that may be a hit or miss for readers. While there’s a neat concept at play, the execution of it could have been better and the format may annoy some, depending on one’s personal preferences. Although a tough book to rate because of its occasional strengths but notable deficiencies, this review’s rating rounds out to three stars because the book’s neither perfect or terrible.

Reviewer: sonya Russell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very good book. Love the author

Reviewer: LCP
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Such a great writer! Her stories are amazing!!! Love all of her books!

Reviewer: Sandra Neime Carvalho
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Gripping, a page-turner... Well-written plot. One of the best thrillers I've read recently. I give a 5 star, although I have figured it all out before the end... It has nothing do to with 'And Then There Were None' by Agatha Christie, however some people were making comparisons, maybe because the murder venue is on an island...and the ones who did were giving a better evaluation to The Guest List... Not true ! "And Then There Were None" is the best thriller ever !

Reviewer: Kath Brown
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book keeps you from everything else. Thoroughly enjoyed the story, the twists, the different characters. It's 2.01 a.m. now know the end, I'll go to ........? Sleep? I don't think so! Think I need to play a quiet card game to calm myself down! Night 🌙 sweet dreams 😴

Reviewer: Fotografikus
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: [Deutsch]Ein wahrer Lesegenuss. Die Geschichte wird aus verschiedenen Perspektiven (aus der Sicht verschiedener Personene) erzählt. Und davon bin ich, ehrlich gesagt, überhaupt kein Fan. Oftmals hemmt das den Lesefluss enorm. Doch hier ist dieses wechseln der Erzähl-Perspektive fantastisch gelungen.Das Setting ist grundätzlich bekannt: Menschen treffen an einem abgeschiedenen Ort zusammen und jemand wird ermordet. Dann beginnt die Mördersuche während niemand den Ort verlassen kann. Klassisches Murder-Mystery.Doch bei dieser Geschichte ist vieles anders als erwartet und es ist herrlich wie sich am Schluss alles zusammenfügt.[English]A real reading pleasure from the beginning. The story is told from different perspectives (from the point of view of different people). And to be honest, I'm not a fan of that at all. Often it inhibits the reading flow enormously. But here this change of narrative perspective is fantastically successful.The setting is basically familiar: People meet in a secluded place and someone is murdered. Then the search for the murderer begins while no one can leave the place. Classic murder-mystery.But in this story, many things are different than expected and it is wonderful how everything comes together in the end.