The Guest List

On an island off the coast of West Ireland, Julia "Jules" Keegan and Will Slater are having a wedding at a place called the Folly. Jules runs a successful online magazine while Will is the host of a survivalist TV show. The night of the wedding, there's a storm, and the lights cut out. When they turn on, there's a scream and reports of a body.

(The book cuts back and forth from the present and the events leading up to the present until the two timelines converge at the very end.)

The day before, people arrive on the island. The Folly is owned by Aoife (wedding planner) and her husband Freddy. On the bride's side, Charlie is Jules's best friend. Hannah is Charlie's wife. (Charlie and Jules are very close, but Charlie and Will don't like each other.) Olivia is Julia's younger (19) half-sister. On Will's side, Johnno is the best man, and the four ushers are four guys they went to boarding school with, Femi, Angus, Duncan and Peter. Three weeks ago, Jules found an anonymous note telling her not to marry Will.

Jules is frustrated about Olivia's unenthusiastic attitude about the wedding. Olivia confides in Hannah that she's sad about a recent breakup with her ex-boyfriend Callum. Afterwards, she started dating an older guy ("Steven") she met off an app. She took him to one of her sister's fancy parties to impress him, but instead got drunk and made a fool out of herself, so he ghosted her. There's more, but Olivia doesn't continue.

At dinner, there's talk of something that happened during the "stag" (bachelor party) to Charlie, but the guys won't say what. They also reminisce about Survival, a game they used to play in school where older guys would kidnap one of the younger guys and leave him in the woods to fend for himself for the night. (One kid died from it, though.) It's the game Will's show was based on. It was actually Johnno's idea and Johnno was given a screen test for them to host as a duo, but the producers preferred the good-looking and perfect Will as a solo act. Johnno is kind of a mess compared to the over guys (less successful, not from a wealthy family, etc.), and Jules doesn't understand why Will is friends with him.

That morning of the wedding, a storm is brewing and the other guests arrive. The wedding goes as planned. Afterwards, Johnno talks to Will's father, who was headmaster at their school. Johnno finds out that he thinks Johnno stole the GSCE papers (UK standardized test) that Will used to cheat on the exam. (Actually, Will stole them.) Next, Johnno strikes up a conversation with Piers, Will's producers. (Will hadn't included Piers on the guest list but Jules had assumed he'd want him there.) Piers reveals that they had wanted both of them for the show, but Will told them Johnno wasn't interested. Before Will can interrupt, there's a commotion because Olivia has gone into the water and is drowning. Will saves her.

Afterwards, Hannah talks with Olivia. (Olivia was upset because the truth was that she'd actually gotten pregnant by Steven and had an abortion, but she's too ashamed to tell.) Hannah encourages Olivia to get whatever it is off her chest. Hannah talks about her sister, Alice, who had an ex-boyfriend that passed around an explicit video of her after she dumped him. Alice was too ashamed to tell them, but Hannah wishes she would have, since she loved her regardless. (Hannah leaves out that Alice killed herself 17 years ago.)

During the wedding speeches, Jules's dad makes the first speech. Jules thinks about how her father stopped giving her money after he married his new wife, which is why she chose this location. Jules had asked for venue proposals (through her online mag) and Aoife's pitch came with a huge discount.

Then, Will talks about how he met Jules (he went back to a party after his original date needed to leave). We (the readers) now discover that Will and "Steven" are the same person. Olivia had gone on the apps using a fake name, "Bella". Will had apparently done the same, as "Steven". Olivia brought him to her sister's party, got trashed and needed to leave. Will went back and met Jules (not knowing they were related). After Jules and Will were engaged (and after Olivia had her abortion), Jules introduced him to her family. Olivia and Will were both surprised, but neither said anything. Olivia's also the one who wrote the anonymous note to Jules.

During Johnno's speech, he gets the ushers to play a quick Survival game with Will. They blindfold, tie him up and take him out to a cave. After the others leave, Johnno turns back and confronts Will about the show. Then, Johnno brings up the kid (nicknamed Loner) who died in school. Loner idolized Will, but had found the (very incriminating) GSCE papers that Will stole. That night, Will and Johnno kidnapped him and tied him up near the beach. The tide rose, and he died. Johnno demands to know if his death was really an accident -- did Will know the tide would rise? They are interrupted by Aoife (who we later find out overheard the conversation).

Meanwhile, Hannah learns that Charlie and Jules had sex once after Hannah had given birth to their first child. Enraged, she goes off to hang with other guys, who turn out to be two men Will knows from University. They bring up a girl who once broke Will's heart and how he got back at her by sending around an explicit video. Hannah realizes that the girl is Alice, and Will is the reason Alice killed herself. (We also find out that the stag party incident was that Charlie was ditched naked, alone and freezing on an island for a few hours and he blames Will.)

When Will returns, Olivia tells him that she needs to tell Jules the truth. Will threatens to send out nude photos of her if she does. They're interrupted by Jules (who we soon find out has overheard that conversation), telling Will to come cut the cake.

(Flashing forward to the present, we now find out that the dead body in question is Will's. The four ushers went to look for it, and see his bloody body. Johnno walks up to them with a knife. )

After the cake cutting, the lights go out. At this point, Johnno, Oliva, Hannah and Jules are all furious with Will, but it's Aoife that confronts Will. She tells him she's Loner's (real name Darcey) sister. Freddy was Darcey's roommate back in his school days, and he had heard them come kidnap Darcey before he died. Aoife offered Jules a huge discount to have her wedding here in order to lure Will here to talk to him, but now she knows the truth. Aoife believes her parents died from the grief of Darcey's death. Aoife stabs Will with the knife.

The guys all believe Johnno was the one who stabbed Will, but Johnno actually only found the body and pulled out the knife. The police apprehend Johnno. Johnno believes he will likely go to prison for this. Olivia and Jules reconcile. Hannah and Charlie leave together, but things are different now, and Hannah wishes she could have been the one to stab Will.

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