The Guest List

Things are not as they seem in Lucy Foley’s The Guest List. The framing device of the novel is one that pushes the reader not only between the different perspectives of the characters, but also back and forth through time. As such, chapters are often cut short just at the brink of a revelation to prolong suspense. Foley uses this device to set the tone of the novel, weave more red herrings and feints into the narrative, and keep the ending a temporary mystery. The power of deceptive appearances is a theme that Foley deliberately employs to keep the reader in the dark. Through a series of misleading hints, Foley deceives the reader until the very last moment, when she reveals all. These literary devices are frequently used in the mystery genre to trick the reader and prevent them from guessing the ending.

One instance of such a deception occurs when Hannah comes across Darcey’s grave. She immediately assumes Darcey is a girl due to his effeminate name. Coupled with Aoife’s earlier trip to the graveyard, Foley has thus led the reader to believe that Aoife has possibly lost a sister. This would not be a huge leap for the reader to make due to Foley’s focus on the two other pairs of sisters in the novel: Alice and Hannah, Olivia and Jules. Hannah’s observation that the name is an effeminate one is a deliberate choice meant to mislead the reader. Later, when there are hints of a death during the ushers’ years at school, the reader is unable to fit the two clues together due to Foley’s misdirection. In this one example, it becomes clear that The Guest List hinges upon the power of appearances to deceive the reader. 

The power of deceptive appearances is thus a vital theme throughout the novel and also manifests through Foley’s layers of characterization. The characters tend to have one singular incident that continues to haunt them. As such, each character hides a secret that is vital to solving the plot. The island’s new owners themselves are more than the innocent wedding planner and cook, for example. Aoife has very few chapters in the novel, and Freddy has none at all, but they are central characters to the novel, due to their secret relationship to Darcey. The couple’s desire to discover the truth about what happened to Darcey becomes the catalyst for the events of the novel. Had they not deliberately baited Jules and Will to the island, the novel’s events may never have transpired.

Will’s character is the very manifestation of the theme of deception. Will initially appears very charming and polite; he treats Hannah kindly even when the other ushers, and even Charlie, are unkind to her. The reader is thus introduced to Will through Hannah, who is extremely taken with Will and initially even has a crush on him. Will uses his looks to manipulate others into believing that he is as good of a man as he pretends to be. Bit by bit, Will’s facade of the handsome, perfect man slowly erodes. Hannah’s initial crush on Will is completely crushed by the end of the novel, when she realizes that Will is responsible for both Alice’s death and Olivia’s suffering. Hannah feels cheated and furious at herself for buying into Will’s lies, but she is only one of many in the novel who have done so. Will’s own father believes that Johnno is responsible for stealing the GCSE papers for Will. Throughout the novel, Foley slowly pulls back the layers of Will’s character, untangling every lie that he has told and dispelling every last illusion of goodness.