I know life isn’t fair and all, but how is it justified that the bad guy is dead, the falsely accused is sent to prison, and the killer walks free? It’s a rather unlikable cast of characters and the reader is required to accept improbable coincidences. And soon, Kate learns about the dark past and comes to discover a profoundly romantic story spanning for decades.

Of course the main intrigue we’re all here for is the identity of the murderer and murder victim, but because there is such a lengthy delay in revealing either, the author peppers in smaller mysteries about our protagonists to keep us invested.Maybe it’s because I haven’t read many books in the murder-mystery genre (although you say repeatedly this isn’t in it either) but I really enjoyed this book. Moving backward and forward through time, and cutting between the perspectives of various characters, the guests arrive on the island, which is owned by Aoife, a wedding planner, and her husband Freddy, a chef. It might not seem like it, but they’re easy to differentiate once you catch on to how their stories intertwine and each of them has a solid motive to be the killer. Most of the story is devoted to fleshing out the tense interpersonal relationships between the main cast and teasing out their mysterious long-buried secrets or recent traumas, which emerges as the real strength of the novel. I loved its slow building tension, I loved the notorious, immature, childish boys club (I’m talking about groom’s friends who are acting like wedding crashers and stayed in their teenage years), I loved variety of interesting, rich, attention taker characterization.

Hell, her own sister cares more about the wedding carrying on without a hitch than anything that is happening with Olivia. All novels like this are about class envy and the ugliness of class privilege, in the end, and when the outcome is as black and white of a morality play as this is, I have to assume it's a deliberate choice on the author's part in some ways. The trip begins innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. Even when Olivia tried to kill herself Jules is berating Hannah for trying to help her and then actually thinks to herself- I need to keep it together.i could tell pretty early on that this was going to be a more ~topical~ thriller than most and i didn’t love the direction it was going.