Literally Dead Book Club discussion

Did any of your predictions come through? Did anything shock you?
I didn't make too many predictions. The plot really didn't interest me. My first prediction was that Johnno and Olivia knew each other, but it was Olivia and Will. My second prediction was that Will was going to get what was coming to him. I guess he did, but it felt unsatisfying. My other prediction was that Aoife had another motive for getting the group on the island. That was mostly true. I just had so many issues with the plot. Too many conveniences. I grew up in a small town, so I get that people can run in similar circles, but the interconnectedness of these characters really didn't mash up well for me.

Overall thoughts on the book- go! It's a spoiler filled free for all, let's dive in.
We're going to call this 3.5 stars (my same rating in the second section). The plot was just uninteresting. I never cared about the murder or the mystery. Then, when pieces started to fall into place and the reveals started happening, it reminded me WAY too much of Big Little Lies. I've only seen the show (never read the book), but the set up, the flashbacks, the interconnectedness of the characters... it was just too close for me to get any real enjoyment from it. The characters in this book though were interesting and uniquely damaged (and yet strangely similar) that they were the reason this wasn't a one or two star. If the plot had been crummy AND the characters sucked, I may have DNF'd it.

I'm curious to hear Lala's thoughts. It definitely has some elements she would enjoy (survival/dark games) but also some she doesn't like (famous people).

Loved the ending to this book. Wow! I would’ve never thought so many lives would be entertained together with secrets. It was a little slow at first but once the introductions got out of the way it was a fast wad and for me that is saying something. It was hard to put down as I wanted to know what happened and why.

My overall thoughts on the book, are the same as other Lucy Foley books, and that's just - Okay. Like the books aren't bad, they've got that kind of pop-corn quality to them for me, like onceI start readingI can't stop, even though I know, it's not super original or engaging. But the twists are entertaining, in the moment. It's complicated to explain and I'm wording it horribly.

But I think it's like one of those memes where it's like "I had a Bot watch 1000 hours of horror movies, and made it write a script" I feel like Lucy Foley's work is just like a bot read a bunch of thrillers. Like they feel as if they're just going through motions that have been done a million times before. Like I genuinely thought this book was gonna end Murder on Orient Express style.

But again, they're not bad books by any means, just very generic.

I did not like this book. To me this was such an example of “telling” not showing. Too many perspectives, the men were all awful, and though I empathize with the struggles each of the main characters were feeling, it jumped around so much I couldn’t form an attachment to them. The jumps to “now” felt completely pointless and didn’t serve to build tension for me. (The “cliffhanger” of what was in the wedding planner’s hand irked me in particular).

I don’t want to harp on what it seems like a lot of people liked, but this one didn’t work for me. I’m glad other people liked it!

This book was clique. When I first read the book about the characters, everyone's personalities was what I predicted. It was a disappointment. I honestly figured out who was murdered halfway through. I would recommend this book to someone new to mysteries.

So I predicted nearly everything, the only things I didn't get were Aoife & Freddy's roles. I did like that the cake knife as a murder weapon would be a smart choice for Aoife since it would be logical that her prints would be on it anyways. I really wanted Hannah to have some involvement in the end as well though because she had the most compelling story line throughout in my opinion and I predicted her involvement from the first chapter because of how the author framed her (all events in general surrounding her story were all framed in a way where she didn't have any responsibility for anything negative). I did like that she ended up having a motive in the end but all of the tie ins felt a little too coincidental.

Im giving this 3 stars because of a couple flaws in the story:

-The scene where Will comes home with Jules after they're engaged and is surprised at Olivia being related to Jules doesn't make sense. When he and Olivia were hooking up, they went to Jules' apartment since Olivia was staying there at the time... I really DON'T buy that Will & Jules got engaged without him ever going to her apartment to pick her up or hook up/stay over with her etc. and figuring out the connection loooong beforehand.

-Will is supposed to be a TV star... I DON'T buy that not only did Olivia not recognize him at all but also that nobody in the general public recognized him and approached them while they were out and about together on their multiple dates!! His real identity should have never been able to be a secret from her.

-I DON'T buy that Olivia said absolutely nothing to Jules about Will after Jules brought him home. I get that it was an uncomfortable situation and that she's 19, I get that she's timid and shy but WHY are you so timid and shy with your own sister?!? Especially given that we see that they have at least a somewhat intimate relationship (Olivia stayed at her place, Jules bought her undergarments etc). Like seriously, yes it's uncomfortable but how much more awful is it for you to let your sister marry that guy? ...Yes, I know she wrote a note but she had doubts about whether her sister actually received it and stated later she knew her sister wouldn't be the type to take it seriously anyways. I could never let my sister go through with a marriage in that situation...staying silent would seem seriously selfish and completely inconsiderate. If it was really that hard to talk to her she could have told her mom and had her mom talk to her sister at a bare minimum!!

Siobhan wrote: "I did not like this book. To me this was such an example of “telling” not showing. Too many perspectives, the men were all awful, and though I empathize with the struggles each of the main characte..."

I completely agree

Did any of your predictions come through?
I did predict that Stephen and Will were the same guy. I also predicted that Alice's boyfriend had to be either Johnny or Will. I also guessed that Will could be a potential victum, but I also thought he might be the killer so that was fun
Did anything shock you?
Aoife being so connected AND being the killer was like BOOM MIND BLOWN. I never even thought to put them (her and Freddy) into the running of the murderer/victim because I thought they were just for context.
Overall thoughts on the book- go! It's a spoiler filled free for all, let's dive in.
I wish the book was more interesting in the first 2/3, but the last 1/3 really made up for it! I couldn't stop reading till I found out exactly what happened once it started picking up. overall I really enjoyed it, and would love to read it again to pick up on some more clues about Aoife and Freddy.

This is definitely my favourite book from the book club so far! 5 stars from me!! I absolutely loved it. Being my first Lucy Foley, it did not let me down and I cannot wait to read more from her. I loved the multiple perspectives and, given the right day, I probably could have finished reading this book in one day. The days I was reading it, I couldn't put it down!

Was this book completely predictable? Yes, yes it was - Will could be followed by a huge neon sign saying "I'm gonna be murdered soon" and so I spent my time figuring out what motive each person would have, because as we all know whenever someone is murdered they just so happen to be surrounded by at least half a dozen people who want them dead. I was mostly right - I didn't realized that Freddy and Aoife were connected with the same person. I knew that Freddy went to same school, but missed that the dead boy had older sister. It was also pretty clear that the murderer would be either Aoife (why else we would have her pov) or Hannah (I liked how she found out about Will=Steve=Alice's ex).
Anyway - extremely predictable (well, I guess Johnno being arrested was unexpectable - I felt sorry for him), but still enjoyable. It reminded me Agatha Christie's book Towards Zero - same or at least very similar premise.

4/5

Ramakrishna wrote: "I feel like mine will be an unpopular opinion because I felt very underwhelmed by this book. This book could have taken the Murder on Orient Express route and have multiple killers but it just feel..."

I was thinking it could have taken the CLUE route.

Amanda wrote: "This is a 5 star for me. This was so entertaining, it felt very Knives Out and Clue - like to me.

I agree with Hannah on Johnno's character arc. I actually felt more sympathy for him as the story..."

It definitely gave me CLUE vibes but I can't see it as being like Knives Out cuz there was the interview thing and the characters were all actually interesting. The characters in The Guest List were kind of basic, lol.

Sandra wrote: "The book left me feeling pretty neutral, honestly. Unlike others, I really loved the slow build up, the writing was so ominous that I really felt like we were building up for something awesome. I w..."

I agree. It could have been more shocking and had so much potential. I almost wish Will was still alive after he was stabbed or something and then maybe the Johnny or someone else finishes him off. Or I wish Will tried to drag his ass away from the bog and tried to crawl back to the wedding but someone stops him. I don't know. Haha

Finally finished a day after the live show, lol oops.
Probably gonna rate this 4 stars. I did find a lot of the twists fairly predictable, but it was nonetheless entertaining. There were certain chapters that I felt like that Michael Jackson popcorn meme just eagerly anticipating the drama haha.
I was most surprised by Will backstabbing Johnno, as that was revealed first, and subsequently less surprised by all of the following twists. I guessed Will being involved with Olivia almost 100 pages before it was revealed, and then slowly put together the connections to Hannah's sister (after Will stated that he had videos of Olivia and the similarities) and Aoife's brother (backstory of a family tragedy and unnamed grave). Honestly after Hannah's connection was revealed it seemed extremely obvious that Will had screwed over every main character in some way, and the only other mystery was who was connected to the boy at the school that drowned.
Will being killed wasn't that shocking, but I did like that it could have been anyone. Slightly sad about Johnno being convicted, but maybe he'll finally find peace.

Finally listened to the audiobook of this and I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed :(