Literally Dead Book Club discussion

Shout out to Gabby for dividing the book up for me, as I don't have my copy yet!

You're done the book! Let's reflect on those last 100 pages if you've been updating as you read. Did any of your predictions come through? Did anything shock you?

Overall thoughts on the book- go! It's a spoiler filled free for all, let's dive in.

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 flat for me.
That being said I liked the writing style of the author.

I will have to say that I ended up thoroughly enjoying this by the end. I did not see that last twist coming. I liked it much better than The Hunting Party

Sandy Lewis wrote: "I will have to say that I ended up thoroughly enjoying this by the end. I did not see that last twist coming. I liked it much better than The Hunting Party"

I didn't like the slow start, but I agree that the twists are worth reading.

Don't get me started on The Hunting Party, where the slow start did not pay off as much as this one.

I liked the book more than I thought I would, and the audiobook was definitely a great way to read this book since it has a whole cast of characters.
Whilst it started out a little slow, it got really engaging at the end, and I liked the twists the story took from about the half-way point onwards. The multiple perspectives annoyed and confused me at first, but ultimately I understand why the author has chosen these perspectives, and they also all tied together at the end, which made this a worthwhile read.

When Will was dating Olivia she took him back to Jules' apartment. So when Will was dating Jules did he never go to her apartment or did he? If he did he would've known about Olivia and Jules being connected (sisters)??!

Did any of your predictions come through? Did anything shock you?
Part of the big mystery for me throughout the book was who died - this is a smart move from the Author because you can’t start guessing who the killer is if you don’t even know who the victim is. Also, this is enjoyable because then you start ‘voting’ in your head who you think should die, as you start to have favourite characters.

So, naturally I was hoping one of the immature jerks would be the victim (either Jono or Will) - and yes, my guesses about Alice and Aoife came through. Although, I didn’t guess that Will was Olive’s ex boyfriend.

Overall thoughts on the book- go! It's a spoiler filled free for all, let's dive in.
I agreed with Ramakrishna’s comment that it could’ve been a lot more interesting, so yeah it was a bit underwhelming for me too. The ending was a bit too abrupt to me - I get that it’s designed to be like a movie ending where the screen fades to black to keep the ominous atmosphere, but I did actually want to know more about Jules-Olivia and Hannah-Charlie relationship.

But, it was a really fun island murder mystery. So I did enjoy it. 3 stars from me.

Just finished The Guest List! 4 star read for me. Thoroughly enjoyed it, very easy read and I didn’t expect the ending.

5-Stars!!

In the 115-212 discussion, I said that the last section really needed something impactful to boost it up to a full 5-stars.

At that point, I had it as a 3-star possibly 3.5-star read. Around page 250 or so, it bumped up to a 4-star read as the plot thickened and everything started picking up more and more. As the pace quickened I felt like I was one of the characters towards the end whose heart rate was rising as the search in the "Now" increased. I thought the pacing and what was happening in the plot fit hand in hand.

THEN, the last twenty pages threw me through a loop and I loved EVERY second of it. THAT is what made it a 5-star read for me!! I did not expect that ending whatsoever and the lead up to the reveal was brilliantly written!

Although the third part nicely spins all the threads together, I felt that the part about Will being the one who drove Hanna’s sister to kill herself really too far fetched.

Johno finding out about the tv show is borderline credible. The odds that Jules and her sister have fallen for the same man also borderline. The story would have benefitted if Will’s previous victims weren’t all at the party as it drowns the whole in a sense of being far fetched.

The storyline about Aoifes’ revenge was very nice and I really didn’t see that one coming. It is the heart of the story and deserved more attention. As all the characters are utterly unlikeable, a more sympathetic Aoife would have been nice.

All in all, an easy read but nothing outstanding: 3 stars!

I absolutely loved this a 5 star read for me.
The twists in this book are amazing earlier in the book I thought Freddy could be the potential killer but I never expected Aoife and wow... just wow.
I really enjoyed how Will went from such an idolised character and we gradually become aware more and more of how much of a horrible person he clearly is, having negative impacts on essentially everyone in his life.
This may be controversial but as much as Jhonno was a bad person I rather liked his character (as much as I may hate to admit) the concept of him being a ‘failure’ whilst coming from a private school background I feel is rare. I also really liked the sort of redemption he had towards the end as we become aware of his guilt. I loved the glance into the private school high class bubble and the representation that it leaves them mentally as children whilst having this outward portrayal of ‘earnt confidence’. I found it so interesting as it’s a very far off experience to my own.

The twist of the killer bumped the book from a 3 star Read to a 4 star. I worked out some of the smaller twists with Olivia and Hannah but did not at any point put freddy as “fatfuck" and Aoife as "Loners" sister. Very well done.

I gave this book 4 Stars. i really liked it. My theory about the victim and about alice was right,but i did not expect the Wedding planer to be the murderer. I don't like the extremly fast way Jono was arrested and was being contemped with it. otherwise this would have bin a 5 Star read.

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 went on, and I wasn't happy that he was arrested for Will's murder. I don't particularly like revenge stories, so even though Will absolutely sucked, I don't sympathize with Aioffe's choice to kill him. I would have been more satisfied if she was arrested and Will's crimes came to light after.

I really enjoyed this book! I felt like the slow reveal of information and the little things that pay off at the end worked so well. I had a feeling that Freddy was connected to the guys at Trevelyan's somehow, but didn't quite guess that! I loved the bluff with Johnno too, but by the end I was almost convinced that it would have been Hannah who killed Will in revenge because of how significant her reaction to discovering the truth had been. This was a 4 star read for me- really enjoyable, the last 100 pages sped by because of the quick pace. Loved it!

This was a 4 star read for me. I really enjoyed the background stories. I figured out the twists with Olivia and Alice, but I didn't see the twist with Aoife coming, it would've been a 5 star read if Will wasn't the victim because that became pretty obvious throughout the book.

This was a great book. Either a 4 or 5. I gotta sit on it for the night. But i think we can all agree that Will is the WORST.

This turned out to be a 3.75 star read for me. It would have been a 4 but I really didn’t like the abrupt ending of the epilogue.

I was shocked when I found out about Aiofe and Freddy, I really liked that twist. I do wish Will would have been arrested and everyone found out about all of his crimes but I understand Johnno going to jail and “justice” being served for them killing loner.

I enjoyed reading this overall, it has a good twist, I just think the epilogue was kind of unnecessary almost.

Even though after the first two deep dark secrets were connected to Will, I knew all the rest would be, thus spoiling a lot of the reveals, it was still SO satisfying that they ALL got justice for what he did to them. This reminded me a bit of the movie Ready or Not, mostly in the way that the bride REALLY doesn’t know her husband at all.

So, even though most of the reveals were obvious after maybe the first two, I still am rating this as 5 stars, since ending is so satisfying.

Also P.S. Charlie is a weenie pass it on

You're done the book! Let's reflect on those last 100 pages if you've been updating as you read. Did any of your predictions come through? Did anything shock you?

Yep, definitely some of my predictions did! I was right about how Hannah and Alice were connected to Will, and Will being a big fake. I wasn’t shocked by Olivia’s abortion, tbh. I knew murder would have been too obvious, but she never mentioned protection during sex so it seemed a given (plus I just got done reading Little Fires and I guess that whole concept was stuck in my mind or something).
I was surprised that Jules actually heard the cliff convo and didn’t misinterpret it. She’s clever and smart (even if I don’t like her), but I thought Foley was gonna go for one of those misunderstandings where someone only hears half of something and that maybe Olivia would be killed. I’m so thankful she didn’t, that’s been overdone and I liked Olivia!
Surprisingly most of all, I found myself actually feeling for Johnno. I know he should have come forward when they were kids, but unfortunately peer pressure and doing stupid things you regret later are situations we often experience as children. I know what it feels like to make a bad decision in your childhood that then affects you for the rest of your life, and also what it feels like to be betrayed by your best friend. I felt he really and truly regretted what happened and it ruined him, that he had suffered enough for it. Will was such a sociopath about it, however, that he did deserve what he got. But Johnno? Kid made the decision when he was still trying to find himself, and it was horrible but he knew it was, so that was his hell, ultimately, his punishment (I don’t think serving time would have done anything for him either way tbh, he’d served his time inside his own head).
I agree with a couple others here that I’m gonna have the unpopular opinion, but this is still a pretty strong 3 for me. It almost achieved a 4 and then it kinda fell off the rails with what I thought Foley was promising and then didn’t deliver. As someone above commented, I thought she was gonna go ‘Orient Express’ on us and I was looking forward to that, not because it felt routine, but because it worked. I wanted them all to confront Will at the bog, realize what he’d done to all of them, and that he deserved it. I was fine with Aoife stabbing him (Aoife was honestly my fav character) but it felt like she stole the final momentum from the ending and the passion of the confrontation died as a result, instead of feeling validating for the reader. As a consequence, the very end felt kinda flat.
And, not to be nit picky but this bugged me soooo....once again, an inconsistency. Ushers has wax torches in the beginning, then later in the same scene they suddenly had flashlights, then their lit torches showed back up again. I would like to excuse this as just they took them out when we couldn’t see, but another character does the same with their phone flashlight and it’s explained. I was sitting there picturing something like a maglite, only later it was jarring to realize it might have been their phones. Much like the thing with Pete and the bog rescue this should have been caught by her editor. And what the heck ever happened to Pete anyway? I’m guessing we’ll never know, as nobody seemed to care whether he fell in the bog or got eaten by wild hares and giant birds or whatever (I’m joking, but the author let us know he disappeared, that he might have fallen in the bog, but then it was never spoken of again, so I was curious).
Oh! One thing that did really surprise me! You’ll think this is funny but I was surprised by Charlie having slept with Jules not in the past but after marriage. We don’t get a clear enough picture of Charlie to really decide who he is as a person, we only hear about him mostly through Hannah, but I wouldn’t have thought he would do that. Will their marriage survive the revelation? I’m not sure, could go either way.
I do wish the book didn’t end so abruptly. It felt like I didn’t get enough closure, but maybe that‘s just me.

I’m pretty sure this will be a 4 star red for me. I figured out the Alice and Hannah thing pretty early on. The Olive twist really surprised me and I started having and inkling about the Aiofe twist.

I agree when someone said that the mystery of who died was pretty well played, because us not knowing, made it harder to figure out who the culprit was.

I’m glad to have read this!

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 was guessing the whole way through as to what things could mean, and ultimately.......... I guessed a lot of it.

I've come to learn by now that when characters go unnamed/nicknamed, they're going to be some sort of plot reveal. So I assumed that Alice's boyfriend, Olivia's 'Steven' and Will were all the same person, I just wasn't sure of the small details that could have connected them but there were the breadcrumbs left, so those reveals really didn't shock me. I was reading all of the double-meanings that the wedding planner was making, so I KNEW she was up to something. Her relation to Will WAS interesting and a surprise, because the hot sister comment was SO small that I didn't think much of it. I really am surprised that so many people were so shocked by the plot twists, I guess because I spent the entire build up of the book thinking of theories and reading into every tiny detail.

I think where it fell flat for me was in the ending, actually, which seems to be an unpopular opinion? I really wanted multiple killers, or for all of the perspectives to come together so they could help each other get away with it or something. But now, like an idiot, as I'm looking at the back of the book and seeing "All have a motive but only one is a murderer" I realize how dumb I am and that I shouldn't have been expecting that. I really wish we had stayed with the characters a little bit longer. I wish that the others were involved in Will's death SOMEHOW. It just doesn't feel satisfactory for me. Olivia says she's not pleased. We don't even get Jules' perspective on the murder. Johnno is going to jail for something he didn't commit (even though it is sort of comeuppance since he helped kill Darcey). And even the last line of the damn book is that Hannah wishes she was the one that killed him. I wish we got more of the aftermath, more reactions. I wish they were more involved with the death.

Unlike others, i don't know, I really liked the slow build. The writing and the atmosphere was so ominous and intense, that it really did feel like something was building, that the storm was brewing. The island was so superstitious and full of death, almost everyone was just absolutely vile, i loved seeing it grow. But as we got closer to the answer is when my interest started waning as the things that I guessed started playing out. I LOVE multiple perspectives so that was a win, I love the switch of timeline, that was awesome. I think it was so interesting to see how we didn't know who died until the very end it really did make it hard to know who did it if we don't know who died. But again, as everything started to get revealed it HAD to be Will. He was fucking awful, everyone wanted him dead and he deserved it, that much was certain, so rather than be shocked that it was him I just went "HA nice. you deserved it asshole."

I wish this worked more for me, I wish it shocked me more, but I am glad I read it. It got me out of my reading slump since everything hit the fan in March, so for that I am super grateful. Flipping between a 3-4 star for this.

EASILY my fav from the book club so far. it was a little convenient how Will was tied to friggen everything in the end but hey, it was still real good.

LOVED Aoife getting hers in the end. would’ve loved to see Hannah go off, though. (also Charlie can absolutely get wrecked - cheating on your wife who just had a baby??? if i had a dime ...)

3 stars. loved the Agatha Christie feel to the book, loved the minimal setting to just the island for the majority of the book. the convient tie ins to everyone were a little too much for me. Will and Charlie should have been best friends.

3 stars for me. I enjoyed the concept of it and the Agatha Christie feel, however there wasn't that feeling of suspense and I found myself just wanting it to be over. It definitely felt too convenient for Will to be the catch-all, and while I loved that little, quiet-spoken Aoife got her moment to shine, I wish there had been some kind of confrontation with Will and Hannah.

4 stars....a bit slow in the beginning but liked the surprises in the end. My first gasp was Olivia’s involvement. I can see Will cutting his “best mate” off from the show, although I’m disappointed that he would get the blame at the end of the book for the murder. Hasn’t Johnno been screwed by that man enough? My second gasp was Alice, that was a surprise too. Charlie, what a .....Hannah deserves better! Aiofe, the final OMG! I didn’t see that coming. Well planned. Overall, I enjoyed this month book club choice

I was right... kind of wish I wasn't. the book felt slower for me I think because I figured out everything so early on. I agree that the end was super abrupt. we definitely could have done with like an epilogue or something.

Johnnos ending is bitter sweet. because on the one hand he didn't do it and he did feel remorse for what happened with Darcy but on the other hand he did let that boys death go on unsolved and he definitely deserved something for that so idk.

but I really enjoyed it!

Just ok for me.. characters were interesting but honestly took me awhile to read this more than other mystery/thrillers . Very slow burning .I was 95% the wedding planner was the killer just didn’t know who killed,not a bad read tho.

4 star read for me. I though that the 1st 200 pages were a little action-less for me, but the last bits when we were more focused on the later part of the wedding got interesting. So many moving parts to bring together. I agree with someone's comments that having all of Will's victims there seems a little far fetched but I read to escape so I didn't have a problem with it.

I did not see the Aoife twist coming, though there were some things I should have paid attention to. She visited the grave in the graveyard and we learned she had a loss. She was also very protective of the graveyard. I can look back and see how it was all connected but the author did a good job of putting the clues there but not drawing much attention to them.

I really though would be the older brother of the kid who was killed. Though if I would have though about it, he didn't have his own chapter headings so probably not a huge part of the story. I was surprised to learn that he was the other kid in the room.

I'm frustrated with Hannah and Charlie. I was hoping for some kind of reconciliation. I liked both of them and wanted to see a good outcome. Now I just think they end up getting divorced.

I also wonder if Will's dad knew the truth and hid it all these years. He probably suspected and that is why Will never felt he could gain his father's approval.

Did not expect the ending at all. Really thought Johnno or Jules was going to kill Will. Overall enjoyed this book

I really liked this one! By the middle I was going to give it three stars, but the revelations by the end and the plot twist made me bump the rating up to four stars. I really did not see the Aoife twist coming, and the Olivia and Alice one's, even though I did see them coming, I still though they were well played.

My predictions were so off lol. But overall I really enjoyed the book overall. The last 100 pages were crazyyy. I am glad Will died. It seems like he was going to die anyways by someone else. He was definitely a piece of shit.
I definitely didn't see Aoife as the murderer, but I am glad she did.
5 starts!!!

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 with you about the ending. Unlike the rest of the book, I feel like it was rushed and could have come to a more interesting and meaningful conclusion. I enjoyed the book for the most part up until the end. I was going to give it 3 stars but the ending made me lower it to 2. The ending with Johnno just seems implausible to me. My actual thoughts on the ending was "What? that's stupid!" and "That's it?!"

I had a pretty similar experience to many of you it seems. I didn't like the first 200 pages and probably would have dnf'd if I wasn't in the book club but the last 100 pages made up for it. I mostly didn't like how much foreshadowing was going on because it felt like the author knew all the information and was choosing to hold it back (I know this is literally that case but I don't want to feel that way when reading a book). I also didn't like how some of the foreshadowing reduced the impact of later reveals (I was expecting way worse from the stag). However, it seems like there is a general consensus that you probably guessed at least one of the reveals but certainly not all of them which I think means the author did a good job (at least in that department). The last 100 pages really raised my rating from 1/2 starts to 4 stars.

I would have never predicted the ending. Far from what I thought would happen. Will was a monster that had everything catch up with him. Rated it a five stars despite the slow start. The build up was perfect and really made for an unpredictable ending.

This was a 4 star read for me. Although I figured out all the twists, even Aoife's connection to Will, I liked the last 100 pages because of the fast pace. I agree with the ones who say that the ending was very abrupt and also it was too much for me that Will was behind all these awful things, for example I believed he either would be Steven or Alice's ex, not both. But overall I enjoyed it and so far it's my favorite of the book club.

5 star read for me! I really enjoyed the pacing throughout the book. Slow at first, but then quick as the suspense built and everything was going to be revealed. I saw some twists coming, except the one for Aoife, I still really enjoyed all the character developments and their backstories.

5 star read for me! I absolutely loved it!

I was so impressed with all of the twists. Toward the end I could not tell you how many times I said “what the fuck” to myself after finding out all of the connections and the secrets these characters were keeping.

I loved being inside the heads of these characters, i felt so angry, sad, irritated and humiliated for some of them and it really made the story so good.

BUT, my only real complaint is that there wasn’t enough suspense for me. This is good though because I’m new to this genre and was kind of intimidated. Now I’m just super excited to know that I can handle something a little bit more than what this book delivered for me.

Charlie and the other Trevellyan boys could have fallen off of that boat and I wouldn’t have cared

Jules rubbed me the wrong way too many times to like her

Olivia and Hannah, sweet angels, they deserved so much better

Johnno creeped me out a bit in the beginning but I really did feel for him a bit in the end

Oh and Will....uuugggghhhhh, you asshole.

ok so i would like to start off by saying: AHA i was RIGHT!! (check out my predictions in the first discussion chunk if you want to see what i mean). additionally, i am saddened bc i absolutely loved this book up until the end. i figured that olivia & jules had cornered will & he had accidentally slipped and died or they actually murdered him, either way, i thought it was them. when i found out the truth, it almost seemed gimmicky! this author expected me to believe that will had his current girlfriend (jules), his secret ex girlfriend (olivia), his dead ex girlfriend’s sister (hannah), AND the sister of the boy he killed all on the same island? The twists quite frankly got tiresome after a while, and I wish that the author had either gone with the hannah twist or the olivia twist or the wedding planner twist OR the johnno twist.... see what i mean? it was even annoying to write “twist” that many times in a sentence. overall, great beginning, great middle, lousy end. 4.15/5

i wish there had been a little more build up for Aofie! seems like all the build up about the loner boy was for johno. and atleast we knew about Hannah's sister and Olivia from earlier.

still a good read. loved all the juicy bits. ;) lol

Does anyone know what the July book will be?

Wow. I listen to the full cast audiobook of this text It was amazing. I agree the story is a little bit of a slow burn psychological. but once you really get past those first several chapters and discover the characters it gets so much better. I really enjoyed the actual ending of this particular book

unpopular opinion, I only gave it 2 stars.

If the reveal of who was killed was moved to the halfway point instead of the end I might have enjoyed it more.
I also didn't really like the characters much... the only one I liked was Jules

I did enjoy the ending even if I did see it coming. It seemed odd that Aoife was given so many chapters in the book but seemingly had nothing to do with the other characters... when she was the only one without motive to kill him I knew it had to be her

What a fun read! I think this has been my favourite pick so far!

All of my predictions came through:
-That Will and Johnno killed a boy at school
- Will was Steven
-Will was Alice's boyfriend in Uni
-Olivia wrote the note although at 82% in i was starting to think it could have been Johnno.

However i did not guess that Aoife was Darcey's sister or that Freddy went to Trevellyan's with the ushers! Neither did i expect Aoife to be the murderer or that Will would be the victim. I knew things would not end well for him but it just seemed too obvious and i thought the author would not go down that route and instead serve his comeuppance differently. I kind of feel like killing him was a cop out.

The writing got better towards the second half of the book although i feel like the tone got less scary as we went on. I liked how Foley made the Island seem very creepy and haunted at the beginning.

I'm not 100% satisfied with Aoife as the murderer. She admitted that she never intended to kill Will, she just wanted to confront him so couldn't she have done that without plotting to to get Jules and Will to use her Island as their venue? I think it would have been more effective if it was her plan all along to kill him and that was why she was so desperate to get them to the Island. I wasn't that satisfied with Will being the victim either, i would have preferred for everything he had done to have come to light publicly and been arrested and left to suffer in jail. I would have liked for there to have been this huge stand off at the end with all the women that he had wronged so that each of them could have their say. We didn't even get to see Hannah confront Will about Alice AT ALL! Hannah was my favourite character and i feel like she was ROBBED! Not only did she find out the person who ruined her sister's and family's life was a guy she had been crushing on for the past 2 days but also that her husband is a meek piece of crap cheater. She deserved a better ending.

I understand that Johnno's arrest was the author's way of dealing out some kind of justice for his involvement in Darcey's death but it just made me feel sorry for him. It's very clear that Johnno has had a lot of mental health issues because of his guilt and its ruined his life ever since. I would have preferred him to confess to the police, finally do the right thing and clear his conscience rather than him being charged for a crime he didn't commit while Will's reputation still comes out on top and Johnno looks like the low life fuck up once again.

Overall, i really enjoyed this book, it was a fun read! I'd give it a 3.5. If the ending was not so rushed i think it could have gone up to a 4.

Maybe because I don't read a ton of thrillers, the slow build didn't bother me at all, and I also loved that we really knew a lot about all of the major players. I didn't make any predictions because I don't like to spoil myself, lol, but I would have been more satisfied with the murderer's reveal if just a little more hinting had happened earlier. I also love a book where the true villain gets what he deserves. overall, 4 stars.

Heres my goodreads review of it.

So gooood!! Stayed up all night and finished it. It totally blew away my expectations. Everything's connected everything's wrapped up. This is not a story that leaves you hanging! Slow build but doesn't feel slow paced. The short chapters and POV changes keep things feeling fresh. Surprisingly unlike most POV switchy books I didn't have one character who I couldn't wait to get back to over the others. Sure I liked Hannah the best but all were basically equally interesting for me.
I had multiple physical reactions to the book as well. Definitely had those gasp worthy moments in my mind. As soon as I finished I got so disappointed that it was over and wanted to immediately go back and re-read it knowing what I now knew. For sure going to read again in the future; my new favourite thriller.

Reading all the comments for these book club picks are always so interesting. It really hits home to me how there aren't ever really any BAD books, just bad for the individual. (talking enjoyment not problematic)

I really enjoyed this book (between 3.75 & 4 stars). I flew through it and I think it had to do with the writing style- I think it kept me really intrigued and invested. I actually didn't really see any of the plot twists coming, but now upon reflection I can't believe I didn't hahaha. I wish the ending was executed a litttllleee better & I think the end was just overall I little rushed.

Lucie wrote: "What a fun read! I think this has been my favourite pick so far!

All of my predictions came through:
-That Will and Johnno killed a boy at school
- Will was Steven
-Will was Alice's boyfriend in ..."

I totally agree with you that I would have liked the ending more if it was a standoff between Will and all the people he had wronged!