THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“My favorite kind of whodunit, kept me guessing all the way through, and reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her best — with an extra dose of acid.” — Alex Michaelides, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Silent Patient Everyone’s invited…everyone’s a suspect…During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford … suspect…
During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.
The trip begins innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps, just as a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.
Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead. . . and another of them did it.
Keep your friends close, the old adage says. But how close is too close?
DON’T BE LEFT OUT. JOIN THE PARTY NOW.
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It’s hard to go on a group trip and make everyone happy, but Emma is determined to do so when she is put in charge of the annual New Year’s Eve trip. She’s especially anxious to please since she is the newcomer to the group. The rest have been doing this annual trip since their college days together at Oxford. Unfortunately, choosing a remote hunting lodge in the wilds of Scotland may not have been the best idea when everyone in the party seems to have a dirty secret or hidden grudge. Add to the mix a taciturn guide, and two creepy hikers and it’s no wonder that tragedy happens. Full of red herrings and tempting clues this is a enthralling mystery that kept me turning to page. I’m looking forward to more by Lucy Foley.
This is the story of a group of friends who are on their annual trip for New Years. Every year they go somewhere together – each member of the group picking where to go. This year it was Emma’s turn and she wants everything to be perfect. The estate is remote and known for getting snowed in and guest getting stuck, but the group remains unconcerned. They are there to enjoy each other’s company.
A snow storm does close them in, and past resentments among the group start to emerge. Secrets come to surface and cause a fracture in the group that cannot be undone. And when someone winds up dead, and the people running the estate try to piece together who did it while they wait for the weather to lift, everyone starts to wonder who among them did it. And who might be next.
This was an okay read. I listened to it (doing a lot of that lately) while I was doing some gardening. It passes the time. It is told in the voices of many of the characters, which I do enjoy. The killer was a bit surprising, but not overly so. I didn’t love any of the characters, so when it was revealed I found it hard to care. The ending was just so/so. They do wrap it up, thankfully, but not in a truly satisfying way.
I read her other book – The Guest List – and liked this one only slightly better. I think I will pass on her books in the future.
Lucy Foley does it again with a clever murder mystery that feels worthy of the Agatha Christie following. She makes everyone a suspect in a secluded Scottish highlands hunting lodge in this delightful read. I did like The Guest List a bit more and felt this one followed the pattern of the first book a little too closely but the winter setting made for a great cloudy day read with hot tea and a fire going.
This book was recommended to me in a bookclub. I’ve been really into thriller / suspense recently and this one didn’t disappoint – although I don’t think I would call it a thriller, more of a slow burn suspense until right at the end.
The story is about a group of friends who met in university and since have grown apart, but still meet up for a new years each trip each year – this year they booked a secluded lodge in the Scottish Highlands. What follows is a tense mix of bad weather, hunting, booze, drugs, sex, scandal, and finally murder.
The role of narrator switches between Miranda, Emma, and Katie – who are guests – and Heather and Doug – who both work at the lodge and have complicated and dark back stories. The author does a fantastic job of bringing the little tiffs and slights of the friends bubbling to the surface, until it seems like any of the friends could have motive to kill. If you’re into suspense, and especially murder mystery give this one a go!
The Hunting Party was a refreshing thriller. As a character-driven read with an intriguing setting, I kept turning the pages just to see how the environment would force the (admittedly unlikable) characters to make more and more desperate decisions. I actually enjoyed not having sympathetic characters; it made the events more realistic and exciting. I was able to guess the ending well in advance but it made it no less an enjoyable read.
Pretty predictable and unrealistic
A group of college friends gather together in an isolated lodge for New Years weekend. We know one of them will die, possibly by the hands of one of their friends but we don’t know who. I enjoyed this as a fast paced, atmospheric mystery that left me guessing until the very end.
Another great domestic thriller from Lucy Foley. Despite all the clues, I never seem to catch on until she intends for me to. Even though some of the characters are less lovable and more “love to hate,” she does give us a couple to root for. Lucky for me, I’ve still got a few more of her books to get through before I’m impatiently waiting for her to write more.
I listened to the audiobook and loved that multiple voice artists were used to portray the different characters. The character development was really excellent, and the suspense and intrigue slowly built throughout the novel, so that I was trying to unravel the secrets before they were revealed. The story had plenty of plot twists and a very unique ending that made for a really enjoyable listen.
I also recommend the similar, but very good, The Guest List, also by Lucy Foley.
The Guest List + One by One + Mean Girls
While at Oxford, a group of friends begins to split into couples (with one exception). It’s to the point, the group only gathers for New Year’s Eve. This year, the spot chosen is a Scottish estate that sits on the size of its own country. When a body is found, the caretakers must try and figure out if there was foul play and if help will be able to get them through the snow-in in time.
I was surprised to find I loved this even more that The Guest list! First, I guessed almost everything about TGL. Here, I got the victim right, but was completely wrong about the predator. As well as some other twists. I also love that this book is so dark throughout. These people are supposed to be the oldest of friends, but you see how almost everyone truly thinks. I also appreciate how Lucy does her PoVs. She doesn’t have everyone as a narrator, so she doesn’t overwhelm the reader. However, she doesn’t only give us one or two narrators, ruining “whodunit.”
I will say I wish I had had more time to order the book from the UK. I really wanted the UK edition, as I prefer that cover. Unfortunately, I couldn’t trust the post right now so wound up buying the American version so I could have it for my Readathon.
Buy this for yourself or someone looking for an unpredictable mystery! Or, if you’re twisted, get it for someone who has mentioned they’re not as close to their school friends as they used to be.
Foley takes a well-worn idea of a group of dysfunctional people trapped in a snow storm (this time in remote Scotland) and creates a truly suspenseful novel.
First chapter grabs ya and keeps you turning pages to hopefully solve the mystery. A bit slow going on the first 200 pages but the last 100ish really make up for it.
A small group of thirty-somethings travel up from London to a remote hunting lodge in Scotland to celebrate the New Year. It has been their custom to meet up at New Year ever since they were friends at university. Although on the surface they all seem to be leading happy and leading successful lives, we soon learn that each is harbouring a dark secret or two, as is the lodge manager and the taciturn gamekeeper.
The story is told from the perspective of each of the five main characters in turn, giving the reader a vivid insight into their actions and motivations as the plot unfolds.
We soon learn that one of them is missing, and later found dead, although their identity is not revealed until much later in the novel. In the meantime, the snow has come down and isolated the lodge completely. making it impossible for the police to investigate the death. The murderer is among them, but who did it and why?
The past history of the characters is inextricably linked to the present in this cleverly-crafted plot, and contributes to their demise as the story twists and turns as it sprints towards its conclusion.
A pacy, atmospheric, believable psychological thriller that grips until the very last page.
The Hunting Party: A Novel
By Lucy Foley
5 out of 5 stars
Reading The Hunting Party: A Novel by Lucy Foley takes you on a thrilling ride that once you start you can’t put down until the final page. I found myself turning pages late into the night to find out the ending. The story centers around a group of friends that get together every year. It is a tradition that they use to unwind. This year they have chosen an estate that is remote and a perfect place for them to relax. What will happen when secrets are revealed? They begin to wonder if they really know each other at all. Now one of them is dead. Could the killer be one of them? Read this book to find out. This is a story that has a suspenseful and thrilling atmosphere that is felt throughout the whole book. The remote location that the characters are staying at only adds to the suspense. As you are introduced and read about the different characters you get to see a side of them that they try to conceal. There are twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. Do these friends really know each other at all? This is an amazing story that I am glad I read. Highly recommended.
This was a pretty satisfying investigation into the human condition. It’s pretty tragic.
Really enjoyed this book, if you’ve read Ruth Ware’s In a Dark Dark Wood, you’ll enjoy this one!
A super fun page-turner!
More reviews and recommendations on my blog: https://thedanielhurst.wordpress.com
This is a really fun and tense story about a group of college friends, now in their 30’s, who get together for a New Year’s Eve celebration in a remote location in Scotland. It’s set in modern times, but it feels like a classic locked room type of mystery.
The characters have some interesting power dynamics between them throughout the story, informed by complicated relationship histories. But the theme of power and blood lust really resonates in this time when humanity’s comfortable little bubble has burst in so many places.
This book by Lucy Foley was tight and well-written. There were some good twists, and not too many coincidences. It’s told from multiple first-person perspectives, which is always fun, and she does a fine job of developing characters and making them real individuals. A good quick read.
Disappointed—however—by the next, The Guest List (2020). It had a similar structure to The Hunting Party (2019), but way too many coincidences. The reveals were too predictable.
A good writer—I hope to see more from her.
I read The Hunting Party after hearing about its likeness to Agatha Christie classics–and the blurb felt very “And Then There Were None,” one of my favorite Christie novels. And, of course, Hale is the author of the much-hyped The Guest List, which I have not yet read.
I think The Hunting Party is an excellent modern take on the old classic setup of the closed universe, limited suspects style murder mystery. There are multiple POVs, though not from all the guests, which seemed like an odd choice. If we’re going to get chapters from the perspectives of MOST of the guests, why not all? It also flips back and forth in the timeline, from three days before the murder until after the murder, and eventually the timelines merge (which is beautifully done). Oddly, I appreciated the chapters from the POV of the staff almost more than the guests (maybe because most of theirs were post-murder and gave me less tension). I picked up on certain elements of the ending, but certainly was surprised by several things! So well done on that front. Sometimes mysteries have endings that are either predictable or implausible and it’s difficult to achieve that happy medium, which I think Hale did here.
I think this book is great for fans of classic mysteries, but I can’t say it’s super cutting edge, in the style of The Last Flight or The Last Mrs. Parrish. But I’m a huge mystery fan and only a converted thrillers fan, so I was okay with that!