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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Incredibely wonderful
The Hunting Party was a fast-paced suspense novel with a lot of twists and turns. It kept me engaged to the very end.
Sometimes I need a small break from romance books, and my second favorite genre is a nice murder mystery. I’m not sure what that says about me, but The Hunting Party is a delicious one with old friends reuniting for an annual New Year’s celebration in a spooky resort in the dead of winter. The setting of this story really stood out, and when we’re told that people handle the isolation in various ways, not all of them good, you just know something sinister is coming. The characters were all interesting to follow as we learn about their past and even how their present relationships have changed. We also get two outside characters with stories and pasts of their own.
The book goes back and forth between after a body is found and before, and while that was interesting, I really wanted to know what happened and who had been killed. And the ending left me a little frustrated, but there were enough twists to make this a really good story. I listened to the audible of this book and with a full cast, it was great hearing the different voices which really helped me get into the creepy vibe of the story. I definitely recommend.
I really liked the different points of view on this and how there were two time lines running. I also thought some of the character descriptions were excellent. Many of these people are among the last individuals you would want to share a cab-ride with, never mind a holiday in an isolated locale but I rarely felt that they were mere caricatures. So in those respects I felt this was really set up for a modern take on Agatha Christie’s ‘And then there were none’.
Ultimately though there is far too little focus on after the crime has been discovered so any sense of mystery didn’t feel like it was there long enough to be substantial. Still, if she can get the balance better, I reckon Lucy Foley is someone to watch.
I wanted a break from romance, so I grabbed The Hunting Party. Couldn’t put it down! This is an easy-to-read thriller, with characters you can sort of relate to and also sort of dislike! While I guessed the victim’s identity early on, I wasn’t sure about who was guilty! Very entertaining read!
You guys know I love my ass a closed room mystery!!
This one features a remote location in Scotland over New Year’s Eve with a crap ton of frenemies who harbor secrets, grudges and personality disorders.
I couldn’t wait to find out who got conked, who did it, and why.
I was not disappointed!!
*I listened to this on Audible and it was fantastic!
This was a fun read!
Great book, I look forward to reading more from this author.
A roller coaster ride with twists and turns that leave you guessing until the killer is revealed.
The Hunting Party is a spooky and atmospheric novel. It’s a take on the classic “cabin in the woods” plot, with some interesting differences.
If you’re the type of reader who can unravel even the most twisted novel, The Hunting Party should keep you guessing. This isn’t your typical “who-dun-it”.
For readers in the cooler hemisphere over Christmas, The Hunting Party is the perfect chilling novel to offset the seasonal cheer.
Read my full review here:
https://reviewbee.errorfree.me/review/the-hunting-party-by-lucy-foley-review/
A book about a group of friends from Oxford and their significant others who spend the New Year’s holiday in a secluded Lodge in Scotland. One ends up dead and everyone has a motive. This book starts with the discovery of the body, the day after New Year’s and goes back and forth between Three Days Before when the guests arrive and Now, working its way up (and the suspense) to the murder. You don’t find out until pretty late in the book who the victim is, and then you have to wait until the end to find out who and why. I really liked this book. I am giving it four stars just because it lacked that “WOW, I didn’t see that coming” (for me anyway). However I would definitely recommend!
I heard about Lucy Foley’s new novel The Hunting Party on the BritLit Podcast, and I just loved the two hosts discussing the book while trying not to reveal who the victim is. The novel does the same thing — bouncing around between characters and timelines to hint at the murder that occurred and how it happened.
A group of Oxford friends always meets up to spend New Years Eve together, and this year, they’ve booked a picturesque lodge in the Scottish highlands. At the lodge, there’s a heavy snowstorm and almost no phone signal, and the isolation brings out buried secrets, evolving tensions and resentments, and murder.
Oh man, I just love old-friends dynamics in fiction, and even better when they’re old “friends,” like this crowd who don’t seem to really like each other any more. What I like best is that most of them aren’t awful people, they’ve just grown and changed. Most have matured, and they’re not their college selves anymore… except for Miranda, who was the adored queen bee in college and needs to maintain that role, which means pushing others back into their uni roles, and manipulating others into what she needs. She’s more than happy to poke at weak spots and reveal secrets to maintain her popular girl persona. I just loved the dysfunctional relationship between Miranda and Emma, but read the book before you click that spoiler link.
I didn’t love how long it took for the personalities to distinguish themselves. With the 9 Oxford friends (well, seven friends and two of their post-college partners), 3 staff members, and 2 additional guests, I spent a fair amount of time trying to remember who was who. This cut into my murderer-guessing time, which is the whole point of these novels, isn’t it?
Overall, the novel blended dysfunctional relationships and a locked-door murder into an engaging, page-turning mystery.
This gets three stars from me because of some of the stock plot points and characters, plucked out of many out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere trips in which someone ends up dead. Despite that, I really enjoyed the book.
We meet nine 30-somethings plus one baby, most of them having known one another since college. The Londoners are headed up to the far reaches of Scotland for a New Year’s bash. The remote lodge is staffed by only 3 people, whose disdain for the city slickers is evident immediately. The trip begins with copious toasts and the drinking never really stops from there. As with any small group, close quarters and the desolate winter landscape begin to make nerves fray and old/new animosities bubble to the surface. The constant drinking only exacerbates the situation. Almost all of the nine adults along with the male groundskeeper and female office manager have deeply harbored secrets that get revealed gradually. The chapters alternate narrators as well as being written before and after the discovery of the body.
I didn’t find many of the Londoners very likable characters, but that’s not a requirement for me to enjoy a story. I probably liked the groundskeeper’s character the best.
A classic “closed room” mystery told in a unique setting and with characters you’ll grow to love and hate. Told through multiple voices and points of view, you grow affectionate to some, form negative opinions of others and you’ll find all of your initial impressions changing. This is the kind of story that reminds you why mysteries are such fun stories to read.
This is a very layered plot told from the perspective of the day the body was found and back to the New Years Eve party in the remote Scottish Highlands. We have a reunion party who meet every year since their days at Oxford. There are 2 gate crashes to this party of the very weird couple from Iceland. The last two members of our snow in are gamekeeper Doug who is ex forces and manager Heather both who have troubled pasts. The reunion party are finding secrets are about to be revealed and find they are not the friends they once thought. This is a good paced mystery and the setting in the Highlands adds great menace.
Started off with a good premise, but writing became more and more amateurish.
My thoughts:
An exclusive, remote Scottish hunting lodge is the setting for a group of old college friends to spend New Year’s Eve together. This place sounded pretty awesome for the most part .
It begins with a missing guest…pulling you in right away. Then alternates between the present (after the body is found) and past (just a few days earlier, when the guests arrive).
The book didn’t start out as a page-turning thriller. But it kept a steady and energetic pace. I’m not usually a big fan of less-thrilling mystery/who-done-it’s, but this book held my attention from the very first page! It slowly builds up tension as they become snowed in. Everyone with their own poisonous secrets, wondering if there is a killer among them. The victim isn’t revealed until towards the end of the book, so you’re trying to figure out both the killer and victim!
This would be a great story to read on a snowy winter night in front of the fireplace…just to set the eerie mood. It was full of flawed characters with poisonous secrets and mysterious pasts…some quite a bit more sinister than others.
Heather: Lodge Manager
Doug: Lodge Gamekeeper
Iain: Lodge Employee
Miranda and Julien: Married/both charismatic and attractive. Miranda is the foundation of the group and always the center of attention.
Samira and Giles: Married/with a baby. They are beginning to be the “boring” couple, now that they have a child.
Emma and Mark: BF/GF. Emma organised the trip. She is the latest addition to the group. She’s only been around since she started dating Mark and still somewhat of an outsider.
Nick and Bo: BF/BF. Bo was also a late addition to the group. He’s American, didn’t attend college with the “main group” and is a recovering addict.
Katie: The only single one. Miranda’s BFF since they were 13. She’s becoming weary of being known as Miranda’s meek sidekick.
My Rating: 4 ’s
Published: February 12th 2019 by William Morrow Pages: 336
Recommend: Yes! A must read for mystery lovers.
Book Blurb:
Everyone’s invited…everyone’s a suspect…
For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge . . . and murder and mayhem ensue.
All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.
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.
They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.
Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.
The trip began 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.
Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.
Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?
The Hunting Party is about a group of old friends heading off to a luxe estate in an isolated stretch of Scotland to celebrate New Year’s together–when one of them is murdered. The novel is populated with characters as layered as onions, and Foley peels away those layers one by one to keep you guessing to the very end. A worthy addition to the whodunnit genre, sub-category dinner party.
It was all about setting with this one for me…I just loved the locked room mystery atmosphere, which when added to not only the snowed-in Scottish highlands, but the decaying relationships of years-old friendships, made this a brilliantly atmospheric page turner. The dynamics between the group of friends were well drawn, although there were certain characters I would have loved to have seen more of, and who – because we saw so little of them – felt a little extraneous to the story. I did end up guessing what the twist was, and I have to admit that I found the backstories of Heather the lodge manager and Doug, the game keeper to be a little cliched and predictable, but overall this was massively enjoyable, and a great way to spend a wintry afternoon reading.
/ 5
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is an atmospheric, slow burn mystery that will keep you guessing!
What it’s about: A group of old college friends get together every year for a New Year’s Eve getaway, this year the girlfriend of one of them has planned the trip for a creepy, secluded place called Loch Corrin. It is very exclusive, and only allows four parties to stay there each year while the rest of the time it is a private residence. Besides the boss, the property has 3 people running it – Heather who is the manager of the lodge, Doug the gamekeeper, and Iain who does odd jobs around the property. If they have secrets (which they do), the group of friends has even more. There ends up being a lot of tension and someone ends up dead. Now who did it?? They are snowed in and there is a killer among them…
The atmospheric quality really made this book for me. It is definitely one of the creepiest settings I’ve read about in a book so far, and I really loved that. The lodge at Loch Corrin reminded me a lot of the house in Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood because of all the glass and how the people in it feel exposed during the nighttime.
I didn’t really think of The Hunting Party as a thriller though, it was definitely more on the suspense side of things. It is a very slow burn until shit hits the fan at the end of the book, and completely character driven. The people were focused on a whole lot more than the mystery until almost the end. Everyone was unreliable, and everyone had secrets. I really loved how Foley pulled everything together and the way in which she chose to expose these secrets. I also loved the uniqueness of this book; you don’t even know if the dead person is a man or a woman until almost halfway through. I think that definitely added more mystery, plus made me want to keep reading even more.
Final Thought: If you enjoy slow burn, character driven mysteries then I highly recommend The Hunting Party, but if that is not your thing I would skip it. I know some people would probably find it boring, but I loved the focus on the characters even though I hated most of them. Foley definitely knows how to write, and I cannot wait to read more from this author!
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book!