The Hunting Party: A Novel

A group of college friends has truly outgrown each other and murder ensues. Really, a very interesting read with a group of complex characters. The book says a lot about friendship and how we outgrow other people in the phases of our lives. Very enjoyable book

Keeps you guessing! Fast read, suspenseful and relatable characters. Looking forward to reading more of Lucy's books in the future.

This novel was one of the most discussed and hyped crime fiction works of the last year and it is an excellent choice for the fans of authors such as Ruth Ware and Shari Lapena. Lucy Foley is a writer known mainly for her historical fiction books and The Hunting Party is her debut crime novel. It is a closed-room murder mystery taking place in the magnificent setting of the Scottish Highlands where the wild landscape is a character in itself. The main characters are a group of friends from the University of Oxford who are now in their mid-thirties and they decide to take a short break from their everyday reality in the exotic Highlands. They reside in an isolated lodge in the middle of the wilderness and soon tensions begin to rise and old antagonisms are brought into the surface after the first day. Moreover, extreme weather conditions will exclude any chance of communication with the outside world. A crime is going to be committed soon and the reader should focus on each character's thought process and backstory which will prove to be the key behind the murder. There is a pervasive Agatha Christie vibe and it seems that Foley is one of the most zestful fans of the English cozy mystery master.Foley uses a double timeline narrative as the reader is jumping back and forth between the present (2 January 2019) and the past (31/12/2018). In the present timeline, the gamekeeper of the lodge, Doug, a gloomy persona with a violent past, discovers the body of one of the guests. Foley doesn't reveal the identity of the victim, thus duplicating the mystery as the reader has to guess the identity of both the culprit and the victim. In the past timeline, we follow the group of friends' interactions from the moment they set foot in the lodge. We are watching the plot unfolding through the perspective of multiple characters: the gorgeous, attention-seeker Miranda, her meek though self-destructive best friend Kate, and the person who organized the trip to the Highlands, the newest member of the group, Emma. Furthermore, we watch the story's events unravel through the eyes of Doug and his overseer, Heather. All characters are multi-layered and have more than one secrets which are revealed to the reader in a steady, not too fast nor too slow, tempo.Foley's main theme is the corrosion of old friendships and the estrangement between her main characters. They once used to be one body and one soul, but now they all seem to have their own life and problems lacking the sense of closeness and camaraderie that existed during their Oxford years. The constant switching in perspectives allows the reader to become more familiar with some of the protagonists and after the first third of the novel, you will have shaped a general idea of who is who. Some may find it a bit confusing, but in reality, it's a smart trope that the author uses in order to delve deeper in terms of characterization as well as keeping the suspense alive throughout the book's 400 pages. None of the characters are particularly likable as Foley chooses to be strict with her creations. There is plenty of acidic criticism and cruel remarks made by all of them and emotions such as suppressed rage, jealousy, and resentment are ever-present in the characters' inner monologues and dialogue.Even though I enjoyed The Hunting Party, I cannot claim that it is a crime novel that the reader will remember in the years to come. It follows an over-used recipe that has not much to offer in terms of novelty or innovation. Nevertheless, it is a well-crafted work of crime fiction with interesting plot and characters that is worthy of its commercial success. Keep in mind that it is Lucy Foley's debut crime novel so that means that there will be more books in the near future.NOTE: L. Foley's new novel, The Guest List, will be released on May 5, 2020.

A brilliant mystery thriller. Many Characters, yet she did a great job in defining each one.

This review pertains to the audio CD. I found it to be entertaining, with a satisfying ending. I didn't give it a 5-star because the story seems to drag on a bit in the middle. It is 8 CD's, perhaps if it was edited down to 7 CD's it would be perfect. Still, it is definitely worth a listen.

The Hunting Party“Everyone’s invited....Everyone’s a suspect”This is my second book by Lucy Foley and wow, wow, wow! She has an amazing writing style and really gets me hooked first page in! I really enjoyed this book and once again, something that really intrigues me is when I can’t figure out who the killer is. This happened again in this book. I would never have guessed who the antagonist was in this book and it all made sense when it came together.This book follows a group of friends on a New Years Eve getaway in a remote area. These friends get together every year, and most of them have been friends since college days, minus a few they have met along the way. The two workers at the lodge are Heather and Doug, who both share dark secrets, and chose to work there to be away from people. The book starts off with one of the guests “missing” and then presumably murdered. The book goes back and forth from the present day, the day after the murder and then back to the days leading up the murder.Throughout the book, you learn all about the characters, their lives, their secrets, and their regrets. I particularly liked the character Doug. He was a good man that had a bad past, but proves his worthiness as the book goes deeper. I hated Miranda. She was a bully and a terrible friend and I for the life of me can’t figure out why any of them were friends with her or let her speak to them the way she did. There was legit nothing flattering about her character.All these friends, all these secrets, all this hatred, makes it very hard to pinpoint who the murderer is and who was murdered.....

Good murder mystery with twists and in depth view of several of the characters. My favorite Lucy Foley so far.

J stuck it out to the end even though I wanted to bail many times. If you like trying to puzzle out mysteries purposely presented as abscure and meaningless, well go for it. Otherwise I think the effort wasn't worth it.

nice

Hooked me from beginning and surprised me in the end:) highly recommend 👍🏻

Es un libro que se lee muy rápido. Está escrito en un estilo fluido. Entretiene mientras lo lees, aunque no será el libro de tu vida.

As this book takes place over the new year period, I thought this would be a good time of year to read this. Be aware though, this book is not full of the usual cheerful festivities you may expect on NYE. We are first introduced to all of our main characters, a group of friends who travel to a secluded lodge in Scotland to welcome in the new year together. The book is told from the viewpoint of each of the characters, which not only helps us to understand each of their back stories and what type of person they are, but as events unfold, we are able to see them happening from different perspectives. So we are informed near the beginning of the book that these are a very old group of friends, with strong friendships going back to when they all met at University, and meeting up to celebrate the New Year is an annual celebration for them all. As events unfold, we begin to see some of the cracks in relationships and friendships, and the book explores the concept of 'old friends' who maybe stay together as friends but who in reality may begin to drift apart from, but does anyone really want to admit this? It is this, alongside the fact that is stated by Heather, one of the on-site workers, that it is a night that is often filled with disappointment as such high expectations are placed upon people to have the most amazing NYE celebrations. Well, this is a New Year celebration that most definitely will disappoint. We are told in the prologue that a female body has been found, and so as you read the book you know there is some kind of murderous event, but which you are trying to piece given events together as you read to work out not just 'whodunnit' but which character this tragic event has befell upon. The book kept me gripped the whole way through as I found the characters believable, if not intentionally annoying, as little gripes and comments towards one another begin to come out, and even more so as the alcohol starts flowing. I was intrigued of who was going to end up being the body found; Lucy Foley keeps you hooked, as it really could be any of the characters, and they all seem to have a good enough reason to dislike one another. But who has the biggest dislike to kill? A gripping book, in a true 'whodunnit' style, which doesn't let you down at the end. Well deserved of five stars from me!

This was a complicated character-driven psychological mystery. 9 people, mainly friends from Oxford meet each year over the New Years holiday. They are now in their thirties. There are four couples and a single in this reunion group who have come to a remote hunting lodge in the Scottish wilderness. They have come to celebrate being together and to party. Some have changed and others have not changed enough. They are mainly high achieving professionals and there is a feeling of snobbishness and elitism displayed by some. Also present at the lodge are two backpackers from Iceland and the female manager, Heather, as well as the gamekeeper, Doug. There is also a handyman, but he is away for the holidays. The story begins on January 2 when the body of a guest who was missing for over 24 hours is found murdered. The identity of the newly discovered body is not revealed and the killer and their motive is left a puzzle for the reader. The story is told from various perspectives by some members of the hunting party, and also by the lodge manager and gamekeeper and move back and forth in time from the arrival of the guests until the mystery is finally solved. Each chapter is clearly headed with the date and its narrator. The chapters which are told from the guests’ viewpoints reveals them to be unlikeable, and the others seem boring. It becomes clear that if they were only meeting now, very few would become friends. They have little in common except for a sense of entitlement and elitism. The guest couples are: Emma and Mark. Emma has arranged the vacation. She is a relative newcomer who wants desperately to fit in. Her partner, Mark, has a volatile temper. Samira and Gilles arrive with their baby, which prevent them from participating fully in events. Miranda and Julien are considered the ‘golden couple’. Rich, self-absorbed and extremely wealthy, good looking and fashionable. Julien is not happy with the rustic setting and its lack of modern technology. Miranda tends to be rude insulting, and flirtatious but gets away with it, as the others are used to her behaviour and try to accept it.Nick and Bo are a gay couple. Bo is from New York City and a recovered drug addict. Kate is the sole lone guest. She is a successful lawyer. She was once best friends with Miranda, but in the intervening time has had no time for her. She was best friends with Nick back in University.Doug, the gamekeeper and Heather, the manager, have moved to this isolated area to be alone, due to separate unfortunate events in their lives. The separate chapters reveal something of the narrator's personality, their past friendships at University, and their impressions of the other members of the group, past and present. Long held dislikes, resentments, jealousies and affairs come to light. There is heavy drinking and some drug taking. People are behaving badly and tensions, once hidden, are simmering to the surface, ready to explode. It is no surprise that one of the guests is murdered, as we discovered at the beginning of the book. A raging snowstorm outside has cut off help from the police by road and even a rescue helicopter is delayed. People are afraid. Not knowing the identity of the murderer, anyone could be in mortal danger. Recommended to readers who like a modern take on the old fashioned 'locked-room' mystery. Where an unsolved murder has been committed amongst a small group of people with no way out in the immediate future. *3.5* to 4 stars