Review: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

About The Hunting Party

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (February 12, 2019)

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?

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Review:

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review; all opinions expressed are my own.

I eagerly snatched up the opportunity to read and review this book when I was originally pitched it. It sounded creepy, thrilling … and that cover! So I was really excited to finally get to dive into this one.

I will say … it is not very likely that you will like any of the characters in this book. They’ve all got secrets. Some of them are just plain mean. It’s pretty obvious early on (at least it was to me) which “friend” would be the one found dead, but it was a lot more difficult to figure out which one was the murderer. Almost every character has a “voice” in this one – chapters where you see their point of view. The secrets are slowly revealed and each one is even more shocking than the last it seems. Again – these are not likable characters! At all! But this book really captivated me. I was so wrapped up in this one and I couldn’t wait to figure out what had really happened! And then that ending … I definitely didn’t see it coming! It really added for an interesting twist at the very end.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was a really good thriller that kept me guessing until the end. Highly recommended!!

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