The Hunting Party Review

Title: The Hunting Party
Author: Lucy Foley
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Publication Date: 24 January 2019
Source: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 394
Rating: DNF

Goodreads Synopsis:

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?

Book Review:

Pre-reading Thoughts:

I am a big fan of the who done it but with friendship groups trope that recently started to pick up traction.  I am so excited to see how this book unfolds. 

Thank you so much to Jonathan Ball Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book. Just a quick disclaimer for those reading this review, I have received this book for free. Please note that this does not affect my opinion in any way. All thoughts are my own. 

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I was not a fan of this book. It was one of my most anticipated thrillers for #Thrilltober and it honestly let me down. I liked the writing, it was atmospheric and really pulled the reader in. It allowed a closer look at the intimate thoughts of various characters and the different point of views sounded unique to each character. The plot was the most disappointing part of this book. The plot started strong but went downhill quite quickly. After the author sets the scene, it takes forever for clues to be revealed about the victim. The mystery of the book is based on both knowing who the killer and victim are. The book is a slower burner which is what I was expecting but this was too slow. It didn't help that the characters were super horrible to each other. I didn't enjoy what they said about the other characters behind closed doors because it got to the point where it was whiny. However, a big thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book.