The Hunting Party
A Novel
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4.0 • 956 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
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 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historical novelist Foley (The Invitation) makes an auspicious thriller debut. Nine close friends, four of them couples, gather for their extravagant annual New Year's getaway this time at Loch Corrin, a remote estate in the Scottish Highlands a decade after most of them graduated from Oxford. Tensions, sexual and otherwise, first flare during the lengthy, alcohol-lubricated train trip from London on December 30, fanned by charismatic, capricious Miranda the golden girl most men want to be with and more than a few women long to become. At the Loch Corrin station, they're met by Doug, the estate's odd, though hunky, gamekeeper; at Loch Corrin, they encounter unexpected additional guests: a pair of strange Icelandic backpackers. Things start to go seriously wrong with the arrival of a blizzard that will soon cut off the 50,000-acre spread from the outside world. And then one of them disappears. Foley spins her story skillfully through multiple narrators, and if she's less sure-handed with character, this still makes for a cracklingly suspenseful story for a long winter's night.
Customer Reviews
The Hunting Party
Very well written, entertaining from the first chapter, and keeps you guessing pretty much up until the end about who kills who and why. Thank you, Lucy!
Unpredictable
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.
Fantastic
This book is everything you want a thriller fiction book to be. Super suspenseful, lots of twists and turns and a surprise ending. I really enjoyed it.