The Hunting Party

Lucy Foley has given us a spectacular character-driven mystery, beginning with the discovery of a body lying in the snow. Whose body? We don't know, and won't know until the end of the novel. We are then thrust into bustling action, several days before this unnerving discovery. A group of friends from Oxford are getting together for their yearly New Year's Celebration ritual. This year, they are heading off for a remote hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, which in the case of inclement weather will be cut off from roads, transportation, shops, other people...pretty much any other form of civilization known to man. Even internet connection is spotty in this part of the world. The only outsiders are the lodge manager, the caretaker, and two other guests. This close-knit group of friends has known each other forever, but from the beginning of the trip, something has seemed...off. The lodge manager notices it, and in the chapters, each narrated by different characters, we piece together long-simmering tensions in the group, uncover secrets and passions, and discover what led to murder. Everything isn't what it seems in this fast-paced chiller. The characters are complex, the narrative strands weave deftly together, and ending was a surprise, though the strands were there all along. Foley's writing is neat, descriptive enough, and gives a sense of the vast wilderness, but always keeps our focus on the action and plot. Never is there a descent into stereotypes or idiocy--everyone is real. As the focus of the plot switches from the group of friends, to the search for a missing person, Foley never loses control of the characters. Intense and riveting. Great read.

Read this during a winter excursion, this was quite a fun experience to have with the environment meeting the expectations of the novel. Really enjoyed it!

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.

the guest list がとても面白かったので、こちらも読んでみた。 こちらの方が有名な作品という事で期待していたのだが、個人的にはthe guest listの方が良かった。 以下、ネタバレを含みます。 そもそもの設定からして、３０歳を過ぎた人達が、大学の時の友達どうしで集まって新年を過ごすというのがイマイチ腑に落ちなかった。 シャンパンの一気飲みも、３０歳過ぎてそのノリはないでーと思った。 Emmaもいい歳してなんでこの友達グループに固執してるんだろう、よその国の話だから日本とは価値観が違うんだろうか？と思いながら読んだが、Emmaに関してはMirandaに固執してるからだったんだね。 どの人物もリアルだったが、特にMirandaは、特異な人だしこういう人に実際に会った事はないが現実にいそうだなと思った。 あそこで死ぬのではなくて、何年も先が見たかった。 あそこで死なずにJulienと離婚してたら、キャリアもなく美貌もだんだん褪せてくる中でどう生きたんだろうか？ MarkはEmmaを放り出してMirandaに言い寄ったんだろうか？ Mirandaは光の部分も闇の部分も強烈だったが、ではKatieは風と共に去りぬのメラニー的な人かというと全然そうではなくて、あまり共感できる人ではないし裏ヒロインでもなかった。 裏ヒロインはHeather。この人が事件後、前を向いて歩くようになったので爽やかな気持ちになった。 あと、Emmaの裁判にはガッカリ。陪審員制だからこうなるんだろうか。 日本ならKatieへの殺人未遂も含めて無期懲役ぐらいになってたんじゃないかなぁ。

3.5 - 4 🌟 Although there are some very slow moments and the plot isn't really that amazing, it's a very entertaining story! I still don't know whether I like Miranda and Katie or not though... I would have liked more mystery, action, plot twists... and fewer irrelevant throwbacks 😔 But I enjoyed it somehow!

Um suspense rápido e fácil de ler. Daqueles que vicia e não solta até descobrir o final.

Spannend bis zur letzten Seite. Ich konnte das Buch nicht weglegen. Ich habe alle vier bis jetzt von Lucy Foley veröffentlichten Krimis gelesen - ich fand alle sehr gut. Mir gefällt, wie die Autorin die Geschichte und die Charaktere in kleinen Abschnitten ganz natürlich entwickelt.

Après avoir lu The Guest List, un peu déçu. Je m’attendais à une intrigue différente. Les personnages sont les mêmes (même psychologie, très bateau et stéréotypé), les thèmes globaux sont les mêmes, l’ambiance globale la même. Bref rien de fou