Frpm Good Reads:
Cleverly done.
Written from viewpoints of different characters which could have been annoying but wasn't.
Who is actually murdered not revealed until near the end (although I think most people will have guessed)
The emphasis on how grim and remote a beautiful part of the country can be was really interesting and absolutely added to the tension.
Problem was I detested the whole group of visitors, couldn't have cared which one died - I'm a simple soul and would have liked at least one to root for (who should have then promptly been murdered).

A group of friends meet at a hunting lodge for a New Year celebration but one of the party is found dead. An Agatha Christy style story unfolds. Interestingly the victim is not disclosed until the end. It is a murder mystery with a modern twist . a chilling story set in chilly surroundings with some less than heart warming characters..

10 friends heading off on an opulent trip to a snow covered Scottish hideaway for New year. What could possibly go wrong?
A fantastic leap into the world of Miranda's gang as they would have been called at Oxford. The Scottish highlands set the perfect scene. Loved it, just brilliant.
The characters are superbly written & the storyline flows wonderfully. A fantastic read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for my free ARC.
This was an outside choice for me to read and review but I was feeling like a reading genre stretch and I couldn't resist the book design.
I quickly realised it was going to be quite chilling - the body (or victim) is presented to the reader immediately so there is no uncertainty about what will happen only who it has happened to. As a reader I felt disconcerted, unnerved - nothing is ever what it seems.
As I continued to read the characters became rounded, fleshed out really rather horrible individuals and I found it impossible to warm to any of them. I think this is what the author intends - how we judge people at first sight, we think we can spot a friend by their clothes or their mannerisms. But we are icebergs. What I could see was a whole lot of counselling required. The most intriguing character from the group of friends was Katie, however both Heather and Doug (the employees) were interesting in that they were both only 'holding it together' with a bobby pin and a piece of sticky tape. It took me some time to grasp who the couples were and how they had all become friends - some longer than others - and how they tried to grow yet maintain the old friendships out of some misplaced loyalty. As with some groups like this in reality, they are a simulacrum of friendship who splash themselves over Facebook as the gold standard that other people should feel less than adequate for if they don't experience the same in their lives. But the thing about looking inwards is that you forget to look around you. You never really know how others not just perceive you, but watch you. Friends usually have invisible threads and often there are hidden connections. Someone once said to me that on entering an environment no one ever looks up, which is a good analogy for this groups' stay at The Lodge.
I highly recommend this read. I had previously eschewed all psychological thrillers due to their sameness so this was a gem. I enjoyed the exploration of the connections to each other, their lives and their reactions. I was intrigued as to how the chapters on characters were written from their own perspective but sometimes the chapters for Doug were written more objectively. It precipitated thoughts on morals, values, social media, relationships and hot tubs - all good topics for book clubs.
A chilling and compelling read. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Classic murder/mystery/whodunnit set at a private NYE party in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands. Really enjoyed the story, but struggled to like any of the characters apart from one, but that was only towards the end.

Set in the Highlands on a scenic hunting estate. Self indulgent people set on a course of destruction. Old friends who want to recreate their student days.
Lots of twists and surprising revelations.

An easy reading crime novel set in the remote Scottish countryside. For New Year a group of 30 something friends head to a remote Scottish lodge where one of them will not survive the festivities. The core of the group had all been together at Oxford and have developed a tradition of spending New Year together - but with any group there are the deep felt rivalries, changing relationships and priorities. The staff at the lodge are all there for their own reasons to escape from something to. As the New Year celebrations unfold the relationships between all the characters come under stress.
I enjoyed the way the chapters moved throughout several days o the story rather than in a linear fashion.. However I didn't feel any real affinity for the characters so didn't find myself too invested in who did it.
That said, I did read this quickly ....but for me Brookmyre still does this kind of scenario better.

I will, however, now go and read some of the other works by this author out of interest

The Hunting Party is a murder mystery thriller, but also an exploration of friendships and how they can change with time and experience.

The plot is told from the perspectives of different guests and staff members at an isolated retreat over a New Year’s break and the reader is told from the very start that one of the guests has been killed, but the author withholds the what, why and who. We then go back a few days to try to piece together the clues to guess not just who the murderer is and their motive, but also who the victim is!

The clues are there to pick up on, but I confess to being bamboozled by some of the twists, as every character has their deep, dark secrets and the difficulty is deciding which ones are relevant to the crime.

I was reminded of an Agatha Christie story in terms of the claustrophobic setting and limited suspect pool, crossed with a more in-depth character and psychological exploration such as you might find in modern women’s fiction. And of course there was a touch of Peter’s Friends as the group of old friends and new partners gathered to ring in the New Year with some old issues. However, The Hunting Party is much darker: more murder, less comedy!

The characters are listed in the blurb by 2D stereotypes, but actually most of them get more development and complexity than those dismissive snippets reflect. The idea of stereotyping and labelling our friends and loved ones is a running theme throughout the book however, and brings home that old saying about how little we know each other (and sometimes ourselves).

This is definitely a recommended read for fans of murder-thrillers and the clever ellipsis of the victim adds a fresh twist to the mystery.


I open the door of the Lodge, let him in. He brings with him a rush of freezing air, a spill of snow.
‘What’s happened?’ I ask him.
There is a moment – a long pause – in which he tries to catch his breath. But his eyes tell the story before he can, a mute communication of horror.
Finally, he speaks. ‘I’ve found the missing guest.’
‘Well, that’s great,’ I say. ‘Where–‘
He shakes his head, and I feel the question expire on my lips.
‘I found a body.’

– Lucy Foley, The Hunting Party

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

The Hunting Party was an interesting murder mystery with a nice big bonus. Not only is there the hunt for a killer in a close circle of friends but one of the biggest joys for me was actually figuring out who the victim was. It mustn’t have been easy to write the story and describe what happened without giving anything away towards the identity of the murder victim but I couldn’t catch any of the POV’s slipping at any point. It’s actually only in the final part of the novel that you find out who it is although I did make some progress myself in ticking off a couple of persons from the list. The strategy Lucy Foley used made it possible to predict who wasn’t murdered rather than who was and in the end I had it all limited to 2 or 3 possibilities. The same questions kept mulling in my head however: who deserved it, who provoked it, who held such a terrible secret it was worth killing for? As the story progresses it seems there’s more than one likely candidate to give and to receive.

Even with so many guests I never had any problems discerning who’s who, although I had my own set of mnemonics to remember them: there were the stars (Miranda & Julien), the wannabees (Emma & Mark), the happy family (Giles, Samira and baby Prya), the perfect son-in-laws (Nick & Bo) and of course the underdog (Katie). I really liked Katie, the only single person of the company and a bit of an odd one out. The most memorable one was Miranda though, she’s the one who always wants to be in the picture and she was highly intriguing.

The first night at the lodge – game night – already showed a few glitches in what seems at first sight a perfect group of friends as it gears up for the fateful New Year’s Eve. A copious dinner and even more amounts of alcohol makes everyone quite unhibited and frank. When they start a game of truth or dare you know they’re asking for trouble. It was quite a rollercoaster ride of twists and reveals that followed, some I saw coming but others came right out of the blue.

I very much enjoyed getting to know this lot, the characters were nicely fleshed out and I love it when you scratch the surface and there’s so much to discover and believe me there were secrets and lies flying around your ears. I also really liked the two additions to the group, Doug and Heather. I didn’t know what reasons they had to want to move and work at such a remote location but I warmed to both of them quickly and found them to be the most enjoyable people in the story.

If you enjoyed similar novels like Sleep and An Unwanted Guest then you’re definitely going to like this one as well, it keeps right up with those and even steps up the game delivering two mysteries in one go.

I have this thing about making sure my first book of any year is a good one - some strange superstition that the first book will, somehow, be a portent for the reading year to come. If that is the case then 2019 is going to be a great year because The Hunting Party, which I started on the morning of 01 January and breathlessly finished two days later, was just fantastic!

Set at a luxury hunting lodge in the remote Scottish highlands, the book follows nine university friends, back together for their annual New Year celebrations. Beautiful, effervescent Miranda is the life and soul of any party - but at 33, desperate to start a family and with no meaningful career, is there a sadness lying behind her shimmer? Miranda's handsome husband Julian meanwhile, is hiding more than just one secret, whilst his best friend Mark seems more volatile than usual. For new parents Samira and Giles, this trip will be their first with baby Priya - as they struggle to adapt to life with a baby, do they really have that much in common with their old friends? Old tensions simmer beneath the surface of golden couple Nick and Bo, whilst career girl Katie seems even more quiet than usual. And what of Emma, organiser of the trip but forever the outsider. Will she really ever fit in with the rest of the group? For Doug and Heather, employees at the lodge who are keeping their own secrets, these are just another group of monied guests seeking adventure. But as the snow falls around them, isolating the lodge from civilisation, tensions rise and old friendships fracture and, on New Years morning, a body is found lying in the snow. 

I was utterly gripped by this book! From the start I found the characters utterly fascinating - there's something so gloriously dysfunctional about them all. With a few exceptions, these are the sort of people I would utterly detest in real life - unknowing in their privilege, and unbearably nasty to anyone who doesn't fit in. Yet Foley has done a fabulous job of getting beneath the surface glitz and showing the hidden fractures and vulnerabilities that lie behind each person's facade. I genuinely came to sympathise with some of them and had a dark fascination with the rest. 

To say too much about the plot would be to spoil the book but this really is a brilliantly plotted thriller. By using multiple voices and a dual timeline taking place both before and after the murder, Foley managed to keep me guessing right to the very end - even the identity of the victim isn't revealed until the final few chapters! There's a lot going on in the 400 pages with a possible serial killer, suspicious activity on the estate, and the gamekeeper's dark past all jostling for attention amidst the secrets and lies of the guests. But Foley keeps everything neat and I never felt like the plot was running away from me - quite a feat when there are so many characters and subplots.

Combining an Agatha Christie 'country house murder' vibe with a modern 'rich people problems' twist, The Hunting Party is a fantastic crime thriller packed with twists and turns and full of that elusive page-turning quality. If 2019 continues with books of this quality, then it will be a good year indeed! 

This review first appeared on my blog, The Shelf of Unread Books, at https://theshelfofunreadbookos.wordpress.com. My thanks go to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eproof of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I really enjoy a good who-done-it and although this book twisted the order somewhat I really enjoyed it. As mentioned in other reviews none of the characters were particularly likeable but the storyline and how well written it was pushed the tale along. To be honest the only likeable people were Heather and Doug and they were quite peripheral to the main storylines, but it really didn’t matter. I didn’t guess the murderer or motive so it kept me guessing right through.

I would definitely recommend this book. It is really well written and builds to a really good climax.
The preview information I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I sometimes I think groups of friends, especially ones who have known each other for many years, believe they have to uphold the pretence of staying friends even when they grow apart. Then you are forced to spend time pretending you are actually interested in their lives, when the reality is you couldn’t give two hoots.

That is exactly the way this group of friends appears to the reader. Meeting in an isolated place to celebrate themselves and their friendships. To try and impress each other with their success and relationships. By the way, who brings a young baby to the middle of nowhere in the midst of snow storms and freezing conditions?

What starts as pleasant idea to celebrate and welcome the New Year in, quickly becomes a nightmare. The beauty of the isolation and the surroundings becomes threatening and suffocating when one of the party goes missing. Everyone starts to look suspicious and menacing, and for the veteran Doug in particular it means having a spotlight on you at all times.

Even if the actual victim perhaps isn’t clear at first then a potential victim does become clear quite early on. A certain person likes to wind everyone up and poke sharp sticks straight into the bears cage. After a short while everyone appears to have a valid motive to harm someone, just because they are so privileged and annoying. Yeh, being annoying has just been upgraded to a murder motive.

Foley more or less hands the plot to the reader within the first few chapters and then starts to throw spanners into the spinning wheel. It’s an intriguing way to go about it. You think you know it all, but in fact you only know what the author wants you to know.

3.5*
The story begins on New Year’s Day 2019 as a body is found in the grounds of the exclusive Loch Corrin, an estate in the Scottish Highlands by the gamekeeper, Doug. The estate incorporates a shooting lodge and cabins for the guests, managed by Heather, for hire as a holiday venue. A group of nine friends have booked the lodge for their New Year celebrations. The narrative alternates between the group arriving at the lodge and the present, from the perspectives of individual characters.

It’s obvious from the outset a murder has been committed but the severe weather conditions prevent the police from an immediate response and we hear from several of the friends as they describe the events which culminate in the murder.

Emma, the newest member of the group, organised the holiday in the hopes that it would be a resounding success. She is desperate to be accepted. The New Year’s Eve getaway was a big thing and had been going on for many years before Emma was on the scene.

As the story progresses and in the midst of the hard partying with drink and occasional drug taking, it’s obvious all is not well between the friends. There are dark undercurrents of resentments and secrets which are revealed slowly and highlight their self-serving natures. They are all privileged and take it as their due. Outward appearances may be attractive but when the layers are peeled back it’s a completely different matter.

The blurb drew me in initially. I liked the idea of a small group of people marooned in a remote wilderness made unreachable by a severe snow storm, with no means of leaving, as a murder is discovered. I expected a tense story full of suspense but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It’s a slow read with many individual, self obsessed internal monologues and not much happening except a growing animosity surfacing between the characters, none of whom were likeable and were less so the more I learned about them. I’m sure that was the intent given the friends’ personalities, but I need to care about the characters to become involved with the story. The only ones I felt any liking or sympathy for were Heather and Doug.

The setting however is very evocative—the snowy landscape, the lodge on the banks of the loch with the mountains as a backdrop. Towards the end the action picked up with some tense twists and the why, who and how of the murder was revealed.

I chose to read and review The Hunting Party courtesy of Harper Collins and NetGalley

This took me a few goes to get into and it wasn't until the second half that it really got going. Not knowing who was killed or who was the suspects was a bit confusing. The characters ranged from likable at the beginning to being really unlikable. This got good and it kept me hooked from the 40% mark until the end. I would not call the final 10% a twist but it was definitely a turn.

The Hunting Party is a clever murder mystery which takes you deep into a world where anything can happen and where the old adage, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”, springs to mind.

Celebrating New Year in the idyllic setting of the Scottish highlands is the stuff of dreams and when a group of university friends meet up, the celebration should be the most memorable aspect of the get together. However, all is not as it seems in this remote highland hideaway and the tension between the characters soon starts to escalate.

Told from several different perspectives, what then follows is a carefully crafted murder mystery which leaves no snowflake unturned in the effort to find out just what is going on and why friendships so carefully crafted, ten years ago, are now starting to disintegrate.

The author writes well and controls the narrative with a fine for detail and an ability to create, with the addition of whirling snows storms, a really atmospheric and compelling story. Time and place come so beautifully alive that you sense the danger, feel the overwhelming chill of cold start to enter into your bones, and watch as the shadows lengthen in the eeriness of the Scottish landscape. There is much to take in, both in terms of characterisation and plot, and the twists and turns of the narrative certainly keep you guessing until the end.

The Murder mystery i have always wanted to read!!!
I promise you you would not suspect the killer in this book.. I enjoyed guessing who it was.. Can't give away too much you just have to read it to find out more but i promise you will love it.

I loved the whodunit feel to this book, and I was totally engrossed in trying to workout who it was. I finally twigged just at the end and much kudos to Lucy for dropping enough hints that I had suspected everyone apart from the actual villain of the piece.

This is a must read in my view.

A modern take on Agatha Christie , in which we know right from the start, that someone has been murdered. And then it’s a fairly predictable style of ‘ whodunnit ‘. There is quite a clever twist, but you would expect that in this style of murder/mystery. And the chapters flip between ‘before the murder’ to ‘ after the murder’, which is a good way for you to understand the build up.

It didn’t really engage me, I read the whole book, but it was unremarkable. A shame

This story is very predictable and quite long. Agatha Christy style...............Nine friends celebrate New Year together in a remote estate in Scotland..............it snows so they get stuck in the estate. The first question is which one of them is killed and who did it. I got to the point where I didn't care about any of them!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

If you enjoyed An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena you will love The Hunting Party.

A group of thirty something ex Oxford University students gathered at a remote hunting lodge in Scotland to celebrate New Years Eve.

The group was made up of ex party girl, now trophy wife Miranda and husband Julien who was a banker.. Mark and his girlfriend Emma who did not go to Oxford. Samira, husband Giles and their baby daughter. Nick and his partner Bo who was an ex drug addict. Finally Katie who was single and a high powered lawyer.

The lodge was staffed by two people that weekend, Doug a game keeper and ex marine, and Heather the Estate Manager and ex paramedic.

Without drink the friends realise they have little in common anymore. Amid a weekend of heavy drinking and drugs, old rivalries and secrets come to the fore.

The story began with Doug discovering the dead body of one of the guests by strangulation. With the lodge cut off during a snow storm, the police were unable to investigate. Heather was worried it was part of a series of killings by The Highland Ripper. However after googling Doug, Heather discovered a secret which caused her to doubt his innocence.I

The story was told from 02 January 2019 but readers were also given flashbacks to the events leading up to the murder. The story was told from the separate POV of Doug, Heather, Miranda, Emma and Katie.

I could not put The Hunting Party down and I am sorry to have finished. The book was very atmospheric and I was scared by the remoteness of the lodge which gave it an added chill.

Although I disliked Miranda she was certainly interesting. My favourite character was Bo who was the most straight forward and did not have a secret or agenda.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Lucy Foley.