I was really impressed with this debut novel. The Hunting Party drops us right in on a group of seemingly perfect, privileged friends from Oxford. They are, for the most part, unlikeable and spoiled, enjoying a remote trip at an exclusive Scottish lodge for New Year's Eve. Although I wasn't completely fooled by all the red herrings, I was suitably satisfied by the 'whodunnit' nature of this book and it certainly kept me guessing. The author makes good use of the 'everyone's a suspect' style, expanding the narrative slowly to keep the reader curious and engaged. Although it is bound to happen with a cast of characters this large, I did feel that a few members of the party were only background noise and not much to do except in the thinnest sense in the overall story. I did really enjoy the final twist though, including the careful planning and lifelong obsession of the killer as finally revealed. The Old Lodge subplot could maybe have been discarded, I didn't feel it added anything significant except for a moment of peril. A real page turner of a debut, from an author who will probably only get better with time.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Lucy Foley and Harper Collins UK for allowing me to receive a advanced reading copy!

I have mixed thoughts on The Hunting Party, as a whole I enjoyed the story line but I had major issues with the characters, I struggled to like and care for even one of them. I am not saying that other readers will not enjoy this book and the characters but for me I was unable to connect.
I read this book over 5 days as I just couldn't connect as much as I wished.
This sounds all very negative but please don't be too put off, the great thing about the book reading community is that no 2 people will have the same thoughts on a book.

I did quite enjoy the twist at the end and also as a surprise I actually didn't figure out who the killer was until it was revealed right at the very end of the book.
I usually am able to suss it out, but at least in this book it had me guessing.

3 Stars for me as I feel in order to connect with a book you have to connect with a character.

I really enjoyed this. The story is cleverly told through the eyes of various characters and as the victim is not revealed til the end I was trying to figure out who was the murderer and who was the victim! I found this intriguing because all the characters had reasons or personality traits which could easily have made them either of the two. A great read.

loved this.

Properly atmospheric, the chilly, claustrophobic yet open setting cleverly sets the scene for a wonderfully old school murder mystery, with a stellar cast of characters for the reader to get their teeth into and either love or loathe.

Descriptively this is beautifully written the aforementioned setting coming to vivid and gorgeous life, enter into this wild landscape a group of friends whose history and random hidden jealousies rise to the surface, ultimately leading to murder…

Definite hints of Christie, but with a rhyme and rythym all of its own, The Hunting Party is a dream of a read, absorbing, intelligent and full of the vagaries of human nature. Twisty as you like, unexpectedly sometimes, Lucy Foley manages the group dynamic with aplomb, keeping you immersed and involved all the way.

A proper bit of storytelling, eliciting differing emotional reactions and having the benefit of being eminently unpredictable, The Hunting Party is definitely one to watch in 2019.

Highly recommended.

I’ve mixed views on “The Hunting Party” - on the one hand the sense of tension engendered by the switching character perspectives, timeline and “whodidwhattowho” meant that i raced through the book in about 24 hours (helped slightly by the poor weather), keen to follow the twisty-turns of the plot and find out what had happened and which of the characters were motivated to act and why. On the ther hand, the different perspectives and timelines felt forced and mannered and i was unable to just accept their inner narrative and instead kept asking who the characters were addressing and why in these present tense monologues, particularly when drunk or high - describing in perfect clarity the fact that they are too drunk to process for instance. It took me out of the moment, as did the deliberately obfuscatory descriptions in the sections set later in the timeline, where the choice of words used only makes sense from a plot perspectuve (masking what’s been discovered) rather than a character perspective. For me, such flips between time periods work better if those ‘investigating’ what has happened reveal what they discover when they discover it, not clumsily half reveal and half hide it to draw out the tension.

The most interesting aspects of the characters only really come out in the closing stages of the book, in my mind more could have been made of the psychological conflict than happens here.

This all sounds terribly negative, and i did enjoy the book whilst being frustrated. I think it would be cracking light read in the middle of winter with the snow falling down and drink or two to allow a greater suspension of disbelief that i couldnt quite manage.

Not a book one can put down, until the end. We get all the characters' points of view, meaning that just as you think you know 'who did it' you don't!!

Would recommend to anyone who wants a 'good read'; and it would also be good as a dramatisation.

Fantastic Highland setting, and people are not always what they seem.

Oh for heaven's sake! I was supposed to be writing my own book! Instead I requested this one from NetGalley. Whoops not a word written all day. Thanks so much Lucy Foley! A group of university friends celebrating the New Year in a remote Scottish hunting lodge. Then they are snowed in. Plenty of booze mixed with egos and festering past resentments. What could possibly go wrong? This was a compelling and great read. It kept my attention from start to finish. Who was the killer? Who was the victim? Read it and find out. Fabulous.