Lucy Foley is fast becoming one of my favourite authors; the go-to for a dependable, entertaining read, perfect for escaping to while travelling. In The Midnight Feast, she masterfully switches between characters, locations and time without ever once losing her reader. You can dip straight back into the book without having to remind yourself what everyone was up to or flicking back a few pages to establish the timeline.

As with her previous novels, there are contemporary themes woven into the story alongside the tense thriller plotting. There are no crazy red herrings, just enough doubts about the characters' pasts, deceits and possible motives for killing to keep the reader wondering just who is behind the mischief.

The Midnight Feast builds cleverly to a final crescendo of mayhem and death, while still being easy to read and never over-simplistic. All in all, a cracking read.

"The Midnight Feast" is a strong execution of the genre it belongs to.

Very atmospheric, heavy with the summer heat portrayed on the pages, with a well written mistery. I appreciate how Lucy Foley is able to write several character with first-person narrative and actually give each of them their own voice that matches their background and who they are in the story. It's definitely an admirable skill. Couple of red herrings and satisfying resolution.

The only thing that I became quite tired of is the overused trope of shady millionaires who would exercise their wealth and power that comes from it to protect themselves and not take ownership of their own actions written vis a vis good-natured and well-meaning characters who needed to go by with a lot less. But maybe it's a part of our social climate that paved its way to literally fiction as well.

🐦‍⬛Book Review 🐦‍⬛

“If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise “
“If you go down to the woods today, you better go in disguise …”

This story centres around the opulent and beautiful ‘Manor’, a luxurious and exclusive retreat for the wealthy and insta worthy which was once a summer abode of a very wealthy and influential family. The latest owner of the Manor, Francesca, is the granddaughter of the owners back in the day, and a keen business woman with a head for the exclusive and divine.

Underneath the purity of Francesca’s public persona lurks someone who may not be as wholesome as she seems. However, she is happily married to Owen, a top notch architect who designed the beautiful retreat and nothing is too much for their guests who have paid exorbitant fees to attend the opening weekend; the Midsummer weekend which will be full of the celebrations of nature and the beautiful Devon surroundings.

But there is a sparrow in their wake, a dropped stitch in the blanket of serenity. A woman with an axe to grind and a debt to be paid. But how and why are the questions to ask and as this is a place where the locals consider retribution as something to be handled quietly and deserving punishments to be delivered appropriately, just how much danger is Francesca, Owen and Sparrrow in?

Told through a dual timeline between now and fifteen years ago, the reader is very quickly pulled into one hell of a ride. The story is told through the eyes of the four main characters and together, these weave an intricate and bloomin jaw dropping picture. Nothing is as it seems. No one is who they seem. Nothing is clear.

I absolutely loved this book! The turns kept me guessing constantly and I really didn’t see what the final outcomes were going to be. I read The Guest List a few months ago and now this 🤯 I have now put all of Lucy Foley’s books on my Goodreads tbr! 🤣🤣 I bloody loved it. What a fantastic thriller 🥂🐦‍⬛🥰


I’d like to thank Harper Collins, NetGalley and the author for the arc and the fantastic opportunity, in exchange for my honest feedback 😊

Book released on 6th June 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I loved this!! Always been a massive Lucy foley fan and this was as good as I expected! The setting was gorgeous (love a destination thriller!) and the characters were so well written, amazing book!

Another great page turner from Lucy Foley! Some good twists and I liked the character development. The dual timelines worked well to keep the mystery going until the very end.

The Midnight Feast is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling, weaving together suspense, folklore, and complex character dynamics. Lucy Foley delivers a gripping narrative that immerses readers in the eerie allure of The Manor, a luxurious eco-retreat on the Dorset coast.

From the outset, Foley sets a chilling tone: a house fire, a body at the cliff's base, and a community brimming with secrets. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives and timelines, a technique Foley employs with finesse, allowing readers to piece together the mystery from various angles .

The characters are richly drawn, each harboring their own motives and secrets. Francesca Meadows, the retreat's owner, is a particularly compelling figure—her transformation from a mean girl to a wellness guru adds depth to the narrative . The interplay between the guests and the locals, set against the backdrop of the summer solstice celebration, heightens the tension and keeps the pages turning.

Foley's prose is evocative, painting vivid images of the coastal setting and the opulent yet unsettling atmosphere of The Manor. The incorporation of local folklore, particularly the legend of the Birds, adds a layer of mystique that lingers long after the final page .

A slow-burning mystery set against the backdrop of a luxury coastal retreat, The Midnight Feast delivers atmospheric tension but doesn’t quite reach the heights of Foley’s best work.

✨ A glamorous grand opening with dark secrets 💀 Old betrayals resurface 📚 Multiple POVs & tangled relationships

While the setting is rich and immersive, the pacing feels uneven, and some twists lack the shock factor expected from Foley’s thrillers. The multi-POV structure adds intrigue, but certain perspectives feel underdeveloped, making it harder to stay fully engaged.

If you enjoy slow-burn mysteries with layered characters, this is worth a read.

Forget ginger beer and cakes sent from home, this midnight feast is completely different with mysterious, threatening birds and a shadow of death enveloping everything. In this heady novel, Foley recreates the sensual and lethargic feelings you get in the height of summer, particularly when it is the summer solstice. However, the weekend party at The Manor is fuelled by revenge over events that took place fifteen years ago. Thanks to the dramatic opening, readers know that this party just cannot end well.

I really enjoyed how readers played detective as Foley eventually reveals connections between the guests and employees at The Manor. This meant that there were plenty of surprises along the way, ending to the suspense of the story. Furthermore, as the novel jumps between characters and time frames, it means it takes a while before you get the full picture of what is happening. At first this structure meant I struggled to engage with the narrative because I found it difficult to keep track of the different identities however, it definitely was worth persevering.

The journal entries informs the plot of what brings the characters in present day to The Manor. Some of the characters here had nicknames which cleverly disguises their present day identity. I found this journal entry made the plot a bit more predictable than I hoped for and I thought there was too much teenage angst than I wanted. Alison feels an outsider, is unlucky in love and tries to reshape herself in order to fit in with the “rich kids”. It’s a story I have seen too often and felt weaker compared to the events at The Manor.

Sometimes the plot felt a bit far-fetched but I think this reflected the indulgent and slightly supernatural element of the party and the summer solstice. I liked trying to figure out how the characters were all connected, especially when presented with the devastation the day after the solstice. On the other hand, the rich versus poor, the holiday makers versus locals felt like echoes of previous stories and I was hoping Foley would do something just a little bit different.

A good bit of escapism, perfect for the beach and maybe one to read on the longest day of the year.

With thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Super fast paced read! I thought the setting was great. Lucy Foley has mastered the art of tactful humour and I was shocked that she had me chuckling out loud (a rarity for me)! In addition, it’s common to find books with a multitude of characters overwhelming and confusing, however, The Midnight Feast didn’t just bring them to life, but successfully linked everything in the end. I was starting to become slightly frustrated at the mentions of The Birds and questioned what their relevance was but it was worth it… that final line was phenomenal! Overall, this is a great easy read and thriller read that offers a less heavy approach than others.

Lucy Foley, one of my favorite authors, has done it again with The Midnight Feast—a haunting, atmospheric thriller that hooked me from page one. Her immersive prose and gift for setting a scene are unmatched; she pulls you in so completely that you can almost feel the damp chill in the air and hear the whisper of secrets in the trees.

Set during the grand opening weekend of the luxury wellness retreat, the Manor Hotel, on the rugged coast, the story unfolds as a fire breaks out, secrets unravel, and the dark history of the land begins to resurface.

This is easily my favorite Foley book to date, with an ending—especially that final line—that was haunting and perfectly fitting. It really resonated with me.

Read this if you like:
• Slow-burning psychological thrillers with rich atmosphere
• Stories set in luxurious wellness retreats with underlying darkness
• Modern settings blended with ancient folklore and pagan rituals
• Creepy symbolic mysteries
• Deep character studies with secrets, guilt, and reinvention
• Morally bankrupt characters you can’t look away from
• Themes of family, ambition, betrayal, identity, and the masks we wear
• Non-linear timelines weaving between past and present
• Multiple points of view that enrich and complicate the story
• Short chapters with cliffhanger endings and a final line that leaves a lasting chill


My Rating: 5 out of 5

Publication Date: June 6, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK Harper’s Fiction for the e-ARC.

As of fan of Lucy Foley’s other works, I was excited to read Midnight Feast. The atmosphere and description had me intrigued and I was ready to dive in. I must say though, the story wasn’t very memorable. I requested this on Net Galley to read and didn’t realized I already read it last summer after it was published. I gave it 3 stars at the time I read it, but had not written a review to go alongside my rating. So here it goes:

The Midnight Feast is written in the fashion typical of its author, with many POVs and twisting timelines. Usually this works for me but in the case of this work, it did not. I remember feeling like the characters were very confusing and that I wished there had been a little tighter of a story.

The diary entries were interesting but I felt like they were merely a device to break up the story and build suspense; the element of mystery occurred merely because the story was still unfolding, and not because it was twisty and turny.

Overall, a forgettable piece of work. Whereas, Lucy Foley’s “The Paris Aparment” is one of my favourite books I’ve read. I know she has a signature style but I wish that Foley would be a little less predictable in her work.

Thanks Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Midnight Feast is Midsommar in Dorset. It has a rich background in folklore, twists at every turn, and a gripping multi POV story that switches between past, present and future. My first ever Lucy Foley book was The Hunting Party, and I didn't think crime fiction could ever get any better than that. The Midnight Feast IS better than that.

I loved the character dynamics, the huge reveal at the end, and that every character seemed fleshed out and flawed in their own ways. It didn't leave me wanting for a character arc, it left me rooting for certain characters and yearning for revenge on their behalf. Foley has incredibly reliable writing in that you can go into any of their books and know you're about to be taken on a absolute ride.

I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in less than a day. It was so extreme I found myself avoiding my everyday tasks and spending way longer charging my phone in a Starbucks than I needed just so I could continue reading the ending.

This book had so much drama and I loved every bit! A fancy new resort is opening, everything looks perfect—pretty cocktails, healing crystals, stylish guests. But behind all the glamour, something is seriously wrong…

The story is told from different people’s points of view (plus a summer journal!) and each one adds more secrets and twists. Francesca, the owner, is hiding a lot. Bella seems like just another guest, but she’s not. And sweet Eddie the barman? He has his own little mystery too.

The setting was amazing—creepy forests, weird superstitions, and a spooky vibe that made me want to keep reading late at night. It starts off slow, but then the twists come fast and I was shocked! That big twist at the end? So good.

It’s darker than some of Lucy Foley’s other books, with a bit of a horror feel, and honestly…I couldn’t put it down. Super twisty, super fun.

This book absolutely blew me away. I already was Lucy foley fan and this book absolutely topped her other books for me.

Here this story revolves around ‘ the Manor ‘ in Woodland Hutches owned by Francesca Woodland. This Manor is for some of the privileged guest for a peaceful time. Francesca Woodland is a mysterious character with lots of secrets with a much younger husband who is enchanted by her. Things don’t go as planned when someone from her past comes back for a confrontation that threatens all Francesca’s plans.

Then it takes us back to the solstice where we see a DI Walker who is specialized in cold cases and investigating an event that happened on solstice in the burning manor.

It was so twisty and mysterious and I loved every minute of it. I could not put it down. It was a fantastic read.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for kindly providing me with this eARC and all opinions are my own honest opinion.

4/5 stars – Twisty, atmospheric, and deliciously dark

Lucy Foley does it again with The Midnight Feast! Set in a luxurious wellness retreat with a dark history, this one had all the ingredients I love in a thriller—multiple POVs, secrets bubbling beneath the surface, and that signature slow-burn tension.

The setting was gorgeously eerie, and I could practically feel the unease growing with every chapter. The characters were layered and complex (even if I didn't like all of them), and the mystery kept me guessing until the final reveal. I had a few suspicions, but Foley still managed to surprise me—just enough to keep me hooked.

Why not 5 stars? The pacing dipped a bit in the middle, and I found myself wanting a bit more from the ending. But overall, a satisfying read that

I chose to read a free eARC of The Midnight Feast but that has in no way influenced my review.

I am a HUGE fan of Lucy Foley's thrillers. They're always engaging, captivating and ultimately surprising. This latest addition to the author's body of work is no different. It's opening night of The Manor, an exclusive 'pagan-chic' hotel on the Dorset Coast where wellness is everything. Owner, Francesca Meadows, has pulled out all the stops for her guests with a decadent solstice feast. But Francesca's dreams of a perfect night, a perfect start to her dream enterprise, are shattered as a fire tears through the hotel. The next morning, a body is found nearby. Because there really is no escape from the past...

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I love how Lucy Foley tells a story. The Midnight Feast is a highly intriguing mystery with a cast of multi-layered characters who masterfully push the story along. I found Francesca quite despicable. Is there nothing she won't do to progress herself and her brand? The way she treats the local people of Midsummer is ghastly but oh my gosh, I wanted more! There's a large folklore aspect to the novel which was interesting. I did enjoy the creepy, edge of the woods vibe the entire book has. The story is told using multiple points of view, plus two timelines fifteen years apart. I was able to follow 'what' was happening and 'when' with ease. All in all, The Midnight Feast is an engaging mystery with a difference. There are secrets and lies galore amongst the pages of this book and I was hooked trying to work it all out from the get-go. Eerie, creeping, full of suspense with a dark atmospheric feel to proceedings. The threat of the woods, the menace of the crows and the delicious gothic overtone worked really well. I can't wait to see what Foley has in store for us next! Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Midnight Feast. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Review will be published on 6th May 2025]

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Big thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, and Lucy Foley for the ARC—this was a deliciously twisty treat!

The Midnight Feast is peak Lucy Foley: luxe setting, tangled secrets, a cast full of unreliable characters—and, of course, murder. The glamorous yet eerie opening of The Manor is the perfect backdrop for slow-burning suspense, where every perfectly placed crystal and curated cocktail masks something darker.

I devoured this in a couple of sittings. The shifting perspectives (The Founder! The Husband! The Mystery Guest!) kept me hooked, and the way Foley peels back each character’s glossy surface to reveal simmering resentments is just chef’s kiss.

It’s juicy, atmospheric, and totally bingeable—like Agatha Christie went on a wellness retreat and things went very, very wrong. If you love a smart, layered whodunit with a luxury-meets-menace vibe, this one’s for you.

I enjoyed this book but the multi storyline did leave me confused at times. But it was enjoyable nonetheless and had everything I love in a book, murder, intrigue and good characters. Loved it.

"The Midnight Feast" by Lucy Foley is a mystery thriller.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for the digital copy of the book (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

The synopsis of the book is the one that convinced me to read the book.
The Manor is a renovated historical house.
In the opening weekend of this new wellness boutique hotel a body is discovered.

The story is told from multiple perspectives:
- Francesca - the founder
- Owen - her husband
- Bella - the mystery guest
- Eddie - the kitchen help.
There are also some journal entries from 15 year ago.
I liked the way the multiple perspectives and dual timeline provided parts of the story and slowly unraveled the truth.
There is a lot of mystery and misdirection that is heightened by the dark atmosphere.

The story is engaging and the plot twist was unexpected (even if bit disappointing).

Set in a remote and exclusive wellness retreat during its lavish opening weekend, the novel quickly devolves from serenity to chaos. Foley expertly intertwines the narratives of various guests and staff members, each harbouring secrets, grudges, or a hidden agenda. As always, her use of shifting perspectives keeps the reader on edge, piecing together clues while trying to determine who to trust and who might end up dead.

What stands out most is Foley’s command of setting; the luxurious retreat, with its glossy façade and eerie isolation, becomes a character in its own right. The book delves into themes of privilege, guilt, and the masks people wear, adding emotional depth to the thrills. Foley’s writing is sharp and evocative, crafting a slowburn tension that builds to a chilling climax.

Though some twists may feel familiar to Foley fans, her knack for character psychology and claustrophobic suspense remains gripping. The Midnight Feast is a deliciously dark treat for readers who enjoy their mysteries tangled and their endings satisfying. It’s perfect for fans of locked-room mysteries with a modern twist.

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for approving this book