What irked me a bit about this one was that despite how well it was written, with the five distinct voices working very well to reveal the big picture, at the end of the day, nothing seemed particularly surprising in the revelations.

The narrative in the pre-crime section (the majority of the book) alternates between the three main female guests and the post-crime section between the manager and the hunter. There’s a single murder and if anything, this resembles Towards Zero (a bit) as it is only at the end that the murderer and the victim are revealed. There’s an isolated setting but if you’re looking for a massacre, then look elsewhere. I can’t comment on the first comparison but in terms of the second one… nope, no comparison. It’s described in the blurb as a cross between The Secret History and And Then There Were None.

And if that’s your thing, then this is a well-constructed read. Inspired in part from visiting the location in which the book is set, this is very much in the vein of the modern unreliable narrator narrative. A body has been found – one of the guests – and the only person she should be able to trust, the local in charge of hunting, is behaving oddly.Īnd if there’s a body, there must also be a murderer…Ī new release from Harper Collins, this is the first thriller from Lucy Foley, who has written three historical novels before this. Three days later, and the manager of the resort, Heather, has a crisis on her hands. And while tensions can run a little high, it’s nothing new between old friends. An isolated group of cottages in the remote Highlands of Scotland. Nine friends who have always spent New Year together have outdone themselves this time.

The hunting party book cover