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The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Thriller

The Hunting Party

by Lucy Foley

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Quick take

A peaceful Christmas getaway turns deadly in this locked-room murder mystery from the author of The Guest List.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Fast_Read

    Fast read

  • Illustrated icon, Puzzle

    Puzzle

  • Illustrated icon, Creepy

    Creepy

  • Illustrated icon, Whodunit

    Whodunit

Synopsis

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead... and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of The Hunting Party.

The Hunting Party

1

Heather

Now

January 2, 2019

I see a man coming through the falling snow. From a distance, through the curtain of white, he looks hardly human, like a shadow figure.

As he nears me I see that it is Doug, the gamekeeper.

He is hurrying toward the Lodge, I realize, trying to run. But the fallen, falling snow hampers him. He stumbles with each step. Something bad. I know this without being able to see his face.

As he comes closer I see that his features are frozen with shock. I know this look. I have seen it before. This is the expression of someone who has witnessed something horrific, beyond the bounds of normal human experience.

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.”

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Why I love it

Everyone’s having a better life than me. We’ve all experienced FOMO—fear of missing out. Social media makes it worse because now, at any moment, we can see beautiful people doing wonderful things in gorgeous settings. Ugh. Something tugs at us as we scroll past these posts—envy, anger, exhaustion. Admit it: You want to be with those beautiful people. Well in The Hunting Party, Lucy Foley shows us what we’re missing—and how it might not be as perfect as it seems.

The book follows a group of best friends. There’s gorgeous Miranda and her equally hot husband Julien. There’s wonky lawyer Kate. Exhausted new parents Samira and Giles brought their baby along, while creepy Mark arrives with his wannabe-in-the-mix girlfriend, Emma. They’re all celebrating New Year’s Eve in the snowy highlands of Scotland at an exclusive hunting lodge managed by Heather and Doug, two people faced with their own emotional baggage. Did I tell you there’s also a serial killer loose in the highlands? And that cell-phone reception is spotty? Booze. Guns. What could go wrong?

Well I’ll tell you: Someone ends up dead. And who done it? Could’ve been anyone.

I loved how Foley stripped away each character to reveal underlying truths: (1) We aren’t who our friends think we are; (2) Just because we were pals back in the day doesn’t mean we have anything in common now; (3) One should never consume too much Champagne with rifles close at hand; and (4) Just as I suspected, snow stops being pretty once you’re trapped with killers. The Hunting Party was a thrilling read that kept me breathless—I hope you find the same.

Member ratings (11,323)

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View all
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Beautiful Ugly
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Dark Places
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless