Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party
VolunteerVal avatar reviewed on + 594 more book reviews


Set around New Year's Eve, The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley was a nice contrast to the Christmas books I've been reading.

Ten years ago several Oxford students celebrated New Year's Eve together, and they've continued the annual tradition even as their group expanded through marriage, relationships, and children. This year they're gathering in a remote hunting lodge in the Scottish highlands to reconnect, eat good food, and drink to excess. Before their time together is complete, one of them is dead, and another may be the murderer.

I enjoy novels where the "big event" is disclosed fairly early and the rest of the story gradually fills in the details of the characters and events leading up to it, and that's the case here. Readers know a body has been found, but the gender isn't disclosed so we have to piece together clues to figure out who met their demise. I also like a fairly large cast of characters who have 'messy' relationships with each other, and a group of college chums is perfect fodder for this "trope." Many secrets are disclosed on this getaway.

I enjoyed this via audiobook with full cast narration by Imogen Church, Gary Furlong, Elle Newlands, Moira Quirk, and Morag Sims. Their lovely voices with rich accents put me firmly in the setting and helped me follow the characters.