Woow! I never read a book by the author, and I think it is only due to the fact that the covers don't really attract me, but this is a perfect "don't judge a book by his covers" because this was very good!

At first it gave me Nine perfect Strangers vibes, but the story line quickly became different (and better!). I loved the short chapters, the back and forth, and the many many discoveries along the book that kept me reading till the early hours because I needed to know what the hell happened!

There are a few good twists that I did not predict and I loved how everything came together at the end. The writing is good, the pace is just right and the atmosphere is incredible with pagan rituals and old folklore.

I have put the hunting party on top of my tbr pile and hope it is this good. Out on the 6th of June - do read it! Love finding a gem like this when I am not expecting it 🙉

Francesca Meadows and her husband are opening The Manor, a luxury retreat in Dorset. However, the night of the solstice when they are throwing a huge event things turn nasty.
I enjoyed how the plot unfolded. There were POV’s from several different characters, jumping between the build up to the solstice and after the solstice as well as diary entries from 15 years earlier that explained how the characters knew each other and how their stories connected. It kept me guessing throughout.
There is a local folklore weaved throughout the book as well which makes it stand out from other similar thrillers and gives it a slightly gothic edgy feel.
Overall a great read.
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I loved The Hunting Party. It feels like all of Lucy Foley's books since then have been of the same formula: someone is dead/attacked/something bad has happened, spend the whole novel working backwards to find out who/how. I enjoyed the setting for this and the plot moved along easily enough. Wasn't blown away by it, but an engaging read.

4.5 stars

I absolutely loved this book, i had never read anything rom Lucy Foley before and i as happily surprised! The only reason why it is not a full 5 stars, its because the beginning was incredibly slow and it took some time to pick up the pace.

3.5 stars rounded down. A very slow burn mystery told from multiple points of view, the day before/of/after the solstice. Sticking with it, you begin to see a few revelations and piece bits together, until it all becomes clear at the end. As soon as I saw one character’s surname near the end, I guessed what had happened.

If you’re not a fan of “teens wildly misbehave, someone dies, and years later the past begins to reveal itself”, then I’d give this one a miss. If you don’t like irritating characters, especially hippy dippy fuzzy wuzzy woo woo ones, then you really won’t like Francesca…

Overall I can see how it was intricately thought out. But I can’t say I particularly cared for many of the characters, beyond thoroughly disliking Francesca. So it made it a bit hard to care much about their actions. I’ve enjoyed some of Lucy’s books before, but I’m not sure this is one of her better ones unfortunately.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

This book was a bit of a let down for me. I usually love the remote setting and various dodgy characters that Lucy foley has to offer however I didn’t warm to any of these rich and over privalidged people. I also didn’t like the cult type aspect of the story with the bird people.

I really enjoyed Lucy Foley’s latest offering, finding the characters both more likeable and hateable than in her previous novels. Every page reveals more about each of them and their past, pasts which have driven them towards this day, all combining as everything falls into place. I enjoyed the movement from character to character and felt it built well towards the climax. Thank you to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

Wonderfully written. I have never read a Lucy Foley novel before. I was not disappointed. The story kept me page turning, wanting more and to find out all the secrets. Twists and turns a plenty. Gripping.
As delicious as a feast!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion

I’ve read a good few of Foley’s thrillers and they tend to follow a very similar format but I found The Midnight Feast to be a little bit different. It still had the close setting, with danger unfolding in a costal hotel, but there wasn’t quite as much of a whodunnit as I would have expected. I also found the concept of The Birds, an almost supernatural group who are suspected of various crimes, totally unnecessary and a bit of an easy joke at the end.

This was my first time reading a book from the author but I am delighted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I look forward to reading more books from the writer in the future.

My Thanks to Netgalley and publishers Harper Collins for an ARC of this novel in return for an independent review. I'm a great fan of Lucy Foley's writing, having read most of her books. I wasn't sure how this one was going to turn out. It seemed to consist of short chapters, each headed by the name of a character from the tale, each speaking in the first person and adding their bits to the story as they went along. When reading I want to empathise with various characters as the narrative unfolds in the third person. Here we were being asked to constantly switch alliance. The police activity is reported in the third person which distinguishes it from the main characters. The reason becomes clear at the end and ultimately deceives. It's very subtle and clever writing.

The main event of the story is the evening of the Summer Solstice, but I got confused by chapter headings, "Before the Solstice" and "After the Solstice", seemingly jumbled up. There is also a time switching, back fifteen years with diary notes made by one of the main characters when she was a teenager on holiday there. These are a totally relevant part of the story, but for me added to the time confusion. Having finished the book, I feel as if I should now read it again to sort out the jumbled narrative.

The ending is truly massive. Overall, what a plot, what a story, even if there are some moments that don't seem to add up. It's all explained in the end. Even so, you have to leave reality just a little behind and sit back and enjoy the tale wherever it takes you. It's ever so, ever so slightly daft, but brilliant. It's definitely in the un-put-downable category, which became a problem when there was so much else I should be doing.

Another great thriller by Lucy Foley. She has a great talent for setting the scene: it's always remote, always a gathering, always posh. She likes to name drop and you can just imagine it, the fancy country house; the walled gardens, the organic cider; the expensive linen, everyone tastefully dressed, and everyone hiding some awful secret. For more than half the book, we know there is a murder victim but we don't quite know who or how exactly. As often; there are several narrators, like in many thrillers - it's a convenient way to throw different clues and perspectives, but Foley is particularly good at making the narrators having different, distinct voices, which makes for a really engaging and pleasant read - I detested Francesca as much as everyone else does.
A great, compelling read that has it all - a stunning mansion by the sea, a cunning main character, a likeable narrator who isn't who she says she is, angry locals, and a mysterious group that sounds like a cult and call themselves The Birds. Really entertaining and really good.

A disappointing book by Lucy Foley. I found the characters to be very 2 dimensional and the whole idea that because someone has money, they are a certain way, and those that aren't so well off another. I finished the book not really caring about any of those in it, and not really sure I could tell you what happened.

This is my second delve into the writing of Lucy Foley and it doesn’t disappoint. I really like the way she character builds but then also gives you an idea of how something will end.
This story had me intrigued from the start, calculated, creepy and with more than one twist I didn’t see coming. A great read.
Many thanks to the publisher for my advanced readers copy.

Excellent story. Easy to read and very engaging.
Dark and twisty with great characters. One of the best books I have read this year.
Thoroughly recommended.

This is my third book by Lucy Foley and having loved The Paris Apartment, I had high expectations from this one. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. I feel like the main reason was that it was extremely snail paced, with so much descriptive writing that did not add much to the plot. I understand that the writing wanted to invoke an eerie feeling in the reader but since it took too long for the narrative to reach its goal I felt like I became bored before I became intrigued. I think a person who loves a thriller that patiently sets the atmosphere and move on its own pace would love this book, emphasis on the atmosphere part because the setting is really good.

The author has blended superstitions and the importance of the legends people believe in into the story and that was something I loved. Rich people, their greed and disregard for the lives they disrupt is shown clearly, and you can't help but hope for something bad to befall on one of the main characters.

I'm glad I decided to stick with reading it because the ending was quite good. The thriller presented me with some predictable and some unpredictable twists. I like how it all wrapped up in the end and left no loopholes.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy Foley is the author who got me back into reading in 2020 so when I saw I had been approved for an ARC I was over the moon! I adore Foley’s writing and the atmosphere she creates in her books, this one was no different. I absolutely loved The Midnight Feast and how creepy and isolated it felt. I loved plot twists and the way everything connected; this is a book to binge in one sitting!

The only thing I didn’t love were the pop culture references and the jokes about politicians - I feel like the book will become dated in a few years because of this. Other than that it was amazing!

Rating 4 stars

Took a bit of time to get going on the story, but once past the halfway mark, it really took off. Thoroughly enjoyed the different characters the novel was seen thru; Francesca the owner of the manor, her husband Owen, Eddie the pot boy, Bella a guest with a past linked to the manor and a detective.

Wrapped up all nicely in the end!

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

Lucy Foley does it again! I've read all of her amazing bestseller Thrillers now, and it's got to the point I don't even need to read the blurb, I see her name and know I want to read it, and I'm going to like it. I was very lucky to be given this opportunity to read an arc of this newest thriller mystery - The Midnight Feast.

Set deep in the woodlands but next to the coast, a new 'Wellness retreat' has opened. You know the type. Eco wooden tree houses, sustainably sourced grass fed chicken on the menu, with locally sourced farmers produce. A spa with only the best sea inspired mineral based products. Except, everything is not quite as it seems behind the scenes. The 'local produce' is not so local after all and is shipped down from London. The local farms are not even allowed to sell produce to the resort, and the owner - Francesca has even gone so far as to attempt to steal land boundaries from the local farms. The locals hate her, and the resort, but are they involved in what happens when it all goes wrong on opening weekend?

The locals have secrets, but they aren't the only ones... Everyone is not who they seem, and a lot of people have a lot of grudges to bear against both the land and the owner...

And then... There's The Birds... Who (or what?) are they? Are they real or just local folklore and legend designed to scare people? Or do they really dish out vengeance and revenge against those who threaten the peace.

I love that Foley always borders slightly on the supernatural/ethereal in her mysteries. Just enough to get the chills, especially paired with a setting such as Midsomer Solstice in the woods, with secrets and people dropping like flies. This was an eerie and mystical novel with a host of mysteries woven through and together that collided at the end.

I enjoyed this ride alot. And have an urge to book into a tree house cabin somewhere in the middle of nowhere donning a wicker crown. 4 feathers.

The story revolves around a holiday location, Tome, where a group of different teenagers come together for the summer and a mysterious crime is committed. Years later, the Manor where the group was hanging out, is turned into a luxury hotel and the opening weekend is meant to be a great deal. However, people haven’t forgotten the life lost and the thread of the mystery starts unravelling until justice is served.

The narrative is extremely well written in the now familiar multiple POVs way of the author. It is also alternating between two timelines, successfully showing us segment by segment the past & present story.

One thing that I will never be tired of is Foley’s impeccable way of creating the ambience in her books! The location and atmosphere in this book is once again amazing. The way she describes the manor, the beach, the little town is remarkable. It adds SO much into the story and builds so much the readers’ anticipation. It gives the readers the feeling of being there along the main characters.

What I additionally liked in this book is the moral compass and motive of the characters. This is the main characteristic that does them apart for me. They are direct opposites and serves very well the development of the plot. This is what drives the story and decides for its ending and it is refreshing to see that in the genre.

Finally, most of the length of the plot was quite slow for me. It took up until the 70% mark for the story to pick up. However, I cannot say that this discouraged me while reading and the rest of the book totally made up for it with multiple plot twists that maybe or maybe not have seen coming. The ending is more than satisfying and a sense of catharsis is what the reader is left with.