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Hello everyone! Welcome to the Book Nook. Today we are going to be doing a review on The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. This is the third book I have read by this author. The first two being The Paris Apartment (review here) and the Guest List (review here). Out of all three books, The Hunting Party was my least favorite. Before we get started, I encourage you all to comment down below and tell me your thoughts. Also, make sure you are following the Book Nook on WordPress, Instagram and YouTube; that way you don’t miss any of my reviews in the future. So, without further ado, lets get into it.

*Disclaimer: spoilers ahead*

A group of thirty-year-olds are engaging in their annual New Year’s Eve trip. This is a chance for everyone to catch up and have fun. The location? A beautiful, modern, cabin in the woods in the Scotland Mountains. However, despite the 10-year friendship, things are not what they seem within the group. Old resentments start to blossom and secrets are suddenly being revealed. Then someone in the party goes missing and ultimately ends up dead. With a snow storm sealing the estate off from the outside world, there is no way in or out; meaning someone in the group is a killer. What is the old adage? Keep your friends close…?

First off, this friend group was confusing as hell! There were 9 people in the group and it was hard to keep track of. Let us review. Everyone is a couple, except Katie. There’s Emma and Mark, Miranda and Julien, Nick and Bo and Samira and Giles. Nick is more-so Katie’s friend who does not like Miranda and vice versa. Mark is Julien’s best friend who had (and still has) a crush on Miranda when they were young. Miranda and Katie had been best friends since they were kids and were roommates with Samira when they were at Oxford; which is where everyone met. The odd one out is Emma because she was last to be added to their group. As time went on, it got easier to decipher; somewhat.

Now, Samira and Giles have a 6-month-old daughter named Priya whom they took on the trip. Um…why the hell are you bringing your infant daughter on the get-together with friends in the middle of winter? I can understand how hard it is to find a babysitter but realistically I think Samira and Giles should’ve stayed at home. I honestly think them bringing Priya added little to the plot.

There was an interesting dynamic between Miranda and Katie. Miranda is the blond bombshell who is charismatic and outspoken while Katie is shy, introverted and observant. Miranda has mentioned many times that she misses Katie and wishes that she could spend more time with her. Honestly, I think Miranda just misses someone to vent to. Apparently Katie has always been there for Miranda whenever she was needed. But I don’t think it was reciprocated. I think Miranda just wanted to be around Katie for her own convenience. In addition, I feel as though the author tried a little too hard to make Miranda the bad guy. She was your typical bratty, manipulative, mean girl. So, it was no surprise when Miranda ended up being the one dying.

I did not like this.

I thought Miranda dying was too obvious; too on the nose. I would rather it had been Katie or Emma who was found. Furthermore, I did not like the fact that Emma was the one that killed her.

It’s revealed that Emma went to Oxford around the same time that the others did but nobody noticed her. She was also extremely obsessed with Miranda and eventually became her stalker. She managed to worm her way into the friend group by being in a relationship with Mark. When all of this is revealed to Miranda an argument ensures, it gets heated and the rest of history. I wasn’t really a fan of the whole thing.

In the beginning, I somewhat resonated with Emma. Although her and Mark had been dating for three years she was still considered an outsider and tried her hardest to fit in. She felt the need to be a mediator and to coordinate everything in an attempt to get the others to accept her. But as time went out, I more-so resonated with Katie. Katie has always been the quite, shy type who is a pretty good listener. She may not be as boisterous or outgoing as her best friend but she still has her own personality.

I also thought the side story was unnecessary. Apparently, the owner of the estate and several members of the staff were involved in drug trafficaing. This was sort of a red herring to throw us off track but…again, I didn’t think it was necessary.

In conclusion, there was a lot going on. There were many secrets revealed throughout the book, many of them involving Miranda and, again, I thought the author was doing way too much to make us hate Miranda. With that being said, I didn’t like the ending because it was too obvious and I wasn’t a fan of the killer’s motives behind the murder. The pacing was great though.

Overall, I give it a 2/5.

Until next time!