REVIEW: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

 

A group of 30-something affluent Londoners, friends since their Oxford days, go away together every New Year.

In 2019 their destination is the Highland shooting estate of Loch Corrin, which has been turned into a luxury venue by its mysterious owner.  The estate is run by just three staff members, gamekeeper Doug, administrator Heather and handyman Iain.  Only Heather and Doug live in. 

Over the course of three days a huge storm moves into the area and the estate is cut off by snowdrifts. The guests are predictably shocked by this. (No one in northern Scotland would be. And there are such things as weather forecasts.)  But as their only plans seem to be to get as drunk as possible, as high as possible and as obnoxious as possible, they carry on regardless. Then one guest goes missing.

When a body is found, it soon becomes clear that, as no one could have entered or left the estate, the killer is either a guest or a member of staff. 

The main problem I had with The Hunting Party is that every single one of the guests is horrible. They are all selfish, self-absorbed and appallingly badly behaved, they have so much money that they don't care what they break or ruin, and they drink champagne as if it were lemonade. And having nothing else to do, they spend most of their time going on, and on, and on, about their relationships, their feelings, their numerous grudges and resentments. Within a few short chapters I found that I could not care less who was killed, who killed them, or indeed why. They were all pretty deserving candidates. Heather and Doug were the only people I felt sorry for, because they had to put up with so much condescending, thoughtless and downright rude behaviour from their guests. 

Heather and Doug each have personal baggage. I didn't find this terribly convincing, but it didn't detract from the story. What I found far less credible was the fact that three - and at nights just two - members of staff had been left to manage the entire estate. Neither is particularly experienced - Heather has only been there a year. What if there's an emergency? Well, guess what - there is! Who knew that would happen? There are no contingency plans. The police can't even land a helicopter owing to the snow. Yet my son drives ambulances in the Highlands, and I've never heard him say they haven't attended a call out because of the weather. Snow ploughs, anyone? 

The narrative jumps about between 30th December, when the guests arrive, and 2nd January, when the body is found. This is clearly indicated by the chapter headings, but it did make the story quite disjointed and I couldn't really see the point of it. The story is also told from the viewpoint of several different guests and of Heather, all in the first person, but when Doug's turn comes, his chapters are for some reason written in the third person. Unclear to me why.

When the denouement is finally reached, it felt as though it had come out of thin air. The killer's motives seemed unlikely to say the least, and as for their backstory, to me it seemed nonsensical. Meanwhile the subplot (ie what is really going on on the estate) had potential but failed to convince.

Loch Morlich in winter. Image: Visit Scotland

The one good thing about The Hunting Party is the description of the landscape, which did ring true. The huge open spaces, the dark trees, the clear water of the loch reflecting the snow covered mountains - all reminded me of the Caledonian forest and Loch Morlich in the Glenmore Forest Park near Aviemore.

All in all a quick but unsatisfying read, for which, I imagine, I was definitely not the right demographic. 30-somethings, especially city bankers and lawyers, might well enjoy it. It did, however, allow me to tick off  'a locked room mystery' on my 52 Book Club 2024 Challenge list. 

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is published by Harper Collins. I borrowed my copy from our wonderful local library.