The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Review of the novel The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Published by HarperCollins. Copyright © Lost and Found Books Ltd
2019
First Published: 2019
Dedication: For AC, my partner in crime.
Cost: £8.99 (UK Paperback 2019)
ISBN: 978-0-00-829715-2 (Paperback Edition - 388 pages)
This is a story of friends
that met at university and have kept in touch with each other, now in their late
twenties, they meet up as a party for the New Year. There are no actual
chapters to the story, rather accounts of the holiday told by three of the friends
and two of the staff at the holiday resort. The account of the holiday jumps
back and forth, instead of being a continuous flow to the story and I’m not
sure why the author felt they had to do this. However, there are four distinct
passages of time:
Now - 2nd
January 2019
Three days earlier -
30th December 20018
Two days earlier -
New Year’s Eve 2018
One day earlier - New
Year’s Day 2019
Heather, the young
manageress of the accommodation, narrates the ‘now’ part of the tale, which is
broken up by the narrative of the three females telling the story which spans
over the three previous days. On these days the reader is introduced to the world
as seen through the eyes of Emma, Katie and Miranda. The only other character
given time to express his thoughts over the four days is Doug, the resident
gamekeeper.
Chapter two opens,
with Emma’s introduction;
New Year. All of us
together for the first time in ages. Me and Mark, Miranda and Julien, Nick and
Bo, Samira and Giles, their six-month-old baby, Priya. And Katie.
Four days in a winter
Highland wilderness. Loch Corrin, it’s called. Very exclusive: they only let
four parties stay there each year – the rest of the time it’s kept as a private
residence. This time of the year, as you might guess, is the most popular. I
had to reserve it pretty much the day after New Year last year, as soon as the
bookings open up. The woman I spoke with assured me that with our group taking
over most of the accommodation we should have the whole place to ourselves.
Due to the typesetting
of the chapter headings, chapter one, an introduction by Heather, is only a
page long although it finishes on page two and it closes with the words: ‘I found
a body’. So, the reader knows immediately that someone has been killed, and the story is an account of how they came to lose their life in this remote Scottish
highland venue, with the murderer being revealed on page 366.
The party have ordered
in food and drink in excessive amounts. The inner-circle have been friends
since Oxford University days, not all of them are at ease with each other as
they strive to become the leader of the group and dominate the others and the
games they play as part of the festivity entertainment. The party look down on
those who are not group, putting themselves above the like of Heather and Doug.
This is a story about the bitterness and long-standing hatred between individuals
that were once friends and now their true feelings come out. However, as
already stated, this is a tale seen only through the eyes of the three of the
females. The males do join in the conversation, but their inner thoughts are
told by the girls and it’s difficult to understand if they are a true
reflection by the females giving an account of the three days.
There is a side tale
in the narrative where we learn about Doug’s background, as the author tries to
misdirect the reader to the real murderer, but for me, it fails before it starts.
This character has strength in his interaction with the holiday party and Heather.
The murderer has to be one of the holiday party that uses the venue to commit a
crime as their anger and hatred for one of the group gets out of control.
As part of the vacation, the group have the opportunity to experience hunting
in the wild. We are on page 217 as Doug that describes the outing in a chapter
titled ‘Two days earlier - New Year’s Eve 2018’.
There’s a change in
the group. He noticed it even before the argument between the man with the
glasses and the beautiful blonde. He has seen it happen before, this shift. It
starts with the rifles. Each of them is suddenly invested with a new, terrible power.
At first, during the target practice, they flinch with each report, at the jump
of the device as it punched bruises into flesh beneath their shoulders. But
quickly – too quickly, perhaps – it became natural, and they were leaning into
each shot: focussed, intent. They began enjoying themselves. But something else
crept in too. A sense of competition. More than that … something primeval has
been summoned.
There is, however, only one hind to be killed and Doug invites Emma to
take the shot. Successful, she is anointed in the time-honoured tradition, with
the blood of the kill, on her forehead and cheeks.
As can be seen here in this short extract, the story appears to be a
reflection of the happenings, rather than a factual account. This is the same
for the all that characters that tell the happenings over the four days, to
such an extent that I found it difficult to believe I was reading an account by
a different character, it seemed to me that it was a dream told by one individual.
This approach to describing the activities over the four days results in a lack
of detail and visual descriptions that would have added to the story and the reader’s
enjoyment. This was a story that I found easy to put aside while reading something
more enjoyable. I find it difficult to see why the author felt it necessary to
jump from the present to go back in time, albeit, only three days. I felt that
the story would have benefited to be told in the correct sequence. As might be
guessed, I did not enjoy the story and I‘m not going to be search out other
books by this author. Rating 2 stars.
Dr Sheppard
3 February 2020
