Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Hunting Party

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

18 reviews

bellsdixon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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weelasswithabook's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

3.5 🌟

CW: Murder, infertility, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, child abuse, animal death/hunting, outing, PTSD, Afghanistan war flashbacks, death, cheating, toxic friendships, stalking

🌟 Thriller

Every character in this book bar Heather and Doug are AWFUL. I don't think I've ever seen so many unlikeable characters in the one place 🤣 I could not wait to find out who the victim was, never mind the perpetrator, because it could've been any of them and I'd still have been delighted. There was no way for me to be disappointed here.

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lexithelion's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Out of Lucy Foley's 3 murder mysteries, this is definitely my least favourite. However, that is not to say that this is a bad book, because it's not. This book is a great first mystery that combines the difficult inter-workings of friendships and an establishing plot-line that puts all the characters in an abstract and very solitary situation. The book does not drag and the story is incredibly easy to follow; props to Lucy Foley for being able to write a 0% confusing mystery novel that jumps back-and-forth in time and also utilizes multi-perspective chapters. I will say that this book seemed quite fast and the ending was incredibly abrupt which is a pattern I've noticed in Foley's literature.

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growfromit's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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lighterthaneyre's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

A real nice sense of tension was built. The trickle feeding of information to the reader was a bit heavy handed (ex: one POV referring to the victim exclusively as 'the guest' to obfuscate who died), but the slow characterization build worked well. Less impressed by the build of the myster itself - lots of mood, little in the way of clues.

Honestly annoying that the flaws and conflicts between the characters wasn't the spark of the crime. It doesn't count as red herrings if Everything is a red herring and the real enemy was ~~communism~~ personality disorders all along

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natgoe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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moyarb's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I did love the setting and how isolated it felt. It set the mood and the last 20 chapters or so were enjoyable. Unfortunately, this was too slow for me (It's 60 chapters plus an epilogue!), but I think if I didn't go in expecting a whodunnit and seeing the reviews on the back cover comparing it to Agatha Christie, I probably would've enjoyed it more. This wasn't a murder mystery, but more like a domestic drama with some suspense sprinkled at the end. The characters were either very unlikable or boring, and the ending wasn't satisfying. Of the trope about a group of longtime friends who secretly hate each other, this was the weakest.

Earlier this year, I read The Paris Apartment which is Lucy Foley's most recent work and the first book of hers I read. I loved The Paris Apartment, but having read The Hunting Party and the preview of The Guest List, Foley's mysteries are pretty much the same format: Multiple POVs set back and forth in time during the present and the time leading up to the present and I suppose it all depends on execution because I think The Paris Apartment was more engaging and had a good blend of the drama and the mystery. At least it showed that Foley improved on her formula.

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