ARC Review: The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin...

"Sharp, stylish and stunning...Foley's best yet." -- Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End

"Everything you want in a thriller." -- Harper's Bazaar

"Agatha Christie for the Instagram age." -- Guardian

The deliciously twisty new locked room murder mystery from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List and The Paris Apartment

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule” cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

And yet, just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. The local community resents what they see as the Manor’s intrusion into the local woods and attempts to privatize the beach, and small skirmishes have erupted on the edges of the property between locals and the staff. And the whispers keep coming, about an old piece of pagan folklore—it must be folklore??—the Night Birds, an avenging force that can be called upon to make right wrongs that elude the law. Though surely everything at the Manor has been done above board.

On the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered. Something’s not right with the guests. What happened on the grounds of the Manor the past 36 hours? And who—or what—is the cause?

THE FOUNDER

THE HUSBAND

THE MYSTERY GUEST

THE KITCHEN HELP

Everyone has an agenda. Everyone has a past. But not everyone will survive…The Midnight Feast.

Title: The Midnight Feast

Author: Lucy Foley

Publisher: William Morrow

Expected Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Review:

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Another mystery/thriller from Lucy Foley that kept me on the edge of my seat. The opening night at The Manor is meant to be spectacular. The land has been transformed into an oppulent high end resort where no expense has been skipped to provide people with the highest quality vacation. But when the secrets of the past slowly start to unearth themselves, you find the guests and those working at The Manor are not all who they seem!

Foley has a way of taking multiple point of views and just making it work. I always worry I won't be able to keep everyone straight. Or that having more than one point of view in a mystery/thriller will take me out of the story. But, in reality, having all the points of view, plus journal entries, really helps the story take shape. And it lends to the author's ability to slowly reveal what is really going on and the truths the characters have to face. I also loved how each person in this story is not quite who they seem. They all have more than one identity or something they are hiding that effects the overall thrill and mystery of the story line.

The flashbacks with the journal entries really give great background to the characters in the story. It's easy to see how they have changed over the last 15 years and what the actions of their teens set in motion as they turned into adults.

I will say I did figure out a few of the mysteries along the way but this didn't detract from me enjoying the story line, I loved the inclusion of the local folklore. In all honesty, I felt like this book might actual take a turn into magical realism with how Foley presented the legend. But I know that's not really her style.  And part of a mystery is to leave you wondering how such magical type things are happening when there's not real magic involved.

Foley has a knack for creating a tension that keeps you turning the page in a book. As each character develops you find yourself wanting to know just exactly how they fit into the story and what their background is. I also loved the shorter chapters. Short chapters are always something I appreciate. I feel like they really help push the story along and they kept my attention more so than longer chapters would have. And her ability to set the scene and vividly show you exactly what The Manor looks like is great. I could practically feel and smell the ocean air and the woodsy scent throughout reading the story.

Overall, I think this might be my favorite Foley book so far. I liked the idea of how things unfolded and there were definitely some things I was not 100% expecting. Lucy's fans will love this one as much as all her others.

Author:

Hello and welcome to my Goodreads page! I’m the author of the murder mystery thrillers The Midnight Feast, The Paris Apartment, The Guest List and The Hunting Party — as well as the historical novels The Book of Lost and Found, The Invitation and Last Letter from Istanbul.

I came to writing through a love of reading — I previously worked with books as a fiction editor, a literary agent’s assistant, a bookseller and a literary scout!

Inspired by trips to the West Country and local folklore I began plotting my latest novel, The Midnight Feast. A midsummer heatwave, a setting with a past, a reunion that takes a dark turn. And so The Midnight Feast came to life.

Thanks to brilliant readers around the world, my novels have sold over five million copies, and been translated into multiple languages. I’m also a No 1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. A life-long Agatha Christie fan, I also contributed to Marple, a collection of short stories featuring the legendary detective.

Follow me on social media at:

Instagram @lucyfoleyauthor
Facebook @LucyFoleyAuthor
Twitter/X @lucyfoleytweets