Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 416
Released On: 06/06/2024
Midsummer, the Dorset coast
In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat.
But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.
It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at…
THE MIDNIGHT FEAST
*****
**Contains Minor Spoilers**
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is the first of Lucy Foley’s books I’ve read, but I can’t move on social media for early praise of it so I was excited to jump in.
It really starts with a bang. It’s thrilling and eery and I was really absorbed instantly.
There are a lot of characters, a lot, some more important to the main story than others, but I have picked out who I think are the most important.
Firstly, the ladies; we have Bella, our main protagonist. She seemed uneasy, afraid – whether she was afraid of herself, someone else, or the environment, I wasn’t sure. But she definitely felt on edge. I felt she was hiding something, but what? What does she know? What happened to her? Why is she there? She was very intriguing.
In contrast, we have Francesca, the owner of the manor. She is very…sort of like a fairy, ethereal is probably the right word. Floating along, used to getting her own way, she doesn’t seem to have any cares in the world. But once again, I felt there was definitely something she was trying to repress.
And finally we have Michelle, Francesca’s “right-hand woman”. She’s tough, a bit frightening, but she seems to be a bit too willing to do anything to help her. She felt very much like a lap-dog. An interesting, if somewhat irritating character.
And then the main men. We have Eddie, he’s young, a new member of staff working in the kitchen. He felt a bit naïve, and easily led, but I was looking forward to reading more about him. For me, he started off a bit meek, showing his inexperience, but he soon became quite strong (I won’t spoil why or how), and he became one of my most interesting characters.
And then Owen, Francesca’s husband. He’s an architect, and had a hand in building the manor. He’s definitely hiding something. Why did he want to get involved with it? Why is he there? What does he see in her? He was definitely the most enigmatic character, in my view. There was something about him I couldn’t quite understand, which made him interesting.
And then my last character is DI Walker, a policeman called to the Manor during the events (again, I will not spoil the whys and what and wherefores). I know I sound like a broken record, but he was definitely hiding something. There seemed to be more at stake here for him than just a police investigation.
What I found really fascinating was this exploration of class and money, the better off and the worse off, those seemed higher than others, and therefore deemed more worthy or deserving. Those people that are unafraid to irk others if it means they get what they want. They don’t consider other people’s feelings, they are unimportant.
It’s split into three time periods, with the chapters flitting throughout. We have the “before” which includes the opening of the manor and the solstice celebrations, the “after” which, self-explanatory, is set after the opening/celebrations, and then we have the “past”, which is given to us via snippets of an (at first) unidentified diary.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the diary entries as, even though they did give extra background information into why things are the way they are now, I wasn’t as enamoured about reading about spoilt rich snobs and their use of poorer people. The scenes after the solstice were my favourite. The before scenes are quietly frightening, suspenseful, and then it begins to ramp up and it all joins together very well.
Apparently, Lucy is the queen of the multiple POVs. I have a love/hate relationship with them. Get it wrong, have too many, and it gets confusing and bitty and difficult to keep on top of. But get it right, have the right amount, then it really helps give the story extra depth, which this has achieved.
The storytelling is very good, as is the description of place and setting. Very thorough but not bogged down in details. But it’s easy to put yourself in the situation because of how well Lucy has described the scene – the smells and noises, the people, the weather, the buildings, the clothing, the food and drink, the flooring.
The one…I don’t want to say negative as it wasn’t…the one thing that didn’t quite click with me was this theme of “birds”. I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t want to make this a spoiler-fest, but there is an ongoing thing about birds – stay away from the birds, keep away from the birds, don’t disturb the birds, don’t go in the woods at night because of the birds, etc. You’re never 100% sure what these birds are, are they real, is it a premonition, a fairy tale, what? And if I’m honest, I didn’t really understand them. I mean, in a literal sense I understood them on the page, they’re birds. But I didn’t get what the point of them was in terms of the story. No other review I’ve seen mentions this confusion, so perhaps it’s just me. I was just expecting this big reveal about them, and it never found it for me, so I’m still a bit confused as to what the point of them was.
It’s got a quiet, subtle thrill. For me, it was all about what could be. What is hiding in the shadows. Are people who they say they are? What are people hiding? What is the truth? A lot of it is implied and for me that’s more uncomfortable than if there was an obvious scary villain crawling the pages.
What makes it a good thriller for me, is how everything comes together. You’re reading it, enjoying it as it is, reading the before and after. And then things start to click, start linking together and you find your jaw has dropped. Things I didn’t see coming, but then seem obvious once you’ve read it. I wonder how it would read if I was to give it a second go, knowing what I know now.
I read it in a matter of hours, which is proof for me that it was good and enticing and absorbing. It may not have been absolutely perfect for me, but I couldn’t keep away from it.
All in all, as my first of her books, I’d say I’m very impressed. The positive reviews were right. It’s menacing, quiet but thrilling, unnerving, harsh, with interesting characters and well created spaces. My first Lucy Foley book, but it won’t be my last, I’m sure.
Books By Your Bedside 