The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley on June 6, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Coming of Age, Fiction / General, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General, Fiction / Thrillers / Crime, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 432
Format: ARC
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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 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, 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?
This was my first Lucy Foley book that I have read, so I was not sure what to except since I was not familiar with her writing style. The story intrigued me but I did find the style a little hard to imagine and follow along. The story was told over the span of 36 hours as well as ‘summer journal’ that showed events from 15 years prior. I had trouble keeping all the characters in check. There were too many, some of whom changed their names and identities over the 15 gap . Between the guests, the Manor staff, and the police, there are a puzzling number of characters to keep track of. It had only been 15 years since some of these characters had seen each other and yet they fail to recognize each other??
I gave this novel a 3.5 star rating. The story was good and when I got about 80% through, it really became intense and I was not able to put it down! I just wish I was able to imagine some of the images in my mind the way she had described them. Maybe I am just not familiar enough with English to be able to see it. That aside, I would still recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this unique mystery for my honest opinions.