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A review by actuallyjusthanne
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is the third book by Lucy Foley that I have read, and I think its my favorite one to date! All of Lucy's books are so atmospheric and have such a distinct aesthetic and setting, and this one is the one that has the best vibes, in my opinion.
The book is set on The Manor, a luxury retreat that has just been built, touting health and wellness for all the fanciest guests. The owner, Francesca, has cultivated the whole place to be the inviting and elite, with an infinity pool, cocktail bar, personalized cottages, and the works, and opening night is slated to be on the summer solstice. While the wealthy guests live in splendor, getting every whim fulfilled at a moment's notice, the local people are seeing the facade. From the start, it is clear that Francesca has exploited resources to build The Manor; as the story unveils, the level of exploitation becomes more and more obvious.
There are only 4 main perspectives in this book, as opposed to 5 or 6 from Lucy Foley's other books, which I appreciated because it made it easier to keep the story clear. However, the trade off is that the backstory is much more convoluted and becomes revealed very slowly. I had a bit of trouble piecing the story together--it was a split present, past, and future timeline--throughout the first half of the book, but I started following it pretty well as the book continued. I also thought the journal entries from the past were a nice touch and really gave the backstory a lot of depth.
The backstory reminded me a little of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and the overall vibes of the book reminded me, strangely enough, of Normal People by Sally Rooney, with a touch ofThe Glass Onion . The stakes were revealed fairly early on into the book, and the story unraveled what happened to lead up to that point. The undercurrent of uneasiness that runs throughout the book makes it constantly feel like something is going to happen.
The ending was by far my favorite out of the 3 Lucy Foley books I've read: one thing about me is that I LOVE books where the storylines all converge at the end, and this one does it so well. I was so impressed by the way everything fit together in a (for me) believable sense.I thought the chapters set in the future from the perspective of the Detective Inspector, because it felt super jarring and didn't fit in with the rest of the storytelling, but when the whole thing tied together, those chapters tied right into the story so well! I thought that the way everyone came together to settle their debts from years past was so well done and believable .
The only thing that I was a little confused by was the variousname changes and characters from the past that had a tie-in to the present story: it was hard to keep them straight from the journal entries (because I didn't know I had to be on the lookout for them) but tl;dr, as a teenager, Francesca killed Cora through poisoned brownies. As it turns out, Cora had a son, then known as Shrimp, who reinvented himself as Owen, who went on to marry Francesca and was the designer of The Manor. Michelle, the assistant to Francesca, was a local girl who was violated by Francesca's brothers (who are investors at The Manor). The whole thing was run behind the scenes by DI Walker, who turns out to be the third in the summer gang of Bella/Allison, Francesca, and Jake, where Cora was killed. He is also the older brother of Eddie, the serving boy who has managed to get a job here to help support his family, which has fallen apart since his brother tried to commit suicide and then left town. While confusing, it was necessary for the story to play out, and once they are kept straight, it was really quite genius.
I was a little worried that there was going to be asupernatural magical realism twist to it, because it would have made it utterly unbelievable (duh) and would feel like an incredible cop out, but there wasn't! It was really left unclear until the very end but I thought it was done very well.
All in all, I really liked this book! The summery aesthetic was perfect to read this time of year, and the whole aesthetic of The Manor was such a vibe. This is one of my favorite suspense reads, and I see myself rereading this in the summer again in the future!
The book is set on The Manor, a luxury retreat that has just been built, touting health and wellness for all the fanciest guests. The owner, Francesca, has cultivated the whole place to be the inviting and elite, with an infinity pool, cocktail bar, personalized cottages, and the works, and opening night is slated to be on the summer solstice. While the wealthy guests live in splendor, getting every whim fulfilled at a moment's notice, the local people are seeing the facade. From the start, it is clear that Francesca has exploited resources to build The Manor; as the story unveils, the level of exploitation becomes more and more obvious.
There are only 4 main perspectives in this book, as opposed to 5 or 6 from Lucy Foley's other books, which I appreciated because it made it easier to keep the story clear. However, the trade off is that the backstory is much more convoluted and becomes revealed very slowly. I had a bit of trouble piecing the story together--it was a split present, past, and future timeline--throughout the first half of the book, but I started following it pretty well as the book continued. I also thought the journal entries from the past were a nice touch and really gave the backstory a lot of depth.
The backstory reminded me a little of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and the overall vibes of the book reminded me, strangely enough, of Normal People by Sally Rooney, with a touch of
The ending was by far my favorite out of the 3 Lucy Foley books I've read: one thing about me is that I LOVE books where the storylines all converge at the end, and this one does it so well. I was so impressed by the way everything fit together in a (for me) believable sense.
The only thing that I was a little confused by was the various
I was a little worried that there was going to be a
All in all, I really liked this book! The summery aesthetic was perfect to read this time of year, and the whole aesthetic of The Manor was such a vibe. This is one of my favorite suspense reads, and I see myself rereading this in the summer again in the future!