Book review: The Hunting Party

I picked this novel up after having read good reviews about it.

I liked the idea of a murder mystery set in a remote Scottish hunting lodge, cut off from civilization during a blizzard.

This novel started off very well, and kept me quickly turning the pages. Nine old friends – most of them classmates from their college days back at Oxford – keep up the tradition of New Year’s holidays spent together at various holiday destinations.

This year it is the stunning – and remote – Loch Corrin Estate where they will be ringing in the new year.

But dynamics have changed since their college years, and soon the light-hearted celebrations give way to underlying tensions.

The story shifts between the discovery of a body and the days leading up to what is determined to be a murder. This slow unravelling of the story told between the present and the recent past, seen through the eyes of various characters, keeps things humming along nicely.

I enjoyed the different perspectives and the slow reveals about each of the characters. Although it was an enjoyable read, I didn’t find it fully convincing, particularly towards the end.

Nevertheless, it was still a fun and fast read.