The Midnight Feast

The Midnight Feast

By Lucy Foley

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.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered.

 I suppose I have a weakness for thrillers. I tend to find even the bad ones readable.  I relish the experience of trying to figure out the twists (there are always twists in today's thrillers. I remember when thrillers could earn the name by atmosphere and plot alone but those aren't nearly as fun) and usually have no trouble putting on the blinders required to overlook plot holes. I'm not generally reading these trying to look too closely at how it all hangs together, I enjoy the thin facades. All that is to say, I have no complaints about The Midnight Feast. It fulfilled all expectations, which is that it required very little in the way of concentration, verily zipped by, and contained enough outlandish shenanigans, both criminal and revenge-oriented, to satisfy anyone's thirst for skullduggery. 

To be fair, the plot does involve both past murder and present arson and there's a fair number of people who all have duplicate aliases in each timeline, so there are some who complain about trying to remember everyone. I didn't find it that hard though, everything gets repeated and then spelled out in detail, just in case you're very slow. Everyone has a secret and everyone is keeping tabs on everyone else. 

I did find the way it all tied together to be gratifying, and no plot holes were so glaring that they intruded on the afterglow. Does it make any sense how often people were both lost and yet constantly finding other groups of people and/or mysterious scenes in the woods? No!  Was I confused about how Eddie managed to jump on his bike after it specifically mentions that he lost it in the woods the previous day?  Yes! Does it make sense that Eddie was able to duck back into the Manor, get a costume on and catch up to Francesca on said bicycle while she's driving a car?  No! Did I enjoy the discovery that the explanation for one character's mysterious and oddly-timed disappearances was "playing fortnite at a local club"? Yes!

Read this one if you're in the mood for escapist thriller fun, where all the bad guys get their comeuppance and the good guys all make it out intact.  Read it if you're in the mood for cow-butchering secret societies who "right the wrongs" and you like hearing about rich people losing their investments.  Read it if you don't take yourself too seriously and have some spare time to wallow on the coast of Dorset in the fictional town of Tome (pronounced "Tomb" because of course!) enjoying the summer solstice.

27: A Book Set At A Luxury Resort