She Treads Softly: The Midnight Feast

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

The Midnight Feast

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
6/18/24; 320 pages
HarperCollins

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley is a very highly recommended twisty locked room thriller. This entertaining novel unfolds through both multiple points-of-view and timelines

Francesca Meadows inherited the estate located by the Dorset coastline and ancient forests where she used to stay with her grandparents. She has now turned The Manor into an exclusive luxury resort built with help from her architect, now husband, Owen. The wealthy guests are arriving for the opulent opening weekend and planned summer solstice celebration. Let the celebrations begin! But wait all may not be as it seems. The locals aren't thrilled with The Manor for several reasons and there is one guest attending who is holding a grudge.

The narrative switches back and forth between different timelines and character's points-of-view. The timelines include the present day, the past, and after the solstice when DI Walker is investigating a fire and a body found. There are plenty of warnings to "beware the birds" and to keep in mind that the Night Birds could be called upon to bring judgement to bear.

Readers will know someone has died and that there was a fire at The Manor. Characters include Francesca, her husband Owen, Bella a guest with a grudge, and Eddie, a dishwasher who lives in the area. The entertainment is in meeting the characters, learning their backgrounds, and anticipating what is going to happen next. Additionally, with all the feathers showing up randomly, has someone summoned the Night Birds to come and render judgement upon the guilty.

Once the story gets moving, The Midnight Feast is a well-written, wildly entertaining book. I was actually shocked at several of the surprising twists toward the end. 4.5 rounded up. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.