Lucy Foley’s books are fairly formulaic. Some of the twists are eyeroll worthy. If you can suspend disbelief, this is fine beach read.

Thank you for this advance copy. I really enjoyed this book. It kept me up all night reading, I just could not stop!

Welcome to The Manor, a luxury retreat hidden away cliffside for those looking to enjoy nature. From the outside it is a beautiful setting, lush gardens, intricate architecture, and quiet. The guests have secrets though. Someone winds up dead at the bottom of the cliff. Was it an accident or did someone get to close to finding out the truth?

Two words, slow burn. Lucy Foley tells stories with multiple POVs and timelines. The character building is well done, but it also makes the story drag at points. There's a strong sense of location in this story, but at the same time there's just a lot going on. I felt like I was being drug along by the middle of the book. The last 30 pages were great. It just took a long time to get there. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Locked room mysteries are my favorite so I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to check this one out. I’m usually decent at figuring out what’s coming, but this book surprised me! I really enjoyed it.

I had my reservations at the beginning. The Midnight Feast didn’t immediately draw me in the way Foley’s books usually do. However, sticking it out is absolutely worthwhile. If you’re asking me, this is Foley’s best book yet.

The character connections that are usually present in Foley’s books is strong and it is so unique in The Midnight Feast. The identity puzzle is incredible—I consider myself quite good at picking up on the clues an author leaves behind and this book gave me not one, but two surprises. Some of the writing was lost on me, an American, but not enough to lose the plot or not pick up on details.

Foley did extremely well at giving each POV their individual voices. Even when I forgot who each chapter was, I could parse it out by the middle of the book because their voices were so different from one another. The pacing was great and looking back, even the slow start at the beginning was okay given how the story played out. It needed a slow start to lay the groundwork.

Overall, The Midnight Feast is a 5/5 for me. The last paragraph of the book was *chef’s kiss* perfect. What a thrill to read it! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. I’ve already recommended it as an upcoming read to two people and I won’t stop there. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ooh This one took me for a loop. It took me a minute to get into it. A lot POV's which sometimes can be hard to follow but gave the story a lot of depth. I was intrigued and wanted to know how it was going to end.

I had some mixed feelings about this book, but overall it was a pretty good suspense novel. I liked the twists at the end.

Lucy Foley once again creates another fantastic mystery thriller. I’ve been continually impressed with her skill in this genre since I was introduced to her work through The Paris Apartment. In a genre that has become saturated, Foley once again stands out with The Midnight Feast. This was a refreshing story that kept the reader guessing and flipping pages.

Really enjoyed this one! Not my favorite of Lucy Foley's work, but a very solid addition to her catalogue. The ending felt a bit too easy (everyone is an undercover local), but the setting was A+. And the Birds! So creepy!

When a small, seaside town becomes the new center for a wealthy wellness retreat, a lot of bad blood and old secrets are unearthed.

Lucy Foley has done it again! Another thriller/suspense novel that reads like a movie. While the multiple points of view and timelines were occasionally a little tricky to transition between, this was a fabulous read. I loved all the cascading twists and reveals and how some were right there under the surface while others I would have never guessed at. This one needs to be made into a movie or mini-series ASAP. The Menu meets Agatha Christie vibes were so devilishly fun! I'd say this is a 4.5 star read because my attention wavered a bit with some of the multiple points of view, but I'm rounding up to 5 stars for this one because, at the end of the day, it was just that good!

Well, that was a lot. I really want to love Lucy Foley books. I have really enjoyed some and others I found difficult to get through. This one I loved the premise, but I was quickly annoyed with the execution.

If we are meant to hate most of the characters, and not feel like we really know some others then job well done. If you do not love multiple point of views, accompanied by timeline hops, this is not for you. I enjoy both of these things, but I am discovering that too much and together in the same story maybe not as much. I just kept wanting the actually action to happen. There was a lot of things almost happening to lead up and build suspense, but for me it didn't hit the mark. When things started happening all at once it seemed very chaotic.

I have a lot of questions about some of the logistics of the actions of some characters. I won't bring them up here as to not allow spoilers, but I just wonder how, why, and or why not in a lot of instances. Were all of the outcomes based on intent or were they accidents.? How did more people not get hurt in some of these crazy events? The lack of communication between characters seemed to also allow for a lot of the plot points to happen, but they seemed unrealistic to me.

There is a clear divide in the classes and I think that might be one reason I struggled to really fall in love with this story. The way people of both classes were described it almost seemed just negative throughout. We are snobby and spoiled if we are too wealthy, but we are filth and scum if we are too poor. I guess I read more to escape and this just felt like stuff that happens everyday and society turns a blind eye.

I did enjoy the towns people fighting back. It seemed like a losing battle for them, but they didn't just let it go. My favorite part was towards the end one single line in the book made me laugh. A simple statement from a man at the bar. It is not a horrible book I think it just really was not for me, and not what I wanted tot see from this author. I enjoyed it more than the Paris Apartment, but less than the three others I have read by her.

Lucy Foley has mastered the art of weaving together a number of different plot threads in one dynamic tapestry, as seen in her books The Guest List and The Paris Apartment. The Midnight Feast aims for a similar structure and feel, but it fell short for me for a few reasons.

But first, what I liked:
- I enjoyed the short chapters! It quickened the pace of this slow burn and I flew through it
- The scenery and the description of the luxury hotel
- The last 20% of the book I couldn’t put the book down

What I didn’t like
- I felt the book switched between too many character POVs (not really going into depth with any of them) and timelines, in addition to diary chapters which were a struggle to read and didn’t add much to the story. It felt messy at times.
- I’m not sure how much the folklore element really added to the book. It was used with a heavy handed amount of foreshadowing, with not enough of a payoff until the very end.

3.8, actually. I love Lucy Foley, but it took me a while to get into this book. A lot of characters, the diary pages did not pull me in. The last third of the story was better and finally made me connect with the story. But overall, not my favorite of hers. Thank you #netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Midnight Feast is what I would describe as a thriller with a healthy dose of fantasy. Following the opening of a resort the local townspeople have passionate feelings about, due to the sacred ground its on, we see a revenge plot carried out. We have several view points to follow with a local fable overlaying it with supernatural elements. Ultimately tragedy strikes but it’s up to the reader to work through the mystery and and separate fact from fiction (or maybe they are one and the same).

Very spooky but if you’re not willing to embrace the fantasy elements this may not be for you. If you are, this is a great thriller that will leave you chilled.

This book didn't work very well for me, I grew tired of the first-person alternating view points when some of their inner monologues started to seem cartoonish. When someone was evil, they were EVIL and very self-aware, which resulted in pretty one-dimensional characters. I did enjoy the local folklore aspects of the story and the conflict between the residents and the resort, I wish that would have been explored a little more. The story had good bones but could have used more fleshing out.

Book review

Lucy Foley returns to using the natural world as a character, in this case the ancient forests and coastline of rural Dorset, in this atmospheric thriller. The novel centers around a mysterious woman in disguise returning to her childhood vacation spot, now transformed into a luxury resort, to confront the traumatic events of fifteen years ago. Foley deftly switches narrators, including a compelling diary written by a teenager. No one is who they seem as tensions between old and new, rural and urban, rich and poor are explored. Elements of the supernatural and old rural folklore make the novel downright scary at times, and balances out the trite nature of some of the character “reveals.” This is a fun novel to read and a great improvement on Foley’s The Paris Apartment.

Lucy Foley never lets me down with a good suspense novel, The Midnight Feast is no different. A Fast paced thriller leaving you grasping for the truth, 5 stars for another Foley novel!

This goes down like sparkling cider on a boiling evening. I have some quibbles: a teenage boy whose voice never quite rang true, a nursery rhyme that never quite managed to be nearly as ominous as it was meant to be, but Lucy Foley excels at grasping mean girls and this sure had one of those! I wanted something easy, fast and satisfying and I got exactly that.

Loved Foleys newest mystery thriller. The ending was so satisfying, and I loved how the story came together and clicked perfectly into place like puzzle pieces. The only other Foley I had read before this was "The Guest List" on audiobook, which was fantastic, and I was happy to see that Foley takes the same method with "Midnight Feast", with the multiple POV's.

This was so disappointing. I have really ejoyed Foley’s other books, but this was a real letdown. Mostly loathsome characters, implausible and far-fetched events, unsurprising twists. It just didn’t work for me.