I only read 'The Hunting Party,' not both of these books. But all other versions of 'The Hunting Party' on US Amazon don't have a picture of the stag. And I read this book in the category of a book with an animal on the front cover. So, yeah. Just saying.

The first thing to say is I did enjoy this book. It has lots of mystery and suspense. All good. But I didn’t like any of the characters. Not one. And that made it a little hard for me to relate to them. I didn’t really care about any of them. Which is fine for one or two characters, but when we’re talking about all of them, it causes a little problem, at least it does for me.

All this said, I did find the book gripping. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to satisfy my own curiosity and learn who committed the murder.

A little background … this book is set in a remote corner of the Scottish Isles. A party of friends who were at university together, some twenty years ago, embark on a hunting trip to the wilderness for New Year’s Eve. Cue: lots of ice, snow, and a lack of amenities. And then, of course, a little murder. One of the party is murdered at night. But which member of their party did it? I like how the author doesn’t reveal who has been murdered until almost the end of the book. We know only that it is a woman. But, as we see the events leading up to the murder unfold, we gradually learn the culprit. And it was not at all who I guessed it would be. And the motive is unexpected, too. I liked that about this book.

So, although I didn’t like the characters, I thought the tension and the suspense was first class. I enjoyed the book, and I was gripped until the end.

Fans of psychological thrillers. People who like books with twists and turns and a whole bunch of suspects, and that then keep you guessing right until the end.

The suspense. I loved how we didn't know for sure who had been murdered because the book began with this being found, muyrdered. But no names are mentioned. Then, we are taken back to watch the events leading up to the discovery unfold. I think that's clever, and it works brilliantly in terms of suspense.

Any of the characters. It would have been good to be able to root for at least one of them. But I didn't care what happened to any of them.

It was a gripping, exciting read. But it was fairly superficial. I know; it is grip-lit. It's purpose is purely to keep us hooked. And it works. I was.

Its plot is not unique. I've read quite a few similar books in the last couple of years. However, the twist in this book is fab. I didn't guess the murderer, and I didn't guess their reasons for doing it.

As I mention above, the plot isn't that unusual. The twist is great, but at the same time, there are other similar books which are a bit deeper and have more substance.

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Created Feb 22, 2021 at 5:34am • Submit your own review...