We hope you’re enjoying our Capsule Book Club recommendations! This month is all about the twisty-turny thriller, The Midnight Feast that had Kelly Bertrand absolutely hooked – and of course, it’s available at The Warehouse now! (And click through for our previous installments!)
CAPSULE X THE WAREHOUSE
Hands up who loves a good mind-bending psychological thriller? Oh yeah, that’s right – EVERYONE. You won’t be disappointed with Lucy Foley’s newest offering, The Midnight Feast – annoyingly for my perfectly planned out week that was supposed to be the picture of productivity, I couldn’t put this book down.
You might remember Lucy Foley’s writing from the smash-hit The Paris Apartment and this is very much in the same vein.
We’re on the Dorset coast and welcome to the Manor (bloody creepy already, why not just call it a house…) and we’re with Francesca, who has decided to transform her old home into a fancy resort (one of those holistic ones but with booze). It’s a cracker of a summer’s weekend and all the rich-AF invited guests are having a great old time, even though the locals are none-too-pleased about the manor’s new lease on life.
But amongst all the glitz and glam and linen (yeah, one of those parties), darkness lurks – old enemies are amongst the glitterati, secrets are abound and on Sunday morning of the opening weekend, the cops are called as a body is found.
Yeah, s*** gets real pretty quickly.
What ensues afterwards is a classic whodunnit that leans heavily on old scandals, a creepy and off-putting forest adjacent to the manor that’s so full of secrets it’s bigger than Gretchen Weiners’ hair, and even a mysterious fire.
It’s an action-packed psychological thriller and in the hands of another writer it very easily could have been an absolute mess, especially as the narrative jumps between the present day (2025) and old diary entries from 2010 where you learn of the origin of the central secrets, as well as different points of view. But Lucy Foley is an absolute master at the transitions and deftly switches between timelines to create a rich story with a cast of fleshed-out and interesting characters.
Our main cast of people all have different backstories that eventually weave their way to the forefront of the main narrative, and we see how people have re-invented themselves from their past selves to the version they’re presenting to the world in the present.
Nothing is revealed too early, and you have to wait until riiiight at the end for a few answers that’ll be nagging at you throughout the book which is perfect for a suspense-thriller-mystery, and there’s even some local folklore added into the mix to keep things spicy (that’s where the forest really enters the chat).
As you can tell, I really loved this book – but I will say if you’re finding it a little slow in the beginning, push through because when we finally get to the starting line, it’s like you’ve transferred from my 2007 Subaru Impreza to a Formula 1 car. There’s a fair few twists, and at times there was a bit of a Hitchcock kind of vibe about the narrative that reminded me of the old Hollywood thrillers (that could have just been the birds, though…).
It’s, at times, an unsettling and spooky read and the plot does go to some unexpected places while still unfolding against a background of luxury and an interesting mix of pagan-ish hedonism (didn’t think that was going to be on my bingo card for 2024 but there you are). If you want to be surprised and a little bit creeped out, hell, this is the book for you.