The Book:
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
Published June 18, 2024 by William Morrow
Date read: April 6, 2024
The Midnight Feast spoilers can be found below, but they’re hidden under a spoiler tag so you’re safe to keep scrolling if you’d just like to read my review.
The Characters:
THE FOUNDER – Francesca
THE HUSBAND – Owen
THE MYSTERY GUEST – Bella
THE KITCHEN HELP – Eddie
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
This page contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this site.
The Plot (from Goodreads):
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.
And yet, just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. The local community resents what they see as the Manor’s intrusion into the local woods and attempts to privatize the beach, and small skirmishes have erupted on the edges of the property between locals and the staff. And the whispers keep coming, about an old piece of pagan folklore—it must be folklore??—the Night Birds, an avenging force that can be called upon to make right wrongs that elude the law. Though surely everything at the Manor has been done above board.
On the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered. Something’s not right with the guests. What happened on the grounds of the Manor the past 36 hours? And who—or what—is the cause?
THE FOUNDER
THE HUSBAND
THE MYSTERY GUEST
THE KITCHEN HELP
Everyone has an agenda. Everyone has a past. But not everyone will survive…The Midnight Feast.
The Midnight Feast Spoilers
The Reveal:
Bella and Francesca were friends as children, while Bella was vacationing in town. Francesca took her in and befriended her, sort of. She was a bit of a bully and enjoyed using Bella as her naive plaything. Her brother Hank sexually assaulted Bella.
Owen was Shrimp, the little boy from Bella’s flashback journal. Michelle was Shelly who worked at the chip shop. Eddie was the little brother of Jake, the boy Bella was with in the journal. How in the world did Francesca not recognize any of these people, especially her husband?? I guess the theory is that she thought the townspeople were too far below her to remember.
Cora was Owen/Shrimp’s mom. Francesca killed her by giving her mushrooms she thought were hallucinogenic but were actually poisonous. When Francesca’s grandfather refused to call the police, Jake presumably killed himself out of guilt. Later we found out he just started doing drugs and eventually moved away.
The night of the solstice, Owen found Cora’s body. When he asked Francesca about it, she inadvertently admitted she knew about it in her surprise in finding out that Owen was Shrimp. The party crashers had drugged all of the guests. Francesca used their bonfire supplies to set fire to the manor and escaped in Owen’s fancy sports car. Eddie saw her go and biked up to the road. He put on the Birds costume he had found in his house and stood in the road to stop Francesca. She veered off the road and was the dead body at the bottom of the cliff.
The Ending:
The officer investigating the deaths and fire was Jake. When everyone thought he was probably dead, he had moved away and made a good life for himself. Eddie found out that the Bird costume belonged to his mom, not his dad.
I’m sorry I don’t remember finer details, just the gist. Please feel free to comment to clear anything up! I hope these The Midnight Feast spoilers were helpful.
The Review:
In all honesty, I was totally on the fence about whether to request this one on Netgalley. I’ve loved some Lucy Foley books and hated others, but I ultimately decided to give this one a try. I’m glad I did!
What I liked best about The Midnight Feast was how easily I could picture every scene. Foley created such distinct images in my head that I can still remember how I imagined the Hutches, the woods, the manor, the farms, and the beach to look. It’s not often that I have a very vivid picture of a setting that stays in my mind long-term! I think this would make a great screen adaptation. I can definitely picture Nicole Kidman playing Francesca.
I liked the split timeline of The Midnight Feast–multiple POVs in the present and Bella’s diary to fill in the past. Some dark twists came together wonderfully, and it was fun to see the past come back to haunt Francesca in more ways than one.
Overall it was a solid read and an interesting thriller. It’s quite fast-paced, so I was able to read it quite quickly. It felt like a cross between Midsommar and Nine Perfect Strangers (and maybe The Birds, but I haven’t seen that).
Follow me on Bloglovin’!
1 Comment