Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

68 reviews

caitlin_cain's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

bronzel's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Death, Alcohol, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Drug use, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Animal death, Sexual content, Fatphobia, and Pregnancy

mamaofperfectpayton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Alcohol, Animal death, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

lighterthaneyre's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

A real nice sense of tension was built. The trickle feeding of information to the reader was a bit heavy handed (ex: one POV referring to the victim exclusively as 'the guest' to obfuscate who died), but the slow characterization build worked well. Less impressed by the build of the myster itself - lots of mood, little in the way of clues.

Honestly annoying that the flaws and conflicts between the characters wasn't the spark of the crime. It doesn't count as red herrings if Everything is a red herring and the real enemy was communism personality disorders all along

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Gun violence, Stalking, Drug use, and Animal death

Moderate: Gore, Grief, and Bullying

jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Stalking, and Pregnancy

tanacef's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Alcohol, Stalking, Mental illness, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Grief, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Violence

shelb4117's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Death, Stalking, and Infertility

Minor: Vomit

chris_reads's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

With the wintry isolated setting, a tense party of old friends, and toxic female friendships, I was reminded a lot of Ruth Ware's In a Dark, Dark Wood. I preferred this one. Didn't love it though.

I liked the plot structure. I really like dual timelines, and the decision to withhold the victim's identity. And how so many characters felt like legitimate suspects. If you want a book with likeable characters, keep looking. I think this is the aspect of the genre that stops me from truly loving it. The mystery keeps me reading, but I never get all that invested in the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Alcohol, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Body shaming, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Homophobia, Classism, Infertility, and Drug use

moyarb's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I did love the setting and how isolated it felt. It set the mood and the last 20 chapters or so were enjoyable. Unfortunately, this was too slow for me (It's 60 chapters plus an epilogue!), but I think if I didn't go in expecting a whodunnit and seeing the reviews on the back cover comparing it to Agatha Christie, I probably would've enjoyed it more. This wasn't a murder mystery, but more like a domestic drama with some suspense sprinkled at the end. The characters were either very unlikable or boring, and the ending wasn't satisfying. Of the trope about a group of longtime friends who secretly hate each other, this was the weakest. 

Earlier this year, I read The Paris Apartment which is Lucy Foley's most recent work and the first book of hers I read.  I loved The Paris Apartment, but having read The Hunting Party and the preview of The Guest List, Foley's mysteries are pretty much the same format: Multiple POVs set back and forth in time during the present and the time leading up to the present and I suppose it all depends on execution because I think The Paris Apartment was more engaging and had a good blend of the drama and the mystery. At least it showed that Foley improved on her formula. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Infidelity, Animal death, Death, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Sexual content, Stalking, Drug use, Alcohol, Ableism, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Blood, Cursing, and Outing

rmperash's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Gore, Medical content, Pregnancy, Violence, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Death, Gun violence, and Infertility

Moderate: War

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming