For my first Lucy Foley pick, I grabbed a copy of The Midnight Feast. This is one of those books I picked up at Barnes & Noble on my Christmas shopping spree with my mom, and admittedly I was a little drawn in by the green sprayed edges (you already know I’m a sucker for sprayed edges). I recognized Foley’s name because she’s well established in the thriller genre, and that was enough for me to want to give her a try, so I made a point to go into this book completely blind.

Firstly, I want to talk about the setting. The beautiful, atmospheric backdrop of a manor beside mystical woods in a small seaside English town feels like something straight out of a fairy tale, yet still distinctly modern as the dual timeline flips between 2010 and 2025. For a thriller, this creates a wonderfully eerie foundation for a story that turns into a wild ride from start to finish.

There are several narrators, and you quickly learn that you can’t truly trust any of them. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where so many characters are holding onto secret identities, only to reveal – very late into the plot – who they truly are. Even more unsettling is how all of these revelations tie directly into the town’s troubled past.

My favorite creepy tie-in, however, was the children’s song that’s been rewritten by locals to reflect the lore of the birds in the woods. It’s deeply foreboding and feels like one of the most chilling ways for an author to heighten tension: turning a simple nighttime walk through the woods into something terrifying by giving it a soundtrack.

I had a rough time starting this one out because I was actively flaring and dealing with some heavy brain fog, so this is a book I’ll want to revisit in the future. That said, once I had a clear grasp on everything, I couldn’t put it down. I read the entire second half in record time because I had to know what came next.

If you’re looking for a murder mystery with Midsummer vibes, this is a great book to pick up—sprayed edges or not (although that’s always a fun bonus). I already have at least one more Lucy Foley book in my personal library, and it’s officially moved up a few spots on my TBR. I can’t wait to dive in again.