The Hunting Party

Miranda is the leader of the group of friends who reunite in Loch Corrin for their annual New Year’s Eve trip. She’s beautiful, popular, glamorous, and often cruel to others. Miranda hasn’t grown much since her university years. She has no career and therefore spends her days trying to fill her time with her husband, Julien, and her social life. She and Julien are unhappy in their marriage, however, because neither of them has evolved from their youthful dating years. Miranda is self-centered and doesn’t consider her friends’ feelings; in prioritizing her own feelings, Miranda loses out on true friendship. Emma, who is obsessed with Miranda, murders her. However, Emma doesn’t necessarily want to kill Miranda. Miranda dies in part because she taunts Emma with cruel labels. When Miranda feels vulnerable or hurt, her self-defense is to reassert her dominance by being mean to others, but this survival tactic ends up contributing to her death. When Miranda dies, her group of friends breaks up, as their only tie to one another had been Miranda. Thus, Miranda is the glue that holds everyone together, but their togetherness is also toxic. Although Miranda’s death is tragic, she’s unlikable and difficult to be friends with. Her death therefore frees her friends to find self-respect and more meaningful relationships.

Katie is Miranda’s oldest friend. They met when they were young girls in school. Miranda’s wealth and popularity seduced Katie, and Katie became a kind of project for Miranda. This informed their friendship for decades. Katie was always simultaneously in awe of Miranda’s glamor and resentful of her power and cruelty. Katie developed into a workaholic, which gave her an easy excuse to avoid Miranda and Miranda’s other friends. However, Katie’s affair with Julien forces her to confront her own pettiness. She’s attracted to Julien because he’s Miranda’s husband; in sleeping with him, Katie gets to take something away from Miranda for a change. Crucially, Katie becomes pregnant with Julien’s child, which Miranda has tried but failed to do. Thus, Katie proves herself the winner against Miranda and her picture-perfect marriage. Katie has the last word in this novel; she reflects on her journey to self-respect and resolves to make new friends who appreciate for who she is, not who they think she is.

Doug is the Loch Corrin’s gamekeeper. He is a former soldier whose time in the war in Afghanistan permanently traumatized him. He feels responsible for the deaths of his fellow soldiers when he failed to shoot a child carrying explosives. Although Doug has gone through therapy, he hasn’t been able to forgive himself for surviving. His guilt morphs into anger—and when other people judge him, it easily triggers his anger. An incident in a bar, in which he nearly killed a stranger, demonstrates Doug’s capacity for violence. However, he isn’t inherently a violent person. In fact, Doug is good. He cares about other people and is compassionate toward animals. His odd behavior stems from his trauma and his desire to be left alone, but doesn’t indicate a bad soul. Doug is attractive but aloof, adding to the drama of his characterization.