Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Club by Ellery Lloyd

26 reviews

bibliotherapybliss's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

I find myself on a lifelong quest for a thriller that can grip my interest the way Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" did when I first delved into it. Naturally, my hopes were set high when I picked up "The Club," but, unfortunately, it fell short of the mark.

At first glance, the concept behind the story was promising. The backdrop of Island Home, an ultra-luxurious resort exclusively frequented by the rich and famous, piqued my interest. As a fan of reality television and someone with a certain fascination for exclusive clubs like SoHo House, I was drawn to the idea of a resort so revered that people would resort to shady measures just to gain admission.

However, as the plot unfolded, it became evident that "The Club" wouldn't provide the deep dive into the world of the rich and famous that I had anticipated. The constant switching of points of view made it nearly impossible to keep up with each character's storyline, and the lack of endearing qualities in the characters left me unfazed by their fates. I found it hard to care whether they lived or died, and their slow attrition didn't stir much emotion.

In truth, I really wanted to love this book. While I did enjoy it enough to see it through to the end, I struggled through some of the convoluted details and ultimately felt that it couldn't fully satisfy my craving for a Christie-esque masterpiece.

As for the story itself, while brimming with characters, the true central character is Island Home. As the newest and most exclusive addition to the Home Group portfolio, it stands as the epitome of luxury and exclusivity. Home Group, a fictional counterpart to SoHo House, offers membership to only the wealthiest and most famous individuals, allowing them to escape the prying eyes of the public and indulge in whatever their hearts desire.

The narrative centers around the kickoff weekend of Island Home, where secrets and lies run rampant even before the rich and famous arrive. Throughout the book, the chapters oscillate between different characters on the island, each exploring the setting and encountering their own obstacles along the way.

While "The Club" offered a promising premise, it ultimately couldn't deliver the immersive thriller experience I had hoped for. It's a decent read but doesn't quite reach the heights of classic mysteries like those by Agatha Christie. My quest for the next gripping masterpiece continues.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

caitlin_plotsandpints's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship

dev921's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Abortion, Body shaming, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Murder, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Sexism

gollibee's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Death, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape and Adult/minor relationship

savheath's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Grief, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

cady_sass's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

A perfectly fine way to spend an evening but the book, in its entirely, is utterly forgettable. There are some interesting storylines in there, but I literally just put the book down and I’d have trouble explaining any of them. Or match the character names to their subplot. SO many characters. SO many rich white people. Meh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Classism, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

siobhanward's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

 Reese's Book Club Pick 57/68

I'm really starting to realize that Reese Witherspoon and I don't have the same taste... But I've started this journey, so here we go again. I feel like this book had good potential - the isolated group trope, but with current technology so they weren't just stuck there dying, the exclusive club, the cast of unlikable characters all hiding secrets were good ideas. However, the execution was not great. It was hard to tell people apart - POV characters were similar (Nikki and Annie in particular), but even other guests got me mixed up. I couldn't keep Keith and Kurt straight at any point. Characters were there for no real purpose - I still don't get why so much time was devoted to Kyra & Lyra at the beginning, only for them to fade away.

This book was a slow burn that ended suddenly. I turned a page and was suddenly at an epilogue and turned back because it felt like I missed a chunk of the book. Nope, it just ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Death, and Car accident

mrsjoellebell's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Car accident

jmkendall0218's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Death, Murder, Dementia, Drug use, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Car accident

archaicrobin's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

This one takes a bit of grace with reality and to get through it you really do need to suspend your disbelief but it was an interesting premise that just seems to fizzle our halfway through. 

Ned Groom is a millionaire that thrives off of hosting the worlds biggest stars at his resorts. Told from multiple perspectives the reader begins to unravel the tragedies that occurred during the weekend of Ned’s newest venture, island home’s launch. 

This thriller has lots of characters and lots of twists, at times too many. I really enjoyed this one at first, it was fast paced with interesting characters, and a fun premise but halfway through the twists started getting gratuitous and the story just got dull. I didn’t really care for any of the characters by the end and everything took way too long to happen. 

I read a lot of thrillers and this wasn’t the worst one I’ve read but it didn’t really do anything for me either to make it stand out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Murder, Car accident, Death, Rape, and Toxic relationship