Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Club

I didn't like this book for a few reasons and the first one isn't totally the book's fault.
Reason 1 is that I just felt this book was misleading. I was expecting either a murder thriller or a whodunnit mystery and this was neither. This was purely a drama. In the novel description where it says "body count piles up", that is misleading. There is more than 1one death but it's not a slasher movie type situation.

That being said, people who like slow paced dramas may enjoy this. I think the story had potential.

There were a lot of characters and they were hard to differentiate and keep track of - especially in the first half of the book. Nothing really happens in the first half. There's a ton of backstory about the company that owns the elite clubs and it just felt like a lot. I needed action. I almost gave up multiple times but I persisted.

I think this book suffered from not having a main character. It jumped around between a lot of characters and most of them could have not been in the story and it wouldn't have changed much. I found myself having no idea how old most characters were or being able to picture them. The most interesting character was Nikki and we didn't get to learn much about her til the second half. Jessica was a decent character but I felt like she was missing something.

For a book about social tensions that eventually lead to murder, there wasn't any tense moments in this book. There was a never a time when I was truly afraid for the characters or felt any sense of urgency. It definitely told more than it showed.

This story unravels from multiple perspectives which lessens the amount of mystery. I think it would have been a more compelling story if we got things from one persons perspective or if it was more like a classic mystery in which a detective comes in to unravel it. The author clearly put thought into motives and weaving an intricate web, so that would have been fun. I also think this storyline would probably be better as a movie or short tv series than in this book format.

I will say that I found the last 25% or so of the book to be the best part.

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yetilibrary's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I had so much fun reading this.

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yetilibrary's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Fast-paced mystery--but the kind that uses a lot of foreshadowing (if that kind of thing bothers you). I had a wonderful time reading it.

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dori39's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.25

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what_heather_loves's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

"Then, as she was approaching and her heel caught a little on the edge of the Persian rug, her hand shooting out to steady herself, Ned looked up. And she saw the way he registered her stumble, an accident that might have happened to anyone. The quick glance up at her. The cruel flicker of a sneer. And it hit her that it did not matter, that an end had always been inevitable, that she could have been younger, older, quieter, louder, said too much to the press, said not enough to the press, and there would always have been a reason to get rid of her eventually. And in that moment she realised there was really only one thing left for her to do."

A psychological thriller with a number of locked room mysteries (set on an island) that only become apparent as the plot progresses. Chapters, from the perspectives of four of the main characters (all Home Group staff) are interspersed with a Vanity Fair article written after the slowly-revealed, blackmail, dramas and tragedies. The exclusive and luxury club's members are wealthy and influential and increasingly dislikeable celebrities. Chapters are short and many finish with a cliffhanger or dramatic reveal. It's fast-paced and compelling, becomes clear the situation and characters are a powder-keg where despicable people have devastating secrets and others are seeking revenge. By the end there have been deaths and revenges achieved! I throughly enjoyed reading this tense and escapist novel, which I read for this month's #TastingNotesBookClub from @the_book_taster

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thrillakilla's review

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adventurous 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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cady_sass's review

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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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