Book #27: The Book Club

This might actually be the first review I've done directly after finishing the book I've just read! I didn't want to get backed up again, so figured I'd just crack on with it now! Another Valentine's Day gift from Bev. Thankfully this one was not so bad.

So, The Book Club. I felt like I'd enjoy this one a lot more than the Exham murder mysteries, and I did. I thought this book may be a murder mystery, almost like the Thursday Murder Club, but it wasn't. It's apparently a Psychological Thriller. Never read one of them before... well, now I have!

As the title suggests, the premise is set around a book club, set up by one of the characters. Each of the member has a secret that they are holding from everyone and as the book progresses, the secrets come to light. But why? There's got to be something at work here?

Without spoiling the book too much, it's a bit messed up. Makes you realise that your pain in the arse neighbours aren't as bad as they could be... after all, they're not a complete psychopath who is trying to break up a close knit bunch of friends (yourself included) and trying to kill off several people, for revenge for something that may not have even happened!

The characters. They're all adults in their late 20's to (at a guess) early 40's. In a sleepy Cotswold village where the average age is around 900 (with these 5) The main character, Lucy, has recently moved, is seen as the new girl, and has a slightly dodgy past, nothing bad, just dodgy. You've got Tom, the only gay in the village, with a secret that wouldcause him great judgement. Maggie, with a devastating secret, and Rebecca who is hiding something from her friend. Enter 'Alice' the new new girl, who moves next door to Lucy. From the offset, she is 100% evil, totally untrustworthy and just a complete and utter bitch. Guess who's going to be the villain here!

The story was good, but slow, fizzling down before an explosive end, and then rapidly going out again. I found myself hating Alice more and more throughout, wishing that the other characters would open their damned eyes and realise what was going on. Lucy knew from the start, but Alice ends up so sly and clever that she turns everyone against each other in the end.

I'm annoyed at the ending, the only character who deserved their just deserts gets away with it. NOT FUN. They deserve to go down, no blaze of glory, they just deserve to go down!

Whilst the book was good, it's certainly not great. I HATED how the chapters are structured. One chapter being in the present tense, from several viewpoints, and then the next being past tense, from Lucy's viewpoint. It just didn't flow right to me, and made it a really hard read in that sense. That said, I found the last 150ish pages hard to put down.

Overall I'd give it a 3/5. If it flowed better, and didn't drag in places, it would be better. If the ending were more satisfying as well, it would've been better. I don't like it, when someone so inherently evil, with no solid motive, gets away scot free.

Onto an easier read for me next... got another 4 books arriving from Amazon soon, and another couple still to read in my pile. Lets see where my journey takes me next!

The Book Club: 3cm

Total read so far: 27 books, 80.5cm

Total left to read: 112.5cm

How I imagine the neighbours in this story are!