The Book Club: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist

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I really wish I could have given this book a higher rating. The synopsis was interesting, and at points, I was gripped, but overall I just found myself being bored. Not quite what I would have expected from a psychological thriller (with more emphasis on the psychological - there was nothing particularly thrilling about this at all). Unfortunately it’s everything else that falls short with the main reason being that it’s all so unrealistic. Throughout the whole book none of the friends actually talk to each other about their suspicions or the rumours that Alice (someone completely new to the village) has suggested to the other supposed best friends – that would NEVER happen in real life. There are other small and not so small bits like this that just don’t make sense – including something ridiculous at the end (all I can say with no spoilers). I was also disappointed with the motive for revenge too.

The Book Club by C. J. Cooper | Hachette UK

However some negatives did have me rating this lower as two elements I didn't find realistic, one a friendship based one, the other right near the end but don't want to spoil it for anyone. Smart, sassy . . . Midsomer Murders meets Desperate Housewives. Immensely entertaining, the growing sense of menace - of 'where have I seen you before?' - grips and chills in equal measures. An excellent confident debut! Enter Alice, who moves in next door to Lucy, Alice knows exactly who Lucy is and wants revenge...and if she finds out the secrets of the other 3 in the ‘clique’ then the more the merrier and so via a Book Club where she chooses books to match their ‘crimes’ chaos suddenly arrives, and life will never be the same for any of them The story focuses on Lucy and Alice, and the suspense the author builds is tangible, however this ultimately results in a very disappointing conclusion. The ending feels rushed, the “revenge” is pitiful for the vehement hatred Alice supposedly feels, she drugs her and leaves her to burn alive, but doesn’t succeed. It left me with more questions than answers. How could Alice get hold of paralysing drugs and why did she let Lucy go rather than be sure she had succeed with the revenge she had plotted for so long. How on EARTH was Alice allowed to walk free when Tom had so many suspicions about Alice? It just makes no sense. There would have been a trail because the drugs obviously would have been obtained illegally. There isn’t even a passing comment from Alice about having to talk to police, apparently no one suspected anything (even though Lucy was drugged and accelerant was used for the fire) she just moved somewhere new as if nothing happened. Additionally when Lucy opens her eyes at the end I wish there was more of a conclusive ending.Intricately plotted, this gripping thriller is written with great style and has a host of wonderful characters to be loved and hated in equal measure

Lie to Me: A dark, compulsive thriller about obsession and

We learn a lot about the friends Tom, Maggie and Rebecca, one by one their secrets are revealed, and you become invested in their stories, however there is never any follow through. Once the secret is revealed the author just moves on with little regard to the fallout. She then meets a new neighbour and instantly dislikes her. She can’t pin point why, but she takes an immediate dislike to Alice. Lucy has left her job after an affair with her boss (which she is still somewhat ashamed of), and is living in a village. She has become good friends with the other young people in the village: Maggie, Rebecca and Tom. Into their midst comes Alice, renting one of the cottages. She's the one who suggests the book club of the title. As for Lucy, she's put on edge by Alice, and comes to suspect that Alice is there to get revenge and destroy her life - but what could her motive possibly be? I had some ups & downs with this, there were parts that were very slow paced & I struggled to get through, & the fact it was from lots Point Of Views without really clearly identifying it for you can be confusing at times (at least for me anyway). It also switched from first person to third often (Lucy's POV is in first, yet everyone else is in third).There were some times at the beginning of the story where I found it difficult to figure out who’s storyline we were reading but after a while I got to know the characters and the way the chapters were written around them. This book follows Alice, who has moved to the Cotswolds to get revenge on her new next door neighbour, Lucy. You know from the outset this is plot so the mystery is 'why'? What has Lucy done to Alice, without realising it, to push Alice to such extreme measures? Initially I found the book a tad confusing but then ‘in this current life’ does it take much for any of us to have a wandering mind? once I concentrated and forgot the C word I loved it, the characters are a dream, Alice deliciously evil and with not 1% of a sniff of a redeeming feature, a wonderful ‘love to hate’ baddie, the book goes between present and past and the plot was really cleverly done and the atmosphere well built C. J. Cooper grew up in a small village in south Wales before moving to London as a student. She graduated with a degree in Ancient History and Egyptology and spent seven months as a development worker in Nepal. On her return to Britain she joined the civil service, where she worked for 17 years on topics ranging from housing support to flooding. She hung up her bowler hat when she discovered that she much preferred writing about psychotic killers to ministerial speeches. She lives in London with her husband and two cats.

The Book Club: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller The Book Club: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller

The story follows Lucy who has moved to a cottage in the Cotswolds after an affair with her boss. She moved for a fresh start and has found her feet with a group of friends who all seem relatively close. That is until a newcomer, Alice, moves in next door to Lucy and turns her world upside down. Lucy always knows there’s something she doesn’t trust about Alice, but she can’t seem to quite put her finger on it. Alice finds out secrets about everyone in the friendship group and, after suggesting a book club for them all, manages to suggest or manipulate other people into suggesting books similar to each of the secrets they have hidden from each other. I found the book quite confusing at times, one chapter was from Lucy’s point of view and then the next was always focused on other character or multiple character’s but always in the third person. Because of this, sometimes I had to reread paragraphs because I was confused who it was about. But once I got used to this style, I really did enjoy the book.Some parts felt quite believable how an outsider can infiltrate a group of friends and cause friction and tension whilst looking quite innocent. This book wasn’t written well at all but had a lot of potential to be great! It dragged on and was really flat, the execution and end was ok otherwise I’d of given a 1.5 (sorry!) The characters and their secrets were great, I loved how they seeped out gradually over the course of the book and that the books chosen for the book club would reflect each of them. They were written very cleverly, the atmosphere was built up perfectly and the switching between the timelines made it all come together in the end. Right away when starting this book I had the feeling of “okay, I know what this book is about, not sure if I’m going to enjoy this.” But a little further in I realized what I thought I knew was actually wrong- and then I had to find out what happened.