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

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Another psychological thriller with an emphasis on the "psychology" and not on the thrills! Lucy was a well-rounded character (if TSTL), but the plot was slow-going, and once again relies on an antagonist seeking their revenge in the most silly, elaborate way possible. (We know from the get-go that Alice wants to destroy Lucy's life - the only mystery is what her motive actually is.) Instead of Alice sneaking into Lucy's house and just moving her calendar around and other boring shits-and-giggles things, I ended up wanting Alice to just get on with it and break this story out of its tedium.

The Book Club by CJ Cooper | Hachette UK The Book Club by CJ Cooper | Hachette UK

Alice has done her research well and soon the friendships between the group are crumbling as she executes her vengeful plan, with devastating results. The reason why Alice is out for revenge will keep you guessing right up to a clever twist which I didn’t see coming. The writing itself was decent, but I found the changing perspectives and the jumping between past and present with no timestamps or clear indication of whose perspective we were getting unnecessarily confusing. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and I found myself not really caring about what happened to any of them. For a group of friends, they were nasty to each other, and they never communicated! As a group of neighbours in the village start meeting regularly to discuss classic literature and drink large glasses of wine, secrets begin to unravel. It seems that everyone in Willowcombe is hiding something – and one of them is murder. The fact that Alice was suspected early on dismissed all the ‘C’mon you must know’ and made the ‘proving it’ even betterI 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). It soon becomes clear to Lucy that Alice has sinister intentions as she begins to manipulate the group. She chooses the first novel Jane Eyre and Lucy starts to feel that Alice knows her secret. When Lucy’s friend Liz comes to stay she has a run-in with Alice and is convinced she has met her before. 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! 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

The Book Club by C. J. Cooper | Waterstones

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.I don’t think I have hated a character so much as I have in this book. It was written perfectly and I just couldn’t believe some of the stuff that was being done in the name of revenge. There is mistrust for all the characters and their secrets as soon as you start the book but you can't help but read it as you need to find out more! Lucy has not long moved away from London to her quiet little cottage in a small Cotswold village with her small group of friends spending their time with coffee mornings, homemade biscuits and pub lunches where she is trying to start fresh and forget what happened to her. Shortly after Lucy has moved in, moves Alice next door to her. She weaves her way into Lucy’s group and suggests they start a book club. Lucy knows she can't be trusted but she doesn't know why. Alice knows who Lucy is and will stop at nothing to expose her secret. Can Lucy find out who Alice is before someone gets hurt? 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.

The Book Club: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller

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. Another thing - why Liz? Liz had sort of recognised her, but the way she said it was that she had a vendetta against Liz. It then turns out she doesn't. So why Liz? 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? Lucy still considers herself a newbie among her small circle of village friends and begins to feel a bit pushed out as Alice charms her way into their group. It’s her suggestion that they should start a book club and the others – Maggie, Rebecca and Tom – agree to join in.With a very intriguing opening chapter we meet Lucy. She has left London, after having an affair with her boss, and lost her job. We then meet Maggie, Rebecca and Tom her neighbours in the village she has moved to. After a few months she appears to have settled in nicely and they regularly meet up, although sometimes not including her. However it seems the village will have a new addition when the rumour mill suggests the postman is now delivering to empty number 1. This is a gripping psychological thriller which will keep you guessing until the end. It would make an intriguing choice for your next book club novel?

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

There is also far too much reliance on coincidence. Isn't it handy that every single part of Alice's plan falls exactly into place the way she wants it, and that her targets never once seem to take the opportunity to actually talk with one another about their suspicions? I could give the book more credit than it deserves by suggesting it's a commentary on shallow friendship and today's society of self-absorption, but I think it was more plot convenience, so that Alice's elaborate plan could go ahead flawlessly, when in reality there was about 1001 ways it would have gone wrong. Alice is out for revenge, and it took me until the last few chapters, just before it was revealed, to work out what exactly she wanted revenge for. 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. Absolutely love addictive psychological thrillers like Louise Candlish's Those People, Shari Lapena's The Couple Next Door and Fiona Cummins's The Neighbour? Then you will be hooked by this edge-of-your-seat novel about the dark secrets that the neighbours of one street are hiding. 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.

Games

We find this out at the end of the book and I was a bit surprised by the extremes Alice goes go to get revenge, when I found out what happened. 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.