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

Product Information

Im usually drawn to a good old fashioned “whodunnit”. This book tells you right away who dunnit, and why. Or does it?

Alice moves to a small town and presents the idea of starting a book club with a group of friends, presumably to get to know them better and fit in. But the truth of the matter is… she wants revenge. The debut book written by author C.J. Cooper is entitled ‘The Book Club’. It was released by the Constable publication in 2019. The central characters mentioned in this book by Cooper include Lucy, Alice, Maggie, Tom, Rebecca, and a few others. Initially, it is depicted that Lucy is forced to leave her job when her affair with her employer becomes public. She moves to a remote village to get rid of her guilt and shame. After spending some time in the village, Lucy forms a good friendship with other people of her age. They include Tom, Maggie, and Rebecca. Later, Alice comes to live in the village. She rents a cottage near the residence of Lucy and begins to bond well with the group. Alice is also the one who suggests a title for the book club. Lucy feels being put on edge by the newcomer, Alice. C.J. Cooper is a renowned English writer of mystery and suspense stories. She is particularly famous for writing her first book called The Book Club. Cooper was born as Claire Cooper in a small village located in South Wales. She was brought up in her hometown. Cooper moved to London when she started her college studies and began taking an interest in a wide range of topics. She completed her graduation by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Egyptology and Ancient History. Immediately after her graduation, Cooper moved to Nepal to work as a development worker and spent a total of 7 months in that field. Upon returning to Britain, Cooper started working in the civil service department. She served as a civil servant for more than seventeen years. 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.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? Additionally, if you have a cable log-in, you’ll be able to watch Book Club on FX Now. When will Book Club: The Next Chapter be on Paramount Plus? 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).

Whilst I didn’t dislike this book I just found that it jarred with me all the way along. The main character Lucy was ok but some of her decisions throughout the book make me think – do you want to invite trouble?! For example when faced with the murderer upstairs in her house and knowing she has come to hurt her; instead of leaving she choses to go upstairs and confront her? Really Lucy??! Also the pace of the story is quite slow, at times I was thinking “come on, move along”. There is quite a bit of padding with the stories of the other members of the book club which has little bearing on the final outcome. In fact Lucy’s affair with her married ex-boss is mentioned throughout the story but has little connection, really with the actual revenge. I guess these things are there as red herrings but really I just thought they were annoying. Ultimately I was interested enough in the book to carry on reading and was interested to find out what the murderers motive were – however like the book itself I found when it was finally revealed it was just a bit of a damp squib. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. Joy Behar Calls On Will Smith To "Get In The Ring" With Jada Pinkett Smith On 'The View': "He Sits There And Takes It" 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?Lucy has moved from London to a picturesque Cotswolds village after a failed affair with her married boss and she is settling in well until Alice moves in next door. 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.

Each of the character’s secrets were interesting, and it was easy to see that they didn’t trust their friends completely as they mostly dealt with the secrets they were keeping by themselves. It was also interesting to see just how easy the odd comment from an outsider caused a rift in the friendships and it made me wonder were they really that close in the first place? 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.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. Taylor Swift Made A Surprise Appearance On ‘Dancing With The Stars’ For This Week’s "Eras" Themed Night: “Sending You Guys All My Love” 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. Stream It Or Skip It: 'Catch Me If You Claus' on Hallmark, A Christmas Movie That's Part Rom-Com and Part Crime Caper Disgraced 'Southern Charm' Alum Thomas Ravenel Fuming Over Craig Conover And Shep Rose's Kathryn Dennis Compliments at BravoCon 2023: "Total Losers"

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Master Gardener’ on Hulu, Another Subtly Sinister Drama From Master Storyteller Paul Schrader Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ on Apple TV+, a Charming and Typically Tearjerking Adaptation of the Classic Children's Book 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?

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. Stream It Or Skip It: 'Letters to Santa' on Hallmark, in Which A Marriage is Saved by Family Meddling and a Magic Pen Throughout all those years, she was involved in a variety of topics, including flooding, housing support, etc. When author Cooper realized that she could do much better at writing stories based on psychotic killers than Ministerial speeches, she decided to hand up her bowler hat. Nowadays, Cooper spends most of her day time trying to develop stories that come to her mind. During the evening time, Cooper prefers to stay in the company of her family members and spend some quality time with them. As of today, Cooper resides in London along with her loving husband and a couple of pet cats.