The Club: A Reese's Book Club Pick

Product Information

Emmy was a successful influencer with her own brand. Her husband Dan did not like the children's pics on social media, but couldn't do much in the force of Emmy's personality. Entered the darkness which soon followed Emmy and laid down its claws onto her. Destruction was the foregone conclusion. As an aside, their children’s names are Coco and Bear. Who names their kids Coco and Bear? In the beginning when I’d hear their names I thought they were talking about their dogs 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you are interested, Ellery Lloyd does have a new book coming out March 31, 2022 called The Club. When you read mystery stories like this, do you try to solve the murder—or in this case murders—or do you wait for the reveals?

As the guests arrive different perspectives are offered via each chapter with The Vanity Fair piece popping up at random locations, adding a wonderful ‘on the spot’ type of journalism as the story slowly unravels. Murder and mayhem ensue as the weekend unfolds and it soon becomes blatantly clear that something very nefarious is afoot. All is not what it seems on this island paradise as an underlying toxicity seeps into the atmosphere and mixes with some outrageous personalities. Island Home is no longer the safe haven it was promoted as but instead a place of pernicious rumours and mystery, of death and destruction, of over indulgence and hideous behaviour. For fans of The White Lotus and Big Little Lies, Ellery Lloyd's The Club is an exhilarating, addictive read, telling a story of ambition, excess, and what happens when people who have everything - or nothing - to lose are pushed to their limit.

Ellery Lloyd

It is unlike me to write a somewhat negative review but I felt it was needed as this book is growing in popularity but, like most books, comes without trigger warnings. If my warning protects just one mother or a woman aching to be a mother from unnecessary hurt then my review is worth it. This masterly thriller from the pseudonymous Lloyd effectively delays revealing who among the large cast of characters has died violently...Lloyd (husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos) makes the reader care about even unappealing characters, and the payoff is completely satisfying. Fans of Ruth Ware's One by One will be riveted." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Because at thisclub, if your name’s on the list, you’re not getting out. Book Club Questions for The Club The story is told from multiple POVs using the third person narration. There is Jess, who is among the housekeeping staff. Adam, who is the CEO’s brother (Ned), Annie, who is responsible for memberships and later becomes the acting CEO, and Nikki, the personal assistant of Ned. The book has many other characters and needs some focusing so you won’t feel lost. For the size of the book, I do think that there were far more characters than required. We read the story from the perspectives of Jess, the newly hired head of housekeeping; Adam, the brother of Ned; Annie, membership curator and Nikki, Ned’s personal assistant. We also read coverage of the incident in a magazine article. Why were these perspectives chosen and what did reading their thoughts help add to the story? Do you like multi-perspective stories or do you prefer first-person type narratives? In People Like Her, we are introduced to a UK family: Emmy, Dan, Coco, and Bear. However, Emmy has an unusual job--she is a social media personality! She has a large following and plays into her fans, crafting a polished story to be portrayed and offering placating support. One fan is not that happy with Emmy which puts her entire family in danger. How will this story end?

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Home is a luxurious club only for the rich and famous. Run by Ned Groom, The Home Group has celebrity clubs all over the globe, London, Lisbon, Malibu, Manhattan, Paris, Shanghai, Venice, and Cannes. The Home Group is launching its newest and most spectacular Home yet on an island off the English coast. The new opening launch party is the most coveted A-list party of the year. I was really impressed with this book as a whole. As someone equal parts perplexed, fascinated, and disgusted by the modern advent of the influencer/vlogger/You-Tube/IG/TikTok star phenomenon, this book both solidified my concerns...and challenged them. There are three narrators in this book. One is Emmy, a mommy blogger who goes under the name Mamabare, and is fake as all get out. Everything she says and does is content, done for the sake of driving traffic and making money. She's kind of sociopathic. Maybe she even is a sociopath. But she's good at what she does and is basically the queen of teflon spin. Overall, it’s a well written novel with a good premise and plot. It’s a compelling, easy to read psychological thriller which I recommend to fans of the genre.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin is an interesting premise—an escape room turns into a game of revenge. This story is set in cutthroat Wall Street, which also makes this one standout as well. Here’s the synopsis: Problem #2 is that because Emmy wants to be loved by everyone and says whatever is necessary to increase her influence lifestyle (without thinking of repercussions), someone has a vendetta against her. This person will do whatever it takes to make Emmy pay for the injustices she carelessly causes. The Club is begins introducing us to the set of narrators and other characters. Some of the characters are more likeable than others and most are morally grey at best. You soon learn about the complex history between the characters. You will not see a lot of action in the beginning but the second half is much more intense and will leave you on the edge of your seat. I thought the ending was satisfying and it concluded the entire story. People Like Her is engaging psychological suspense, and the author raises critical questions about technology, celebrity life, social media, and how people live today. There are some uncomfortable truths about the effects of being an online influencer.

The Club

The Home club the ultimate globally franchised elite club for the people at the top of their global game! This book tells the story of the launch night of Island Home where the franchise decided to set up an entire island as a branch of their super-elite members only club. Their brand sees them overseeing branches all over the world with some of the highest quality performers, decor, services and more, but the question that's never really been asked is how do they raise so much money to provide the services they do from their very rich but limited membership? Ellery Lloyd is a husband and wife writing team who is often noted for their prior work in People Like Her. The Club, however, was not funny like People Like Her. It was really dark, and it could have used some humor to lighten it up. Having read many books in this genre, it was wonderful how the author could make her words express the emotions she wanted to convey. The story might seem familiar but its treatment was certainly different. It was quite thought-provoking. The characters were well developed, each one was contrary to the author. I couldn't help feeling scared for them as danger tightened its web. The most spectacular of all is Island Home—a closely-guarded, ultraluxurious resort, just off the English coast—and its three-day launch party is easily the most coveted A-list invite of the decade. This is a British book so I think whether you're going to enjoy this book depends on whether you like and understand British humor, which is subtler than a lot of American humor. I actually prefer it and watch a lot of British mysteries, which tend to feature these unlikable, hit-too-close-to-home sort of protagonists. If you don't like unlikable protagonists, you probably also won't enjoy this book. Personally I do, as long as they are the fun kind of unlikable, in the "love to hate them" sort of way, especially in thrillers where that dislike can remove the emotional stakes and make the book feel less intense.