The Club by Ellery Lloyd

Hey, it’s Diego.

Just finished reading The Club by Ellery Lloyd.

And it was a pleasant read!

Let me give you my spoiler-free, unbiased review.

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The Club by Ellery Lloyd – Review

Ned is the visionary behind Home, a global organization of deluxe celebrity clubs, and he’s outdone himself this time with the most exclusive one yet set on an island off the coast of England. But will the launch of this new club go as planned when Jess, the head maid, has a vendetta against one of the guests, Annie, the event planner, wants Ned’s job, Adam, Ned’s little brother, wants out of the business, and Nikki, Ned’s assistant, wants to keep her past hidden?

This book is a domestic thriller with hints of a whodunit. It’s not quite a whodunit, because the identity of the dead is a mystery for most of the story. But most of the events happen on a remote island where the club is located.

Lloyd’s writing is descriptive and detailed. We get a sense of the space of any part of the club as it’s described from the conception by Ned to the execution by his team. The book also doesn’t shy away from (overly at times) extended backstories for all the characters and the island, giving them life through the eyes of the main characters.

We follow four characters in a single timeline as the events of the launch on the island unfold: Jess, the head maid; Annie, the event planner; Adam, Ned’s little brother; and Nikki, Ned’s assistant. Chapters are long, as most have one section dedicated to each.

As you may imagine, with so many points of view, the biggest challenge is that it’s easy to get the characters confused. This is the first book this year that I had to restart to take notes on my phone on who was who. It's not a great sign when two point-of-view characters of the same sex and working in close proximity have the same job.

The story starts slow, introducing us to each character and their background, going through their actions that set the inevitable conclusion in motion. What the story lacks in thrills, it compensates for with tales of celebrity scandal as we peek behind the curtain of the uber elite.

There is no romance or detailed sexual scenes, although sex is alluded to. There are scenes of murder, although nothing too descriptive. What this book has is a lot of swearing.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers obviously)

The ending came together nicely, and then we get a great denouement where we get all threads wrapped up.

The Club is hard to describe as it’s a mix of two genres, but I think if you like the idea of the uber wealthy colliding with the working class and are looking for a story where the threads, even though look meandering at first, do reach a point of resolution, you’ll love it.

Similar Books to The Club?

• The Guest List by Lucy Foley

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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That’s all for this week.

See you next time.

— Diego Dunne

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