It’s launch weekend for Island Home, the latest in the Home group of ultra-exclusive clubs for the rich and famous, and Ned Groom is finalizing the plans. Or rather, his staff is finalizing the plans. The guest list for this Halloween weekend party is small, meaning Annie Sparks’s phone is constantly buzzing with celebrities and their PAs trying to finagle a last minute invitation. As Head of Membership, she is expected to be available to their 1500 or so members, but she has no openings to offer for Island Home. Everything has been planned well in advance, and there are no empty rooms available.
But for the first night, Thursday, Ned only invited a handful of members, actor Jackson Crane and his wife Georgia, artist Keith Little, film producer Kurt Cox, and talk show host Freddie Hunter. Although Freddie did encourage his friend singer Kyra Highway to come with him, and she brought her 8-year-old daughter Lyra. After dinner, Annie made the announcement that soon they would be receiving new contracts to sign with an updated membership fee. In addition, they’ll all be getting an extra gift delivered to them.
What these exclusive guests don’t know yet is that the “gift” they’ll be receiving is a personalized flash drive that Ned has put together for them. What they don’t know yet is that those new membership fees include a hefty spike in what they will owe the Home Group moving forward. What they don’t know yet is that there are cameras all over the Home clubs, from the Manhattan Home to Cannes Home to Shanghai Home and all the other clubs around the world.
What Ned doesn’t seem to understand yet is that he is handing each of these individuals a reason for them to want him dead.
As the weekend goes on with its celebrations, its meals in the underwater restaurant Poseidon, its easy access to alcohol and drugs, people begin to disappear. Jackson Crane is holed up in his cabin with a Do Not Disturb in the system, so no staff will go near it. Ned Groom himself has gone missing, with his only communication a short email to his PA, “Gone to London.”
As secrets get revealed and emotions run high, the people at Island Home grow increasingly paranoid. And the more wound up they get, the more it becomes obvious that not everyone will make it off the island alive. But who will end up a villain, and who will end up a victim?
Told through a lengthy Vanity Fair article as well as the viewpoints of several Island insiders, The Club is a look inside the most exclusive and extreme lifestyles of the rich and famous. Filled with delicious secrets revealed and a slow burn story that takes its sweet time before making it clear what all happened that fateful weekend, this thriller is cunning and layered.
I listened to the audio book for this one, and I thought narrator Tamaryn Payne had the perfect voice for this novel. I loved her reading, and I thought it elevated this novel, making the slower moments more palatable.
I did like The Club, but it’s not perfect. Many of the characters are unlikable, and they get more so as the story goes on and more is revealed of their choices. There are parts of the story that are a little slow, and it took me a while to really understand who was who, but once I was in, I was in. If you’re a reader who loves books about the rooms behind the velvet ropes, you might really love this book. If you love a good thriller, you might like this book. If you’re a picky reader, you might want to skip this book, or at least read (or listen to) a sample before you decide. Like an exclusive club, this book is not for everyone.
Egalleys for The Cub were provided by Harper through NetGalley, but I bought the audio book myself through Audible.
