Any current or former BigLaw associate will be intrigued by this one - it's a timely, fast-paced thriller, and a pretty fun read.

Definitely written by an insider, The Boys' Club takes us deep into the world of Mergers & Acquisition Law. And you better be interested in that world ifs you want to make it through The Boys' Club. The law firm scenes and the post-deal party passages are thick with details and insider knowledge. It feels familiar, like a book like this comes along every couple of years, written for folks hungry for details on big money deals, sexual harassment, lunches, dinners and happy field by drugs, shots and expense accounts. The Boys Club has a #MeToo storyline that make it feel "of the moment."

Wow. I was really impressed with this book and even more so when I found it was a debut novel. I really couldn't put this one down. The story of Alex and her experience as a first year associate at a top law firm in NYC is engrossing, raw, and heartwrenching. There is no question that Alex is a flawed character and makes her (sometimes huge) mistakes, but at no point did I stop rooting for her. I loved her relationship with Sam and with her parents, both of which showed you what kind of person she was before joining the firm and how things changed. The other lawyers at the firm all added interesting pieces to the story through their own flaws and struggles, as well as their support in times of need. There are deep, difficult issues at place in this story, but I think they are also important and they are addressed in a very respectful and real way here. Kudos to the author. 4.5 stars.

This book tried to be relevant, but fell flat. It felt kind of like a racier version of The Devil Wears Prada. It also left a lot of threads loose for the sake of wrapping up the story.

The story and storyline made me angry at times, but this is a well written and interesting book for fans of lawyer books. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

Wow, what a good book. It’s like Grisham’s “The Firm” in the #metoo movement. It is a first time author using a pseudonym so I wonder how much of Harvey Weinstein is in here. My guess is it’s a lot.

The book is extremely well written and just as engaging in a suspenseful way as it is disturbing in a “Catch and Kill” sort of way.

The book comes out in August 2020. I got an advance copy. I wish it were out now because I’d gift it to a bunch of people.

I’m betting that this will be a best seller. It should be.
It’s probably also going to be made into a movie.

#netgalley #theboysclub

This one was good!! The story is paced well and just sucks you in. I have some friends that are lawyers/ have dated some m&a lawyers so the world was somewhat familiar. The late nights and cancelled dinner plans was my friends reality for a couple of years until she finally left her ex.

Alex isn’t necessarily the most likable character but you could really see her slow decent towards the world she was trying so hard to avoid at first.

This was a quick read that help my interest throughout. Would recommend to library patrons who enjoyed The Whisper Network.

Knowing nothing about the world of BigLaw going into this story, I was mesmerized by the change in Alex throughout. Sadly, this Is a completely believable account of how women are treated in any particular high powered industry. Frustrating at times, Alex’s journey took us from a from wide eyed innocent to power player to victim to reclaiming her identity. Some of the legal jargon was a big much at times.

Thank you Harper and Netgalley for letting me read this title ahead of publication set for this coming August. Alex has always been an overachiever so when she starts work at one of the largest, most prestigious law firms in the country, she wants to make a good impression. And it doesn’t hurt that she gets paid well, too. But at what cost does working days in a row without going home and pleasing her male colleagues come? Does her boyfriend understand her constant focus on work even when she’s not in the office? The title “The Boys Club” says a great deal about how the legal profession, at least in this book, feels about women. And one day it all comes to an ugly head for Alex.

I made myself wait until the end to see if my guess that this was written by a lawyer was correct and it was. If this is truly what goes on behind the scenes, the author should stick to book writing. I loved this book, even at its most terrifying points. Even though there were many characters, each was well drawn at their introduction, so I didn’t have any trouble remembering who they were. The drinking and restaurant scenes all rang very true.

I would love to read more from Katz.

This is already optioned to Netflix so that should be a very intriguing show.

Fantastic book! I could not put it down. The inside look into the legal world was very interesting. The characters were well developed- even though I was ready to wring the main characters neck! The plot was good and the ending was satisfying.

I’m a sucker for a buzzy, insider-ish story, even though I’m underwhelmed by most of them. We meet Alex - your stereotypical high achiever who finds herself in the most competitive group in a major BigLaw firm - on her first day of work and follow her through exhausting work marathons, chauvinistic colleagues and managers (good ones, too), booze, drugs, and predators. Some moments read so vivid and relatable, and others feel exaggerated simply for effect, but I couldn’t put this one down. I also couldn’t keep the male characters straight (which feels like a parallel to people in power in the real world).

The story has been told before as a female attempts to compete in a male-dominated atmosphere, but the author does an excellent job of keeping the story fresh and interesting.

This was an awesome debut!

The book involved Alex Vogel, new to the world of corporate law who has found a competitive home in mergers and acquisitions, the best of all the boys' clubs at the firm. Somewhat innocent Alex navigates through a new world of all-nighters, partying with clients, drugs, and office romance as she competes for a seat in this exclusive club. All the while struggling with who she really is.

The writing is engaging and the action is great. I really identified with some of the issues Alex had, and thought she was a well-rounded character.

I was really interested in this book, and I can easily see it translating to the screen.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and www.NetGalley.com for my ARC.

Unexpectedly compelling. You already know this story, we all do, but damn am I glad there are people telling it.

I loved this book. Katz tells the story of a brand new lawyer who gets in over her head when she joins a BigLaw firm and is selected to work in the most profitable, but also most demanding and male dominated departments. Between trying to keep her head above water, be “one of the boys,” and salvage her relationship with her boyfriend, she soon learns some very hard lessons. Divided into the steps of a merger, with interstitials of her court testimony, Katz successfully holds the readers attention to the very end. While I would have loved a more dramatic ending, I was satisfied with how it concluded.

The Boys' Club by Erica Katz follows Alex, recent Harvard law grad, as she starts her career in an elite Manhattan BigLaw firm. She is smart, caring, and savvy, and has full faith in herself that she can manage a work/life balance and maintain a relationship with her college boyfriend, Sam. Soon enough, Alex is seeing the side of BigLaw that doesn't happen during work hours. Sleeping in the office, fine dining paid for, happy hours, and 'uppers' to keep them all going. Alex is stressed, but also craves this new life of "work hard play harder". She is chosen to work with some of the top lawyers at the firm and is in the toughest, but high esteemed, practice area, M&A law. Alex soon learns that there are sacrifices she will have to make as a woman in a man's world. Can she swallow the things she sees and hears just to keep getting to the top?

I LOVED this book. It felt like a modern day Mad Men, but with better female characters. This book hits on some real world topics, mostly the #metoo movement. Alex is an extremely likable character, even when she has some moral hiccups. Katz is excellent at creating imagery of the elite Manhattan attorney life, and you'll find yourself wanting this book not to end. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read and review!

After you're sucked in by the glamour of Big Law and expense accounts, look beyond the parties and the paychecks to how that money is earned. And you'll see you almost fell for it too.

The Boys' Club is the megawatt makeup mirror that reveals every flaw of humanity. And though you can spend all the end of year bonuses that you want, there is no way to cover up the darkness of those who push past the boundaries and do whatever they want. Told through an under-oath interview with protagonist Alex Vogel interspersed with narration of her story as she begins her first year at a prestigious law firm. The harder Alex works to climb to the top of her class and make it as a woman in M&A, the more anything outside of the shiny exterior of her office falls apart. Of these unravellings, the one that hit me the most was Alex's relationship with her mother. There is so much to unpack about women's rights and it comes from the basic bathroom stall banter to the events when you need to call a lawyer. Each of us struggles. Maybe it is time to stop the judgments and start to do something about what hold's us back.

This is a readable and interesting book, but I’ve read it so many times before. The plot line is unbelievably predictable and derivative. Young, brilliant woman gets job in a predominantly male industry and suffers in her efforts to build her career. We have seen this in books about the stock market, bigpharma, government....so, there’s not much new here.

Sex and drug use are sprinkled in, as part of the recipe. Yes, it certainly is a jumping off point for good discussions, but nothing that will reveal anything new to a reader. I also thought the author chose to make this too simplistic, especially at the end.

Very disappointing and at times, too full of information that is simply not interesting to those outside of the profession.

Thank you Netgalley.