The Club by Ellery Lloyd brought together fictional stars on a lavish island weekend retreat and then served up several of the stars with some unpleasant and unexpected surprises. Three members of the 'Management' on the island tell the story and their own stories unravel as well in the telling. 'News accounts' are included to provide additional details and early glimpses of the inevitable conclusion. I appreciated that given the vast guest list of stars on the island that weekend, the actual characters in the story were kept to a reasonable level. The storyline tied up satisfactorily, the predictability being offset by the multiple threads that interweave to make a complex ending. Lovers of psychological thrillers would find the uniqueness of the setting and foibles of human nature entertaining. The portrayal of entertainment industry stars rings true as well and is engaging. I would like to say thank you to Net Galley and Harper for making this copy available for me to enjoy.

Thank you @harper for my copy! I really wanted to love this one but ultimately I didn’t enjoy how it was written. I did catch the last 20 some percent on audio and it did keep my attention more that way. So if you are an audio fan I would recommend you pick up the audio over trying to read this one.

This was a fun, lightweight beach read with a lot of characters and different plot threads (maybe too many to keep straight at times). I don’t think it’s going to stick with me for long, but I did enjoy it while I was reading it, and wanted to see how everything would be resolved. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I have read by Ellery Lloyd and I loved it just as much as the first! The Club features the exclusive Home club group that caters to celebrities and artists. When the grand opening of the newest club goes wrong, there are several mysteries to unravel. With lots of twists and turns, The Club will keep you guessing until the very end!

Wowowowowowow. What a mindfuck! I had to put this book down a couple times just so I could process just what exactly was going on. Ellery skillfully weaves a wicked web that really pulls you in and makes you question everything that happens. I feel like I need to read this again just so I can make sure I understand what exactly happens. What a great read!

I think this book for me was a case of right book and wrong reader. Unfortunately while the premise sounded great, I really struggled to connect with the characters with so many different POVs. The action felt to far in between and I found myself getting lost in the details instead of looking forward to the “what will happen”. I wanted to love this but it just wasn’t for me!

The Club by Ellery Lloyd is a quick read about celebrities at an exclusive British Island resort where they can behave badly with no reporters, fans, and no one watching or are they? It started off well, but then it lost its pace in the middle with an insane amount of details, characters, and backstory. It did end with a few nice twists, but this wasn’t a favorite. Read this if you like unlikeable celebrities get their comeuppances.

Thanks to #Netgalley for providing an ARC!

This book was so dark and fun! It explores the dark side of Hollywood, the evils some famous people may encounter, and the secrets they can keep hidden with enough money. It was just so entertaining and had me guessing until the end.

When elite hotel creator Ned Groom opens up another fabulous resort called Island Home all the A-listers vie for a spot to attend the grand opening. The first round of invites goes to a select group of members who have been with Ned for years none of whom realize how their lives will change after the party if over. Don't get me wrong - there will be headlines but not the ones that Ned and staff were hoping for. Sneaky plot with a handful of unreliable characters all with their own agenda and motive all stuck on an island with a killer. As the body count adds up and Island Home falls into chaos which just proves "you can't always come home ". Easy to see why this is a Reese Book Club pick. My thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Secrets. Revenge. Murder.

Welcome to Island Home, the newest iteration of the wildly successful members-only clubs called Home. It’s the opening weekend, and we meet owners Ned and Adam; staff members Jess, Nikki, and Annie; and some of their famous guests.

But everyone has their own reasons for being there, and nothing is what it seems.

I liked the multiple viewpoints, and trying to figure out the secrets that connected each person on the island. The twists were good (some more obvious than others).

I wanted an easy, entertaining read and this fit the bill perfectly!

Thanks to @netgalley and @harpercollins for the ARC ebook.

Check out this book if you want to escape with a twisty thriller!

This is a prime example of rich people behaving badly! The Club is Island Home, a brand new very exclusive high dollar resort. It is launch weekend and only the most high profile guests are on the island. And things do not go as planned...

This story is told through five alternating perspectives. And all five characters are carrying long held secrets. We start with knowing something terrible happened Saturday night of launch weekend but not sure what. We then are thrown back to Thursday and get to slowly see what led up to this disastrous evening.

I really liked the alternating perspectives. These characters were all different, whether it be their role in the club or their relationship to the CEO Ned. All the players in this novel had something they were hiding and it was fun to see what brought them to the club and where they stood after all was said and done. I would have liked to get Ned's perspective through all of this. We do get to know him quite well through the other characters but it would have been interesting to hear his thoughts.

Overall I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun and complex thriller. I would read more by Ellery Lloyd!

Home is an exclusive club that everyone wants to join. The Club focuses on the launch of a new Home location, Island Home. Home prides itself on its privacy for its high profile members. Launches are notoriously wild and crazy and this one is no different. It doesn’t take long to see that not everything is at it seems from first appearance. Ned, the owner and CEO, is missing. A body is found. Then a Land Rover is found submerged. Secrets are revealed. It seems everyone has a motive to kill.

The Club was a slow burn and the characters were all so unlikeable. It had enough twists to keep the pages turning but overall this one was just ok for me.

An intriguing premise and setting that suffered from very slow pacing, too large a cast of characters I struggled to keep straight, and an excruciating amount of description. There is so much detail and description in this book it took effort to stay focused on the story. It felt like it took an eternity for anything of interest to finally happen. Sadly, this book dragged for me and failed to live up to its potential.

This book started off really slow for me but gained momentum pretty fast. It had so much action in it and different story lines it was easy to stay engaged.

What I didn't like about this book was Adam's character. He seemed so sweet and then of course he became somewhat of a villain in his acts with woman. Also the ending felt rushed and unfinished. It left me wanting more. What happened to Annie? What did Nikki decide? How did all of these people not know what happened that night? Why was everything left to Annie? So many questions!

Overall it was a pretty good book. It just seemed like everyone was a villain and their was no "good guys". Even Jessica to me wanting revenge not knowing the whole story wasn't a good guy. The only one I considered somewhat ok was Nikki.

4 intriguing, whodunnit, mysterious stars~

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for providing a digital ARC for review :)

This was an intriguing and mysterious thriller filled with interesting characters, lots of celebrity drama, and sneaking suspicions of "whodunnit". The Club is an expensive and exclusive place that top tier celebrities are willing to pay for and do practically anything to be a part of - no one is allowed to utilize their cell phones there, making it top secret and away from prying eyes of the public. It's all fun and games until everyone's dirty laundry gets aired and someone winds up, well... under unfortunate circumstances.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and wasn't expecting the last third of this book to come at me like it did!

The Club is a murder mystery set on an exclusive members only island club that caters to the rich and famous. But the clientele have secrets that they might be willing to kill to keep.

The book follows several characters, their backstories, and their possible motives for murder. Most of the characters are pretty unlikeable but that works well for this type of story. There are some strong female characters, which is always great to read. The story is a mix of character driven and plot driven with lots of twists.

The first half of the book is a little bit of a slow burn to give the reader enough information to start making guesses regarding who has been killed, why, and by whom.

It might take you a little to get into it, but once you are, you’ll want to hurry to the end.

Trigger warnings: statutory rape, blackmail, drug and alcohol abuse, descriptions of death

Thank you Harper for the Early copy of this one,
Hands down my favorite thriller so far this year. I loved the story and did not see the twist and turns coming. It was a bunch of rich people making a fool of them self. I mean who doesn't want to read about that.
I read this in one sitting and the the story just flowed .

The Club is in the edge of a fictional story about an all exclusive club that has many high ranking hotels across the entire globe. Who owns the club? Ned and Adam. During this story you will find out that both Ned and Adam are on the verge of opening a new location called: Island Home. The thing is how would Ned be able to continue with the opening of this new location with the whole uprising of temper and commotion.

This is a dark filled story.

I will be honest with you this book is in a way kind of drags a bit because you are constantly reminded about how exclusive these clubs are. It’s kind of something that comes with it.

This is also a many kind of POV book. We will get the glimpse of Jess, Adam, Nikki, and Annie. Even with the multiple POV you are also introduced to many other characters on the sidelines that at one point I’m not going to lie I kind of forgot about or even got them confused with others.

This is a mystery, kind of book that is good. But it would need a specific kind of reader in mind to keep them hooked.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchanged for my review.

This book had an incredibly slow start. You have to pay attention to the characters at the beginning because it's harder to keep track of who everyone is once it all picks up. Overall, not quite an Agatha Christie locked room mystery but I found it interesting enough that I wasn't tempted to DNF it. Fairly predictable but a good option if you're looking for an easy-read thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper for the ARC.
Expected Publication: March 1, 2022

This definitely had a slow start which I did not like. It did however pick up a bit though and it became a little twisty.
I did not like how descriptive it was though. I didn’t like that there were so many characters that you had to keep up with them and almost have to write them down on paper to keep track.
I did like the pot twists BUT they were not enough to keep me engaged to enjoy this book at all.

Thank you NetGalley & Ellery Lloyd for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!