Review: THE BOOK CLUB, C.J. Cooper

• 
  
• 
  large print edition, publ. W. F. Howes, 2021
  
• ISBN 978-1-0042-303-5
• 449 pages 
• this edition from my local library
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Can you trust the woman next door?

The book club was her idea, of course. Alice's.

It was her way into our group. A chance to get close.

I knew from the day she arrived that she couldn't be trusted.

And I was right.

Because Alice didn't come to the village for peace and quiet.

She came for revenge. 

My Take

Lucy Shaw has lived in her cottage only 3 months. And now Alice has moved in next door. She persuades Lucy to set up a book group with her 3 friends, and then Alice chooses the books. Slowly it dawns on Lucy that in some way each book, although they are English classics, relates to a situation her friends are in. Each of her friends, and Lucy herself, appears to have a secret, and things are not as idyllic in this sleepy Cotswold village as they appear.

And there is something about Alice - she is creepy, cold and not to be trusted. Alice manipulates each of the others in the book group, turning them against each other, but it is not obvious why it is happening, not until the very end.

A really good read.

My rating: 4.6

About the Author

C. J. Cooper grew up in a small village in south Wales before moving to London as a student. She graduated with a degree in Ancient History and Egyptology and spent seven months as a development worker in Nepal. On her return to Britain she joined the civil service, where she worked for 17 years on topics ranging from housing support to flooding. She hung up her bowler hat when she discovered that she much preferred writing about psychotic killers to ministerial speeches. She lives in London with her husband and two cats.