The Survivors Club in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Oct 02, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it liked it

Shelves: crime, fiction, contemporary, mystery, novels, chick-lit, suspense, ultimate-reading-list

"The Survivors Club" consists of Jillian Hayes, Meg Pesaturo, Carol Rosen--a "business woman, a college coed and an upper-crust wife." They all survived the College Hill rapist and banned together to put pressure on the police that led to the arrest of Eddie Como. On the day his trial was to begin, a sniper guns him down in front of the courthouse. What happens right afterwards to the assassin in the first pages is the first twist of the book, and hooked me in. The primary investigator is Roan G "The Survivors Club" consists of Jillian Hayes, Meg Pesaturo, Carol Rosen--a "business woman, a college coed and an upper-crust wife." They all survived the College Hill rapist and banned together to put pressure on the police that led to the arrest of Eddie Como. On the day his trial was to begin, a sniper guns him down in front of the courthouse. What happens right afterwards to the assassin in the first pages is the first twist of the book, and hooked me in. The primary investigator is Roan Griffin of the Rhode Island State police. He too in his way is a survivor. The day of the killing is his first day back after he snapped under the pressure of the death of his wife and the investigation of a child killer.

There were several things about this book I liked, despite its flaws. First, I liked how the flashbacks to the attacks on the woman manages to describe rape in a way that while somewhat graphic, isn't titillating or eroticized (although I could have done without the cheesy italics). I liked the way the book emphasized instead the terror and physical brutality of the attacks, and the continuing trauma the women experience. In other words, this is poles away from say James Patterson's Kiss the Girls in the way it handles the subject. And I did like how it depicted the close bond between the women, and how it helps them find a way to survive, and find a way they can someday thrive. The last one hundred pages is as suspenseful and nail-biting as anyone could ask.

Without doubt this is the quintessential trashy thriller. I mean, man, Meg has total amnesia? Really? And we get that eye-rolling super-villain with the cunning high-concept plan, and the way Griffin is described is at times a bit too romance novel to my taste. Also, dude, despite what the book claims, identical twins do have identical DNA. They are, essentially, clones. But this was decently written even if by no means distinguished in style, with likable characters, and kept me turning the pages, interested to the end. Not many popular thrillers can manage even that. So, good airplane reading material can be had here. ...more

Like · see review