The Club

This masterly thriller from the pseudonymous Lloyd (People like Her) effectively delays revealing who among the large cast of characters has died violently. Ned Groom has created exclusive clubs around the world for the elite of the elite, who pay huge sums to have their every whim catered to. Groom has just launched his most spectacular branch yet, on a private island 90 minutes from London, accessible by car only by a causeway at low tide. Its amenities include Poseidon, a fishbowl-like restaurant with views of the surrounding sea. The prologue, in which two unidentified people in a Land Rover halfway across the causeway realize they aren’t going to make it as the tide rapidly rises, is followed by a Vanity Fair article, “Murder on the Island,” which describes Poseidon patrons noticing a submerged Land Rover and its grim contents outside the window. That development and the discovery of a body on the island turn “the party of the year” into “the murder mystery of the decade.” Flashbacks provide an array of suspects and motives. Lloyd (husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos) makes the reader care about even unappealing characters, and the payoff is completely satisfying. Fans of Ruth Ware’s One by One will be riveted. Agent: Hillary Jacobson, ICM Partners. (Apr.)