Please Join Us

Heading toward 40, New York City corporate lawyer Nicole Mueller, the narrator of this entertaining psychological thriller from McKenzie (Six Weeks to Live), is aware that her career has stalled. When she’s invited to join Panthera Leo, a businesswomen’s networking retreat in Colorado whose membership includes CEOs and top-ranking politicians, she happily accepts. Headed by a charismatic billionaire, Panthera Leo offers extreme team building exercises designed to create absolute loyalty among its members. Nicole returns to New York to find her luck has turned around: she attracts new lucrative clients to her firm and finds a stunning new apartment at a suspiciously low rent. Could some exchanges of Panthera Leo favors be responsible? When Nicole gets a desperate call for help from a newly elected congresswoman and member of her Panthera Leo team, she can’t refuse. Soon her life becomes a swirling nightmare of blackmail, murder, and corruption. Readers will cheer the quick-witted Nicole all the way to the satisfying conclusion. This look at the realities women face working within a system predicated on boys’ club rules will resonate for many. Agent: Stephanie Rostan, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (Aug.)