The Bitesize Book Review - The Book Club by CJ Cooper

0:11 Welcome back, book lovers to Books and Chat, the podcast where we celebrate great reads, dissect disappointing ones, and occasionally argue about endings that left us furious. I'm Christina Young and today we're tackling The Book Club by CJ Cooper, a psychological thriller that had our Gloucester Book Club members at each other's throats, and not in the fun, fictional way Alice does in this book.

0:48 Before we dive in, let me properly introduce the author. CJ Cooper, real name Claire Cooper, has one of those career trajectories that makes you think I should quit my job and write thrillers too. She spent 17 years in the civil service drafting ministerial speeches before deciding she'd rather write about murderous book clubs. Honestly relatable. She grew up in a Welsh village and now lives by the sea in beautiful Pembrokeshire, which explains why she writes Small Town Tension so well. Everyone knows everyone's business in those places.

1:44 This 2019 debut has been called Dark, Twisty, and claustrophobic, which are basically my three favorite words when picking a thriller. But here's the twist. While I personally enjoyed it, our book club's group chat looked like a war zone after this one.

2:09 Grab your tea or wine. No judgement here, because we're about to break down why this book was our most divisive pick since quite a long time, actually.

2:32 Let's set the scene for those who haven't read it yet. Imagine this. You're Lucy, trying to escape your past by moving to a picture perfect Cotswolds village. Your new neighbor Alice suggests starting a book club. How lovely. Except Alice isn't interested in literary analysis. She's serving revenge, chilled to perfection with each book selection carefully chosen to expose someone's darkest secret. The genius, and I say this is someone who loved this aspect, is how Kupat uses actual book titles as psychological weapons.

3:22 It's deliciously matter. A book club dissecting books that are secretly dissecting them. Now Full disclosure, this isn't one of those action-packed thrillers where people are getting shoved off cliffs. By chapter 3. The tension builds slowly, like a pot left to boil, while the characters make small talk politely.

3:55 Some of our members hated that pacing, but I'll explain why I think it works in just a moment. Let's get into the juicy stuff. Why this book had our club so divided. On one side we had team. This is brilliant. That's me, by the way, who loved the slow unravelling of secrets on the other team. Get on with it. Who wanted Alice to just burn the village down already?

4:29 Now Sarah from our club put it perfectly. I kept waiting for someone to die, but they were all too busy drinking tea and being passive aggressive. Fairpoint. Meanwhile, Jamie said the ending felt like Cooper forgot she needed to wrap things up. Ouch. That's where I disagree though. That slow burn is the whole point. The tension comes from watching Alice manipulate these ordinary people through something as innocent as a book club. It's terrifying because it's plausible. Haven't we all been in a club where someone takes the discussion just a little too personally?

5:13 I know I've done that myself from time to time, and I've hated myself afterwards, actually, but there you go. Now for some fun, our book club came up with wild alternate theories about Alice's motives. My favorite? That she's actually Lucy from the future, trying to prevent her own mistakes, and that was pretty absurd. More interesting than the real explanation, maybe. What's your crazy theory? DM us. Best one gets a shout out next episode. This is where you come in, listeners. We want to settle the debate.

5:51 Was Alice a genius villain or just a poorly written psychopath? Did the slow burn work for you or were you screaming? Get to the point at your audio book DMS at Gloucester Book Club. Will read the best responses next time. Final verdict? I'm giving it a 3.5 out of five points off for that divisive ending, but bonus points for making me side eye my own book club members for weeks. If you love character driven suspense with a side of British passive aggression, give it a go. Next month we're reading The Safe Keep and I'll be having a longer podcast with one of my guests from Book Club Zoe.

6:48 Until then, happy reading. And don't forget The Safekeep by Vander Wooden has actually won the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction this year, so it's a really good one to check out. And if you're not sure, listening to our podcast sometime in July. Until then, happy reading and maybe check your book club selection a little more carefully this month. Bye for now and happy reading.