They made the rules. She’s going to break them.
When Alex Vogel gets a new job working at a corporate Manhattan law firm, she thinks all her dreams have come true. The pay checks are huge, the work is exciting, and the drinks are flowing every Friday night.
But underneath the glossy veneer of the company, dark secrets are lurking. Her colleagues disappear into the bathroom for hits of cocaine, the partners sleep under their desks (if they sleep at all) and the firm’s biggest client sexually harasses a string of women, none of whom will speak up. Alex soon realises that in order to fit in, she needs to become one of the boys – and turn a blind eye to what goes on. She needs to join in. But as her life begins to spiral out of control, Alex realises – the boys’ club is a dangerous place to be…
Theres been a lot of books around recently that take on the socially relevant theme of women within male dominated environments, The Boy’s Club is an exceptional example to my mind because it doesn’t create a caricature setting but it does show the realities of casual sexism and worse whilst never losing sight of the story being told.
Our main protagonist Alex Vogal is an engaging character to follow along with, initially dazzled by the glamour and glitz side of her hugely successful law firm, falling easily into the long hours and many party aspects of her work and forming genuine connections that enhance her career prospects. However as she traverses the complex, competitive waters things take a darker turn as she starts seeing the cracks in the glossy outer veneer…
What I loved about this was that it told an extremely addictive and cleverly compelling story offering many thought provoking layers and really delving into the personalities involved. The Boys Club also manages to avoid completely that rather annoying “men are all bad, women are all victims” trope that tends to invade this kind of tale – Erica Katz uses people, good or bad or innocuous, no matter their gender, to paint an authentic and genuinely intelligent picture of the real world we live in.
Really very good indeed. Recommended.
You can purchase The Boys Club (Trapeze) Here.
Happy reading!