#BookReview ‘The Boys’ Club’ by Erica Katz

About the book…

Sweetbitter meets The Firm in this buzzy, page-turning debut novel—already optioned to Netflix—about sex and power in the halls of corporate America.

Alex Vogel has always been a high achiever who lived her life by the book—star student and athlete in high school, prelaw whiz in college, Harvard Law School degree. Accepting a dream offer at the prestigious Manhattan law firm of Klasko & Fitch, she promises her sweet and supportive longtime boyfriend that the job won’t change her. Yet Alex is seduced by the firm’s money and energy . . . and by her cocksure male colleagues, who quickly take notice of the new girl. She’s never felt so confident and powerful—even the innuendo-laced banter with clients feels fun. In the firm’s most profitable and competitive division, Mergers and Acquisitions, Alex works around the clock, racking up billable hours and entertaining clients late into the evening. While the job is punishing, it has its perks, like a weekend trip to Miami, a ride in a client’s private jet, and more expense-account meals than she can count.

But as her clients’ expectations and demands on her increase, and Alex finds herself magnetically drawn to a handsome coworker despite her loving relationship at home, she begins to question everything—including herself. She knows the corporate world isn’t black and white, and that to reach the top means playing by different rules. But who made those rules? And what if the system rigged so that women can’t win, anyway?

When something happens that reveals the dark reality of the firm, Alex comes to understand the ways women like her are told—explicitly and implicitly—how they need to behave to succeed in the workplace. Now, she can no longer stand by silently—even if doing what’s right means putting everything on the line to expose the shocking truth

Huge thanks to the awesome Alainna at Orion for inviting me to read ‘The Boys’ Club’ and for my gifted review copy-it is out from imprint, Trapeze, now!

I was worried starting to read this book, that I wouldn’t ‘get’ the legalese and that the plot might leave me quickly behind, but I needn’t have worried as ‘The Boys Club’ has such an intriguing hook that you swiftly get carried along.

The start forshadows a legal case in which trial extracts identify Alex as a witness, but to what, you don’t yet know.

It then goes back in time to her starting out at Klasko and Fithc, her hard work having paid off in the form of an apprecenticeship. What I gleaned from this is that all the new starters would throw their hat into the ring for the subjects that they liked-Alex’s was real estate-with M&A (mergers and acquisitions)swiftly revealed as the real money makers, the ones whose clients keep the rest of the firm afloat. This inflated sense of self riding on a raft made from dollars is where the Boys Club is at-there are very few women allowed access, and , if there are, the price is absolutely not worth paying.

Part of Alex’s dilemma is based on her competitive nature- she wants to be with the big hitters-but it is her money that allows her partner to go chasing his business dreams whilst she works days in the law firm. She quickly sees how hard work pays off financially, and sticks a target on her for inclusion into M&A. She thinks it is all down to her work ethic, but as she opens her eyes and looks at the people she works with, she swiftly realises she is going to have to re-prioritise her life in order to keep up.

What compromises she is willing to make to advance her career sneak up so slowly that she doesn’t even realise what is happening. The arc from ambitious go-getter to doing anything to advance her position is so natural that you get caught up in her decline, even as you intellectually understand why she does what she does, your emotional reaction is to hope that she, or her loved ones, intervene in time before she is destroyed.

The role of women in business and how they are perceived as commodities is so well conveyed. What I really liked as well as the mounting tension which built throughout Alex’s narrative, was that it was not merely limited to her. The inclusion of a black, male character who falls foul of the Boys Club and his arc is sensitively rendered as well. The males she works with are not cardboard characicatures, they are well thought out -especially Alex’ boyfriend Sam.

Thrilling and intense, I really enjoyed reading ‘The Boys Club’ and can see how it could be adapted to a film or mini series.

About the author…