The Lonely Girls Club (Mass Market Paperback)

by Suzanne Forster (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Intelligent, psychologically complex and engaging . . ." -- Publishers Weekly on Come Midnight

Product Description
At an exclusive California prep school, four young girls form a bond that will endure over two decades -- a bond built on secrets, scandal and murder . . . a bond about to be broken.

Mattie, a federal judge . . . Breeze, a wealthy entrepreneur . . . and Jane, the first lady of the United States, have all enjoyed a meteoric rise to success since their days at the Rowe Academy for Girls. But now the truth behind the suicide of their friend Ivy and the murder of their headmistress twenty years ago is no longer safely hidden.

The man imprisoned for the murder has been exonerated, and a true crime reporter is relentlessly pursuing a loose thread in the decades-old cover-up, one that threatens to unravel the women's pact of silence. But none of them anticipated the twisted depths of the secrets about to be exposed -- or how the truth could shatter all their lives.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778322017
• ISBN-13: 978-0778322016
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,196,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars electrifying romantic suspense thriller , July 27, 2005

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In 1980 at the exclusive Rowe Academy for Girls in Tiburon, California, the four unpopular scholarship coeds forged friendships as the Lonely Girls Club. The schools headmistress Millicent Rowe pimps the foursome as prostitutes. However, someone murders Rowe while one member of the quartet Ivy commits suicide. The three survivors (Mattie, Breeze, and Jane) agree to a vow of secrecy. William Broud was convicted of the homicide.

In 2005 at San Quentin, true crime writer Jameson Cross picks up just released William who spent over two decades as the convicted finishing school murderer; DNA proved he did not commit the crime. Jameson offers to pay William if he helps him follow clues as to what happened a quarter of a century ago. The three female survivors are all successful in their chosen endeavors with Mattie as a federal judge, Breeze a business woman entrepreneur and Jane as the First Lady. They do not want exposure that could devastate their respective careers, but Jameson is digging while William feels someone owes him a life.

THE LONELY GIRLS CLUB is an electrifying romantic suspense thriller that grips the audience from the moment that Broud is released from prison and never lets up until the final meeting between Jameson and the Judge. The story line is action-packed, but it is the reaction of the characters to Jameson's inquiries that makes the tale as each of the three prime suspects has reasons to hide even "edit" the Rowe incidents. Thus the audience keeps on reading while wondering which of the former coeds killed the headmistress.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Lonely Girls Club, August 1, 2005

By	Amanda Killgore (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

When a stay of execution frees a convicted killer, the "lonely girls" get nervous. As teens, many young women were forced to "pay their way" at an exclusive girls' school, being pimped out by their insane headmistress. Beyond the sexual torture they endured, the woman was abusive on other levels as well. Yet, before they could carry out a planned execution, the woman is murdered, freeing them in one sense, in another imprisoning them in a cage of secrets. The truth is about to be revealed; that could destroy their carefully crafted lives of prestige and power with one word.

*** Although the story shifts between the past and present quite often, the flashbacks have a necessity that lends a logic to them. Holding true to Christie's belief that the victim should deserve to die, the one here truly does. At times, the book is a bit graphic, so gently minded readers, be wary. However, it is a first rate suspense drama. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, freelance reviewer.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why did I read this?, June 19, 2006

By	Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I must preface this review by saying that it's possible that the genre of romantic suspense isn't for me, but it's also possible that far fetched and improbable plots and characters aren't for me either. And as much as was intrigued by the blurb on the back of The Lonely Girls Club, I just can't recommend this book to other readers.

Three scholarship women who were students at the same boarding school 20 years ago are plunged into a whirlwind of emotions and actions when the man accused of killing their headmistress is released from prison. When new information is revealed which exonerates this man of the crime, these women are thrown back into a part of their lives they would rather forget. Now, though, all of their old history and the killing are once again front and center. And when the man these women and the courts thought was guilty is found dead, the victim of an apparent suicide, the women mount a campaign to find out what really happened to Ms.Rowe, this man and their friend Ivy. Along the way there are other attempted murders, deceit, contradictions and a would be love story between two of the characters.

While the first 100 pages had me glued the book became painful to read at the end and I skimmed the last 200 pages and couldn't wait for this to be over so I could read something else. I have no doubt that someday I may read a good book filled with romance and suspense, but for me it wasn't The Lonely Girls Club. I can suspsensd disbelief with the best of them but the storyline was just so improbable and poorly written that in the end I was sorry I wasted my time.