At thirty-nine, Nicole Mueller’s life is on the rocks. Her once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo. Membership is anonymous, but every member is a successful professional. It sounds like the perfect solution to help Nicole revive her career. So, despite Dan’s concerns that the group might be a cult, Nicole signs up for their retreat in Colorado.
Once there, she meets the other women who will make up her Pride. A CEO, an actress, a finance whiz, a congresswoman: Nicole can’t believe her luck. The founders of Panthera Leo are equally as impressive. They explain the group’s core philosophy: they’re a girl’s club in a boy’s club world.
Nicole is all in. And when she gets home, she soon sees dividends. Her new network quickly provides her with clients that help her relaunch her career, and a great new apartment too. The favors she has to provide in return seem benign. But then she’s called to the congresswoman’s apartment late at night where she’s pressed into helping her cover up a crime. And suddenly, Dan’s concerns that something more sinister is at play seem all too relevant. Can Nicole extricate herself from the group before it’s too late? Or will joining Panthera Leo be the biggest mistake of her life?
The Review
Please Join Us
Catherine McKenzie
There are quite a few cult-centered thrillers being released this season. Please Join Us is one of them.
In PLEASE JOIN US, we’re following Nicole who after running with the wolves finds herself behind in the pack.
She responds to a secretive email invitation inviting her to join an exclusive networking group designed to help amazing women in their fields become even more awesome and circumvent the patriarchal system.
She quickly accepts the invitation and within a month she is plane bound for a team-building event by the networking group.
We follow Nicole as she navigates certain parameters of the event. And then she returns home where everything starts to unravel.
It’s a big bite for a thriller and I’m not sure the author was very successful.
I struggled at times with the writing. Parts of it felt stilted, almost forced. It lacked fluidity and similar to the main character- it lacked confidence.
The dialogue felt unnatural and the characters did and said things that were entirely unrealistic. I slowly began to focus on silly little details, which caused me to come out of the story.
There are several scenarios where the author is trying to convince the reader of the nefarious nature of the group. And a lot of the writing surrounding that concept came across as a little far-fetched and implausible.
And that’s where I think it will lose a lot of its readers.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books, and Simon and Schuster for the advanced copies!
PLEASE JOIN US…⭐️⭐️⭐️
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