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lilibetbombshell 's review for:
Please Join Us: A Novel
by Catherine McKenzie
This book caught my attention and held it, page after page, until the very end. It’s an entertaining and compelling read, even if it isn’t the most original or revelatory story I’ve ever read. I took it with me to my doctor’s appointment today, then I read it while in line at the bank, and I read it while eating my burrito bowl from Chipotle after I got back home. I snuck in a food nap after the burrito bowl, but then it was right back to it, because I needed to find out what was going on and how this seemingly inextricable puzzle was going to be solved.
Ostensibly, this book initially reads like a book where someone desperate for a way out of difficult situation finds themselves in a feminist cult, mixed in with a message for the MeToo movement. Luckily, it’s not as cut and dried as all that, which sets it apart from the norm in this genre of thrillers. While I enjoy a good MeToo vengeance tale as well as the next bloodthirsty female, I like them more when the vengeance is not by proxy (as it is in this book). What I did enjoy about this book’s take on “Call your dad, you’re in a cult” is that Nicole, our protagonist, was already a curious and inquisitive person by nature with a stable and loving marriage in place when she’s approached to join Panthera Leo (the “cult”) in question, so she is naturally resistant to falling straight down the rabbit hole and doesn’t completely lose track of who she is and what she holds dear. A lot of cult novels would break up her marriage, have her throw away all her core beliefs and values, and have her hit some kind of rock bottom before she found a way to crawl out of the ruins. Instead of taking that approach, McKenzie has Nicole use her sharp brain and puzzle-solving mind to pull together the disparate strings of the Panthera Leo web and see the big picture.
It’s hard for me to admit that I like books where women don’t always look out for other women; or, if they do, it’s only to take advantage of their situation for personal gain. It’s hard to admit that I do often enjoy books where women fight and are enemies, bringing each other down and sometimes being really shady. But I do. I don’t think it’s realistic in any way to think women should or could always get along. There will always be competition for resources, no matter what those resources may be. And women have power struggles between one another too. It happens in other species, so it happens in humans. This book does contain that awful scenario where we have women wearing masks of friendship to disguise faces of selfishness and avarice. It makes you ask, “Why are the actors in our lives?”
I highly recommend the read if you’re looking for a feminist suspense thriller. That’s the best way to describe it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for access to this title.
Ostensibly, this book initially reads like a book where someone desperate for a way out of difficult situation finds themselves in a feminist cult, mixed in with a message for the MeToo movement. Luckily, it’s not as cut and dried as all that, which sets it apart from the norm in this genre of thrillers. While I enjoy a good MeToo vengeance tale as well as the next bloodthirsty female, I like them more when the vengeance is not by proxy (as it is in this book). What I did enjoy about this book’s take on “Call your dad, you’re in a cult” is that Nicole, our protagonist, was already a curious and inquisitive person by nature with a stable and loving marriage in place when she’s approached to join Panthera Leo (the “cult”) in question, so she is naturally resistant to falling straight down the rabbit hole and doesn’t completely lose track of who she is and what she holds dear. A lot of cult novels would break up her marriage, have her throw away all her core beliefs and values, and have her hit some kind of rock bottom before she found a way to crawl out of the ruins. Instead of taking that approach, McKenzie has Nicole use her sharp brain and puzzle-solving mind to pull together the disparate strings of the Panthera Leo web and see the big picture.
It’s hard for me to admit that I like books where women don’t always look out for other women; or, if they do, it’s only to take advantage of their situation for personal gain. It’s hard to admit that I do often enjoy books where women fight and are enemies, bringing each other down and sometimes being really shady. But I do. I don’t think it’s realistic in any way to think women should or could always get along. There will always be competition for resources, no matter what those resources may be. And women have power struggles between one another too. It happens in other species, so it happens in humans. This book does contain that awful scenario where we have women wearing masks of friendship to disguise faces of selfishness and avarice. It makes you ask, “Why are the actors in our lives?”
I highly recommend the read if you’re looking for a feminist suspense thriller. That’s the best way to describe it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for access to this title.