The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Lloyd, Ellery. The Club. Harper, March 1, 2022. Kindle.

In the murder mystery The Club by Ellery Lloyd, Home Group affiliates, Ned Groom, Adam Groom, Jess Wilson, Annie Spark, and Nikki Hayes have their individual goals to accomplish during the launch party for Island Home, an exclusive new resort intended to cater to celebrities. The guests have no idea about what is in store for them over the course of the weekend’s festivities. Some of the guests and employees will be forced to face their own pasts and hidden proclivities. Some will not even survive the weekend.

The Club is narrated through a third-person narrator from the point of view of a focal character: Jess, the newly installed head of housekeeping; Annie, the flamboyant head of membership; Nikki, who has worked for Home Group since she was 16-years-old and is now the personal assistant to Ned Grooms, the CEO of Home Group; and Adam, Ned’s younger brother and director of special projects. Portions of an article printed in Vanity Fair about the disastrous launch party are included in each chapter to give the reader a less biased view of what happened. At the end of the weekend, four people who attended the launch party are dead. Others requested to leave the island even before the party ended.

Through her story, Jess admits her private grudge against one particular celebrity attending the party. She applied for the position at Island Home to get her revenge, not to merely improve herself.

Even though Annie believes that she will always be a subordinate to Ned, she dreams of having more power over the Home Group. She dreams of what she might do differently if she were in control. Ned is angered by an article for which Annie was interviewed about Island Home. In the article, Annie is portrayed as taking a good deal of credit for the business. Ned vows to fire her when the weekend is over. Ned's threat and Annie's calm ability to lead after the tragic events begin suggest that Annie is responsible for some of the tragedy.

Nikki is Ned’s faithful assistant who makes excuses for and smooths over his tantrums. Nikki had always trusted Ned to work in her best interest. He gave her a job as a coat-check girl and helped her out when she became pregnant by one of the celebrities who frequented the club. Ned arranged an adoption and set Nikki up with a desk job. However, on the weekend of Island Home’s launch, Nikki learns the truth about the adoption and who was allowed to adopt her baby, a truth that destroys her loyalty to Ned.

Meanwhile, Adam is tired of being the fall guy for his older brother. He admired Ned from the time they were both children and wanted to make his brother proud; but, he realizes that he is being used. If Adam does not leave the Home Group, his wife say that she will leave him. Adam, however, may not live long enough to tell his brother that he wants out.