Four female friends, all sidelined in some way by men, hatch a plan to wreak revenge.
I will freely admit I haven't been near a Kathy Lette novel in about twenty years. My tastes changed, but now I'm more than happy to intersperse my usual diet of crime and thrillers with something a little lighter, romantic fiction or uplifting fiction fits the bill perfectly. Hence, I decided to give The Revenge Club a go.
University friends Tilly, Penny, Jo and Cressida haven't seen each other for twenty years. They had a strong bond at university, they even formed a group, but careers and families mean that they have drifted apart. It is therefore a surprise when Jo suggests they rekindle the friendship.
Tilly, Penny and Cressida are detailing what they have done since leaving university when a strange man approaches their table. They are shocked and amazed to discover that it is their friend Jo, masquerading as Joe. Jo explains that her career as a leading special effects artist ground to a halt when a director decided she was "past it". Using her skills she disguised herself as a man and had the chance to work with the same director who thinks her new persona is brilliant and Joe is now in great demand.
Jo/Joe's tale causes the other three women to begin to recount how their lives have changed now they've passed the 40 mark. A successful novelist has been dropped by her publisher (her writing is no longer relevant), a TV journalist has been dropped in favour of a male colleague (too old to be on screen) and an actress is now only being offered jobs aimed at much older people (roles advertising incontinence pads). Added to this a husband has taken on a much younger mistress. The descriptions in which the women have been sidelined will not come as a surprise to female readers, they are the sort of thing we see and hear on a regular basis. It is refreshing to see that the author is now writing about an older generation of females but, as one of the characters points out, forty is hardly old.
The quartet agrees to seek revenge on the men who have wronged them using Jo's disguise to help. Luckily they discover allies to help them carry out their plans. Some of the allies come from surprising places but also show that not all men are the same.
The dialogue is razor sharp, as you would expect from Kathy Lette, but I felt that it became a little preachy at times. I enjoyed the twists which added unexpected elements to the storyline, making this much more than just a tale of revenge.
Author Details
Kathy Lette first achieved succès de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, which was made into a major film and a TV mini-series. She has written 20 books which have been translated into 19 languages. Kathy has two children and divides her time between Sydney and London. Kathy is an autodidact (a word she taught herself) but has three honorary doctorates. She is a TV presenter, newspaper and magazine columnist and also an ambassador for Their World, the National Autistic Society and Ambitious About Autism. Kathy recently completed a tour of her one-woman show, "Girls Night Out", and is pleased to report that she didn't fall out with the cast.
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