Book Review: The Money Club by Fiona Lowe

 The Money Club

by

Fiona Lowe

Wealth. Trust. Betrayal. 

Publisher: Harlequin Australian

 

Publication date: 3rd May 2023 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 528

RRP: $32.99AU (Paperback)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

My review of The Money Club

With The Money Club Fiona Lowe brings her readers right into a small country town devastated when a well respected member of their community goes missing, along with the money they invested with him.

Brad Quinn is charismatic and affable. He and his fiancée, Izzy, live a life of luxury and Brad is happy to share the secret to his success with his close friends and family. As the money rolls in everyone in Brad's Elite Club is able to buy luxury cars and overseas holidays, until Brad and their money disappear.

Fiona explores how easy it is for people to be caught up in these schemes when they are advised by a close friend, preying on the bonds between them.

I found it very hard to like any of the characters or find any sympathy for them. Many of the characters blamed everyone but themselves for their loss. I did however like the growth of the three main characters. Izzy, Lucy and Birdie showed great strength and fortitude by the closing of the book.

I enjoyed the mystery part of the plot and this had me hooked as the tension hung in the air and there was an unexpected turn of events that truly shocked me.

Fiona Lowe explores themes of community, family, home ownership, trust, friendship, financial stress and starting over.

Does the small town of Glingilly survive this devastating financial blow? You will have to read the book to find out!

My rating 3.5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐½

About the author

Fiona Lowe has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. She spent her early years in Papua New Guinea where, without television, reading was the entertainment and it set up a lifelong love of books. Although she often re-wrote the endings of books in her head, it was the birth of her  first child that prompted her to write her first novel. A recipient of the prestigious USA RITA award and the Australian RuBY award. Fiona writes books that are set in small country towns. They feature real people facing difficult choices and explore how family ties and relationships impact on their decisions.

When she is not writing stories, she's a distracted wife, mother of two 'ginger' sons, a volunteer in her community, guardian of eighty rose bushes, a slave to a cat, and is often found collapsed on the couch with wine.