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The Boys' Club

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Sweetbitter meets The Firm in this buzzy, page-turning debut novel—already optioned to Netflix—about sex and power in the halls of corporate America.

One of Buzzfeed's Most Anticipated Books of 2020, Cosmopolitan's Best Summer Reads of 2020, and the New York Post's 30 Best Summer Books

Alex Vogel has always been a high achiever who lived her life by the book—star student and athlete in high school, prelaw whiz in college, Harvard Law School degree. Accepting a dream offer at the prestigious Manhattan law firm of Klasko & Fitch, she promises her sweet and supportive longtime boyfriend that the job won't change her.

Yet Alex is seduced by the firm's money and energy . . . and by her cocksure male colleagues, who quickly take notice of the new girl. She's never felt so confident and powerful—even the innuendo-laced banter with clients feels fun. In the firm's most profitable and competitive division, Mergers and Acquisitions, Alex works around the clock, racking up billable hours and entertaining clients late into the evening. While the job is punishing, it has its perks, like a weekend trip to Miami, a ride in a client's private jet, and more expense-account meals than she can count.

But as her clients' expectations and demands on her increase, and Alex finds herself magnetically drawn to a handsome coworker despite her loving relationship at home, she begins to question everything—including herself. She knows the corporate world isn't black and white, and that to reach the top means playing by different rules. But who made those rules? And what if the system rigged so that women can't win, anyway?

When something happens that reveals the dark reality of the firm, Alex comes to understand the ways women like her are told—explicitly and implicitly—how they need to behave to succeed in the workplace. Now, she can no longer stand by silently—even if doing what's right means putting everything on the line to expose the shocking truth.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 8, 2020
      The intriguing debut by Katz (a pseudonym) chronicles nine months of grueling work, politics, and harassment endured by Alex Vogel, an ambitious female associate at a top Manhattan law firm. Always up for a challenge, Alex is drawn to the department of mergers and acquisitions at Klasko & Fitch. Her game attitude and work ethic quickly earn her the respect of her male superiors. These include star lawyer Peter Dunn, whose client Gary Kaplan has a reputation for misogyny yet is the firm’s largest source of revenue. Alex soon becomes enamored with the money, prestige, and power at M&A, much to her live-in boyfriend’s chagrin. She begins an affair with Peter, and along the way becomes the subject of brutal gossip, develops a dependence on alcohol, and discovers the dark truth of what her colleagues will do to protect their financial interests. Interspersed with the main story are bits from a testimony given by Alex after the events of the book, as witness in a case brought against Kaplan by another woman. The author makes Alex a complicated protagonist, exploring how she navigates the hurdles of an abusive environment while trying to get ahead. Anyone who’s curious about the world of high-powered law firms will enjoy Katz’s engaging and brutal novel. Allison Hunter, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Julia Whelan delivers the mounting tension of Katz's timely audiobook, engaging listeners with its complicated protagonist. Alex is a Harvard Law School graduate who lands a dream position at Klasko & Fitch, a high-powered firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions. Alex promises her partner she won't be swept up in the demands of her job, but soon the nonstop pace takes hold, with Alex experiencing the abusiveness of the "boys' club" directly. Alex finds herself embracing the expectations of her superiors and the exuberant lifestyle that follows. Whelan captures the complex nature of Alex's character as the world of corporate law challenges how she sees herself and her relationships. It's a subtly deft performance. S.P.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2020

      In Bront�'s Mistress, award-winning Secret Victorianist blogger Austin reimagines the passions that spilled forth when Lydia Robinson, mistress of Thorp Green Hall, welcomed Branwell Bront� as her son's tutor in a household that included his sister Anne as governess (100,000-copy first printing). In Blooms's Every Bone a Prayer, ten-year-old Misty lives in an Appalachian holler, communing closely with nature, avoiding her quarreling parents, and aware she must get out and face the world. Cocreator of the Wine, Women and Words literary podcast, Giovinazzo reconstructs the life of Italian revolutionary Anita Garibaldi in The Woman in Red. In Katz's The Boys' Club, Harvard law grad Alex Vogel enthusiastically accepts an offer to join a prestigious Manhattan law firm and falls in line with the firm's competitive, materialist, sexist environment until events make her question everything (50,000-copy first printing). Multiple foreign rights and a Netflix series to come.

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      June 1, 2020
      The perils and pleasures--if that's the right word--of a high-powered young woman working as a first-year associate at a major Manhattan law firm. One of the key sentences in this debut novel is in the author bio on the last page: "Erica Katz is the pseudonym for a graduate of Columbia Law School who began her career at a major Manhattan law firm." Another is in the acknowledgments: "To everyone who sees ugly parts of themselves in these characters and wonders if I'm writing about them, I'm not. (But I am...)." Clearly the story of Alexandra Vogel's life at Klasko & Fitch is grounded in experience and first-hand observation. It's an intense, disturbing #MeToo story that takes the significant risk of making its main character neither innocent nor completely likable. The book opens with an excerpt from a transcript of a New York Supreme Court trial. The defendant is Gary Kaplan, whom we will come to know as the firm's most important, powerful, and wealthy client. What the charge is, or exactly why Alex is called to testify in such detail about her experiences at the firm, will not be clear until very late in the book. Before that, we go with Alex on the wild ride that is an associate's first year as she tries to impress the bigwigs in order to "match" with a desirable department. Towering above them all is Mergers and Acquisitions--the best, brightest, toughest, most important--so naturally Alex, a mega-achiever whose accomplishments include a world record in girls junior swimming, sets her sights on it. Almost immediately the furiously competitive situation changes her into something of a monster. Multiday work sessions alternate with exorbitant dining, drinking, and drugging, taking quite a toll on her relationships with her boyfriend and her parents. Meanwhile sexual tension is building between her and more powerful colleagues while her relationships with the few women in the firm are...poor. She doesn't see the situation for what it is until late in the book, when nuance goes out the window; her awakening is rushed and less realistic than what's gone before. A knowing, nuanced #MeToo story from the world of corporate law, with juicy The Wolf of Wall Street-type action.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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