This was not at all what I expected, and I really liked it. The story premise is effective and the interlinking of the characters is subtle enough that I found myself really rooting for them all in different ways. It has a real ring of Thelma and Louise about it, which was perhaps part of the point, and I loved reading about these women who demand a better quality of life for themselves in a world that seems unrecognisable but in truth, probably isn't too far off.

A science fiction tale set in a vaguely near future USA, this is a look at life, death and immortality, and what people will do to get it.

As medical science improved, people started replacing more and more of their bodies. There's DiamondSkinTM, SmartBloodTM and ToughMuscTM, all of which are available for free to "lifers". These are people who are gauged at birth to have a life expectancy greater than 100. They are the ones who are candidates for immortality, as part of the "Third Wave" of enhancements, with the possibility of eliminating death entirely.

Those who are born with life expectancies below the magic number? Expendable. Useful for cheap labour, but only able to get access to life-extending replacements either on the black market or through early stage prototype testing. Which comes with a significant risk of leaving them "misaligned". In this state their artificial organs still continue to function, but not synchronised, leading to a horrible form of locked in symdrome, in which it's never certain if people are still conscious. These people are literally "sent to live on a farm" in order to be harvested for nutrients.

That's what happened to Anja's mother, and what got her interested in the Suicide Club of the title, who oppose the government's attempts to keep people alive, by taking part in ritualised, publicized suicides. Opposite her is Lea, the epitome of a lifer, aiming for her immortality, while still hiding a hint of darkness.

The story looks at their meeting, their goals and what might happen when a society sets itself counter to a natural law. The world-building is excellent. The ideas behind the improved people and the societal changes that would be encoutered when people frequently live to 200 are well explored. Decades of learning before entering highly skilled jobs. Obsessions with health fads and the careful assessment of the effect of everything you eat.

Lea is a nice example of someone failing to deal with the high pressure of expectations upon her, and her psychological troubles make for grim reading, with some impressively horrible scenes. In contrast Anja is active, forcing society to do what she wants, and dragging Lea along with her, and their actions together and separate for their individual ends are fun to watch.

I enjoyed the hell out of the first half of the book. It sets up some really interesting ideas, and has that high concept feel of some of the best "thinky" sci-fi. There are a lot of things in here that I was excited to read more about. Unfortunately it falters a little at the three quarters mark. The main conflict of the book never really appears and instead it drifts off into a rather more philosophical ending, which didn't particularly appeal to me. I will confess to being unsure how I'd have like to see it end, but there was a certain element of "is that it?" when the book finished.

Still, that first half is genius, and the questions the book asks are definitely ones you'll enjoy thinking about. There's the idea of whether the right to die can be taken away by the government, how much awareness people need to be able to self-determine, and whether chasing of health is a good idea. There's a lot in it. Worth it for that.

Thank you to Netalley for my advanced copy

Set in the future, the population is declining. To combat this people are encouraged to be super healthy. Those lucky enough to do this become lifers and live to be over 100. But there are also the sub 100s, the second class citizens.
The story follows two female characters, Anja a classical violinist whose mother is dying and Lea, a lifer. Two different women with very different lives and how those lives become intertwined.
I didn't think a dystopian/sci-fi/urban-fantasy novel could be beautiful but the writing in this is. It was like an episode of Black Mirror and it definitely leaves you wondering what the future could bring.

I loved the concept behind this book. In the future, the population is falling. To try to keep it up, people are strongly encouraged to be super healthy and get various body enhancements and replacements. As a result, some people live to be over 100. Then there are the others - the sub-100s - who are the second-class citizens, who live and die like the mortals they are.

The storyline is also really interesting. Lea is a lifer, and she tries so hard to be perfect. She has a great job, a fiancee, and she does everything according to the government-issued directives. But one day she sees a face from her past in the crowd, and her life crashes down around her. The plot follows her as she tries to make
everything perfect again.

The characters are quite hard to get to know, as they are not quite human, with their enhancements and the strange lifestyles they have. You do however get to know the main characters, Lea and Anja, quite well as the story progresses. Their past experiences have made them who they are and these are revealed gradually. However I wouldn't say that I could understand any of the characters, and nor do I like them. This detachment didn't ruin the book for me though, it was very much concept-driven rather than character-based, and I felt like the aloofness of the characters fit perfectly. This is how everyone is in this world because everything is so clinical and nobody would dare to reveal their true selves and risk the disapproval of others.

The pace is pretty slow, and this is not a tense or exciting book. It is full of intrigue however, and I never lost interest. I couldn't predict what would happen, which I really liked.

Overall I really enjoyed this book in a low-key sort of way. It is well written and the ideas are great. On the down side, I don't think I will remember it, just because there was no excitement. On the up side, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be from reading the description, and this turned out to be a very good thing.

I really loved some of the ideas and they seemed scarily viable at times, the whole thing felt quite plausible. The lead character is almost certainly some kind of sociopath which made her an unusual choice but it worked pretty well, I'd have liked her to have been written in the first person though.

This book took me a little while to really get my head around but, once I got there, I whizzed through it. Set in the near future when life expectancy is around 300 for certain people, we follow Lea, a "lifer" which means that, at birth, when tested, she was given that label, meaning that she now has access to all the enhancements and biotechnology she needs to prolong her life nearly indefinitely. But, as we soon learn, this has as many disadvantages as it has advantages and there are a bunch of people that are starting to rebel against the way of living set out for such people. With immortality on the cusp of discovery, the lifers now take their health and well being to a whole other level as they strive to get their names on the list of those destined for trials for it. But then, one day, Lea sees her estranged father across the street. In her haste to catch up to him, she tries to cross the busy road and gets hit by a car. Determined to keep the discovery of her father a secret, she has no reason for her recklessness and the act is deemed to be suicide and she has to undergo remedial action in the form of group therapy. There she meets Anja who is caring for her ailing mother. Initially chalk and cheese, a discovery by Lea on following her father, makes her realise that maybe they aren't so different after all, and Lea is drawn further into a world she never knew existed.
This book struck me very much as - careful what you wish for. Yes, the whole immortality is a bit tempting but the ways and means, perils and pitfalls, and sacrifices described in this book did put a really different spin on things. Sacrifices on what you eat, where you go, who you associate with, all bring up the difference between living and existing. Quality of life against length. Definitely made me think a bit. Some of the technology and procedures as described also made me squirm a little.
Told both by Lea and Anja, we see both sides of the story. Polar opposites at first but then, as the book progressed, the two started to come together for a common goal. I found this transition to be very smooth and totally believable.
I guess what I take from this book is that maybe life's a bit short but it's not how long you live for that matters, rather what you do with the finite time you are given. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I had been eager to start this book as I had seen some buzz and it sounded great. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was a good read. I didn’t love it, and I didn’t particularly like the characters, but I found the writing, plot and overall concept quite compelling. Speculative fiction for sure, and thought provoking.

Thought provoking and captivating! The story takes place in a dystopian future where skin, blood and body parts can be replaced and immortality sounds like a potential option. Lea is at the top of the food chain. She has a perfect partner, perfect job and a perfect body for someone post-100 years old. One, small, unintentional error sends her hurtling towards a future she fought her whole life against. She is forced to challenge her own ideas of utopia and what it means to be immortal.

I love the thought involved in creating this new world and the innovations that it has, and the implications that would have on the city and its people. I enjoyed how the story unfolded and despite certain inevitabilities, it still felt unpredictable. The ending felt a bit flat, but I enjoyed this book and its ideas.

Great book. I felt it covered all the elements of a potential immortality. I loved the way Lea changed throughout the book and the struggle with her decisions. I found it making me think about this and look at what I would want to do given the situations of the characters. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone.

I'm a big fan of dystopian fiction and this didn't disappoint. Set in a future where rich humans are able to extend their lives by hundreds of years, this book deals with ethical issues and the control of the state over its citizens.
I loved the main characters and especially that characters like Lea, who initially seemed one dimensional, have their hidden depths and flaws slowly revealed

I enjoyed this imaginative book, which is set in the distant future when some people can live for hundreds of years thanks to advanced medical technology. This is a really interesting idea and I was excited to see what the story would do with it. What I got was a fun story, but a not entirely satisfying one, and ultimately I think Rachel Heng could have done more to extract drama and tension from the premise. Nevertheless this is a promising debut, perhaps one I would recommend to young adult readers who are ready to move on to adult fiction, as it is an easy read yet explores thought-provoking themes.

All the buzz around this book is completely justified! Exploring a nightmarish world where a select few achieve immortality, it really makes you think, about everything from our 'wellness' culture to the value of life itself. I heartily recommend it: a great read based on a truly unique idea!

In the future people are living up to 300 years due to medical advancement. Some are fighting for their right to die. The story centres around Lea and her estranged father. A complex storyline. Fans of sci fi and fantasy will like this book. I’m afraid I found it difficult to follow and it failed to hook me in. Not fo me I’m afraid.
Netgally review copy.

Imagine a future in which death is close to being eradicated. At birth, everyone is allocated a number which determines whether or not they will be a ‘lifer’, a person who will live for hundreds of years with the aid of surgical enhancements and advanced biological technology. Those with a natural lifespan – ‘sub-100s’ – are effectively an underclass, relegated to the outer boroughs of this world’s cities. There are whispers that new developments will soon make immortality possible, with the most diligent lifers certain to be first in line. As for the existence the lifers actually have – it’s like wellness culture taken to the absolute extreme. Life has been stripped of everything pleasurable, from fatty food (artery-clogging) to exercise (too much of a strain on the body). Little wonder, then, that some rebel, forming a rule-flouting group they call the Suicide Club.

At the centre of this story is Lea, who’s just turned 100. She's a model lifer for whom immortality is the ultimate dream. But she’s hiding a turbulent past and painful secrets. When she sees her father Kaito – missing for decades – in the street, she runs after him and is hit by a car. This is interpreted as a suicide attempt, and Lea finds herself under observation and forced to attend ‘WeCovery’ group counselling sessions. Also in WeCovery is Anja, whose life is devoted caring for a mother who's all but dead due to faulty tech. Between Anja and Kaito, Lea is drawn into the murky world of the Suicide Club: part activist group, part ironic celebration.

This is an intriguing premise, and raises a lot of fascinating ethical questions. I was particularly interested in the way Lea’s fanatical ‘life-loving’ mindset drew clear parallels with the views of extreme anti-abortionists. The execution is, unfortunately, a bit clunky, and I struggled to suspend disbelief enough to accept that Lea was really a hundred years old. She’s just so shallow – none of the accrued wisdom or knowledge I would expect of someone of such an age, regardless of her outward appearance. (Also, honestly, one wonders why ‘unhealthy’ behaviour would matter quite so much once bio-technology had evolved to the point that people could be essentially made unkillable. And once you start thinking about things like this, the entire setup starts to crumble.)

I loved the concept, but there was something missing from Suicide Club for me. It feels very much like an imperfect debut from a writer who will go on to greater things: some of the plot’s potential is not quite realised, and the whole story lacks tension. Nevertheless, I love the originality of Rachel Heng’s ideas and will be keeping an eye out for her future work.

In this near future dystopian novel we see society coming close to living forever, if you have the right genes that is. Children are tested at birth to see if they are eligible for the new treatments that will enable them to live longer. The ‘Lifers’ must follow strict rules and keep their bodies in good shape, their meals are prepared for them, exercise is controlled, no stress or even having the windows open!

Lea Kirino is a lifer as was her mother before her. She does everything she is supposed to do and has just turned 100 years old. She has a great job and is due for a promotion and hopefully the next wave of treatment that could mean she will be immortal. But one day she sees her dad in the street who she hasn’t seen in 88 years and tries to follow him, she steps in to the road, in a place your not supposed to and gets hit by a car. When she wakes up she’s told she’s on the observation list. The observation list is a list of people seen as antisanct, those who don’t wish to live forever. This is a crime and anyone seen as though they don’t value their life is then on this list.
To Lea this is the worst thing possible and she does everything to put it right, but with her dad back. Lea begins to see a whole new world, of powerful people part of the antisanct movement called the Suicide Club, her dad wanting to end his life with them and so Lea is pulled between the two worlds. Will she discover what she truly desires from life? Is living forever all its cracked up to be?

I enjoyed this story, it has good world building. It felt like this world could become a possibility in our future. I enjoyed the characters and what they brought to the story, the secondary characters help build Lea’s story and helped to paint the picture of the world they live in and what its like for ‘Lifers’ and “sub-100” who don’t have the genes for immortality.
We had Lea’s whole back story and so we had the whole picture and we could watch Lea evolve. I felt like I was on the journey with her and felt what she felt.
The writing was so immersive, I was drawn into this world and how it works, I couldn’t put it down.

A great book and a must read this summer!

There's an interesting premise here that extends logically from our present preoccupation with youth, health and longevity: in the US, technologies have been found that can extend life into hundreds of years with artificial blood, self-renewing skin and long-life muscles. But only for those with the 'right' genetic structure and who are prepared to sacrifice anything that can inhibit long life: meat, sugar, alcohol, anything that raises stress/cortisol/adrenaline levels - but with so many restrictions on pleasure, is a long life worth living, this book asks.

It's unusual for me to be wanting <i>more</i> from a piece of contemporary fiction: more usually I'm wanting it to dial back on the multiple plots, the action, the filler - but here I felt that Heng could have expanded productively: in characterisation and motivation, in world-building, in plot. At the moment, this is intriguing but feels like a single-idea book, a short story expanded into a novel.

It follows the conventional dystopia arc of a protagonist who kicks against the system but unlike, say, [book:The Handmaid's Tale|38447] or [book:1984|5470] the stakes don't feel particularly high. There are some interesting updates to [book:Brave New World|1002404], perhaps.

Intriguing, for sure, but also a bit unsatisfying.

Suicide Club definitely has an interesting premise - people who can basically live forever and a government that ensures everyone strives to do that. But sadly it didn't draw me in.

1. For starters, I read like at least 25% of the book not realizing there were two points of view. At that point I had no idea how much I'd mixed up their two backstories. I have no idea which pieces of history belong with which person. X_X

2. All the new product/company names started to weigh on me. Observers, WeCovery, SmartBlood, sub-100s, Repairants, I think there was some kind of "DiamondSkin", etc. I guess I just felt like I was drowning in it all.

3. I feel like maybe I was expecting a cool, futuristic, dystopian thriller. But instead this felt a lot more like a personal/family story and that wasn't what I was looking for. At least half of what I read was about backstory, old family stories, etc. It just wasn't that interesting to me.

I think ultimately I just expected one thing and got something else, and because of that I had a hard time connecting to the characters and everything that was going on. (Speaking of which, it didn't feel like that much actually was going on since we spent so much time on backstories.)

2.5*

'Suicide Club' by Rachel Heng is a novel about a dystopian near-future that doesn't actually seem so far-fetched.

It expores what might happen if science and therefore medicine becomes so advanced that humans are able to prolong their lives for 100+ years.

The way it's written creates a certain distance from the characters, which is a clever way to convey the sterility of the society that they're living in, so if a character-driven drama is your thing then this might not be for you. I wouldn't really say that it is plot driven either - it's succeeds by imagining the world that the characters inhabit and it's certainly interesting to consider.

I would recommend this title to readers that are already interetested in dystopian futures, but if that's not usually your genre then you might find it difficult to engage with.

This was an interesting and original book.Having said that I did struggle to connect with the main character a little and had to really concentrate to keep up at times, I think I found the writing style a little difficult to follow, or maybe it was just me.The story was good and I wanted to enjoy the book more but it didn't really hit the spot for me but I don't want to put others off because it could just be me,I will give it 4 stars for originality and content, and would like to thank the publishers and netgalley for an ARC.

I was initially really intrigued by the cover and blurb but the book itself didn’t really live up to that. It was a bit short of the mark, and I wasn’t able to finish it.