A good read, really enjoyed it, especially as we know from the beginning that someone has died so there is plenty of foreshadowing until we get to the reveal of who. Good twists.

The running club is set in Australia where a group of friends run together for safety reasons. They were friends years ago and still are, or are they really. They need to watch their backs as there’s someone out to get them

This is a fast paced book that goes back and forth from the present day and back to the school years. The characters are fun to read about, but they all have a lot of secrets.


Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

A running club set in paradise but be careful you don't end up murdered! A cast of colourful characters brings to life this book of family and friends.

The Running Club is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Running Club asap.

Ali Lowe is one talented author, this is a book that gripped me and became impossible to put down from the very beginning.

The multiple storylines in this one come together perfectly at the end. This is a book that has been unpredictable throughout.

Lowe writes in a way that has transported me to the pages. This has been like watching this one play out in front of me.

The characters are particularly dislikable in this one. Each quite self centred and narcissistic to the core. I was hooked by their actions.

The ending is completely different to how I had initially expected it. I had no idea it was going to go so deep. This has been a great read from beginning to end.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

The rules of the running club are the same as they have always been: keep your breath steady, keep your mind sharp, record your laps! Only now there's a new one: don't get killed. Powerful writing and a wonderful premise make this a novel you’ll simultaneously want to savour and race through. I loved it, I wasn't able to put it down till I reached the end. I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, and the characters...

4.5★s
The Running Club is the second novel by Australian journalist and author, Ali Lowe. Esperance, the jewel at the tip of the peninsula at Sydney’s north, where “you can’t be ugly living in this town. It’s as if aesthetics are taken into account when you’re signing over your millions on a property contract”, there’s a running club. Four couples participate, some with more dedication that others. They use a purpose-built running track just off the Esperance Reserve, and many of them run five days a week at 7pm.

Several members originally hail from Shivers Beach, a forty-minute drive north, described as ”poverty clad and unkempt”, these four having managed to drag themselves out of there by “marrying up”. Some in the group are very much focussed on wealth and image; and some seem intent on sowing discord. But in early September, one of their number is found in the reserve, just near the track, quite dead.

Little more can be said without spoilers. The story is told from four different perspectives and over two time periods, and the reader may wonder at the reliability and honesty of the narrators. Lowe’s cleverly constructed plot, which doesn’t reveal the identity of the victim until halfway through, will keep the reader guessing as each little twist and wrinkle, each lie and secret, shows that there are several candidates both for the victim and the killer.

Lowe evokes her setting and era with consummate ease. Her characters are the sort of people we all encounter in our daily lives, facing challenges and dilemmas both topical and realistic: infidelity, unwise investment, ageing partners, difficult teens; as well some that only apply to certain societal strata, like trying to keep up with snobbish friends.

In a plot where no one is quite who they first seem to be, Lowe manages to include: a flasher, a severe peanut allergy, charity shop donations, a forgotten bitcoin password and embezzlement from a women’s refuge charity. Excellent contemporary Aussie crime drama.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.

A deliciously juicy and gossipy tale set in the most idyllic setting of beachside Australia, where everyone is keeping up with the Joneses and obsessed by who has what, or who is dating who. The women are all hyper-competitive, literally running laps around each other and all in a bid to impress a man - the same man.
It would be a wonderful TV drama, I'd be there straight away!

Set in the elite suburb of Esperance, the novel centres around 4 "best friends" who are all part of a running club. When one of them is murdered, secrets are revealed that means everyone is under suspicion.
I loved this novel, it had so many twists and turns that every prediction I made about who the killer was, was wrong.
A great read with some very unlikable characters and perfect for anyone who loves a good "whodunnit".

I needed this book so badly and was over the moon to get it on my netgalley shelf. I loved the local beach, I felt how wonderful it was. Just. The characters weren't really nice, well I only liked one, I felt sorry for the others, and I didn't find all the others okay.. I could tell it was a domestic drama and yes, you get some twists and turns. Once you start reading, you can't put it down. It wasn't shocking to me how it ended, but in my mind I wanted to do a completely different ending. Thanks to my great reader friends who read it with me

The Running Club is a domestic thriller that follows a group of wealthy women who run together. But each woman has their own secrets. I won't give too much away except to say someone gets murdered. And someone has done the deed whilst trying to cover it up.

This book had all the gossipy vibes that reminded me of Desperate Housewives - one of my favourite shows!. I loved the multiple POV's once I got a hang of which character was which! Each woman had their own interesting storyline and I was all for the drama. This was my first book of Ali Lowe's and I am now super keen to read The Trivia Night.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book and inviting me to be part of the tour.
Please do check out the other bookstagrammers who have reviewed this book!

From the first chapters, I felt like I was transported back to Wisteria Lane and was watching Gabriella, Edie, Bree, Lynette and Susan.
Obviously these are characters from the hit show Desperate Housewives, but all I could picture whilst reading this book was that sort of set up!

The book was full of deceit, secrets and full of characters that are driven by wealth. I really did not like any of the characters which I am hoping was the authors intentions!

Told from different viewpoints, across different timelines, the reader is immersed in the scandal of Esperance with a crime to solve!

The kept me entertained and was an overall enjoyable read

The rules of the running club are the same as they have always been: Keep your breath steady, keep your mind sharp, record your laps! Only now there is a new one: Don't get killed!

This is my first book by Ali Lowe but I heard great things about her debut The Trivia Night so I was looking forward to this one. I wasn't invested right off the starting blocks due as there were a lot of characters to keep track of. However when I got into the rhythm of the story and who was who the pace picked up. I love domestic thrillers and this one reminded me of Big Little Lies as the women were unlikeable and the men all seemed to be a means to an end rather than true love. I enjoyed as Lowe picks apart each character and all their tangled relationships which is very revealing and makes for a great thrilling read. I loved the beachside opulent setting which I could see clearly in my head and the juxtaposition of the less affluent seaside town down the road worked well. Money certainly can't buy class or common sense because I as the reader was able to work out certain things about Esperance's residents long before they did.

The Running Club is spot on with its cliquey bitchiness meaning everyone is a suspect and no-one is safe from being bumped off and I don't mean off the running track.

The rules of the running club are the same as they have always been> keep your breath steady, keep your mind sharp, record your laps! Only now there's a new one: don't get killed!

The wealthy community of Esperance is picture-perfect. Big houses. stunning views, beautiful people. A brand-new running track for the local club to jog around in the evenings. From the outside it looks like paradise, but the women of the town know the truth: you can hide anything - from your wrinkles to the secrets from your past = if you have enough money. You could even hide a murder.

Shelby was not always a nice person, so the list of suspects could be lengthy. We get flashbacks and backstory to some of the characters pasts as teenagers. We learn of the resentments, betrayals, and secrets these well-to-do women had for each other. I was hooked after reading the prologue. I found that I liked some of the characters more than I did others. Just when I thought I had it all worked out, along would come another twist and off in another direction I would go. The first part of the book is mysteriously written, the second part is where it becomes more thrilling. The pace is fast, and I liked the authors style in writing this book. It's told from several points of view. So who did murder Shelby? Get yourself a copy of this book to find out.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HodderStoughton and the author #AliLowe for my ARC of #TheRunningClub in exchange for an honest review.

Rich Australian suburb Esperance has a running track, and a group of local wealthy women have set up a running club. The club isn't the main topic of the book, so don't be put off by the title - the members of the group and their lives off the track are actually the basis of the story. When one member is murdered, is everyone else safe?

Multiple narcissistic characters, lots of wealth and self importance, and many interlinked personal stories give for a well woven novel. The clues are there for the reader to put together, but will you work out "whodunnit" and why before the end of the book? I figured out who, but not the why as such, and there was a nice little twist for one character at the end - it was clear they weren't quite as it seemed, but it was nicely tied up.

I loved this book, it was gripping and twisty in all the best ways!
While there were some twists that I saw coming, some came completely out of nowhere- but what I loved was that all the clues were on page.
I couldn't stop thinking about the book, and every time I put it down I was thinking of the plot and what was happening.

Fantastic, highly recommend

I enjoyed Ali Lowe's previous book The Trivia Night that I was mighty excited when I got the ARC forthe second book The Running Club.

Rich neighborhood, rich couples, a running track for the neighborhood, privileged area...but each of the couples are holding a deep secret. Then one of the women gets murdered in the neighborhood.

The story consisted of Carole, Lottie, Shelby and Fiona and are told from their POVs. The story divides back an forth between past and present and also describe the fabulous wealthy lives these women seem to be enjoying. There were nail-biting moments, quiet a page turner and the fact that the characters seem to be having a narcissistic trend in their character made the story even more better. There were twists and turns in the story but the ending was so completely unexpected that I did not expect that type of ending! Overall, this is a page-turner that will keep you up all night--worth 4.5 stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Don’t be put off by the title if you are not into reading about running, the book isen’t like that….it is loosely based around a community running club but that’s it on the running score
Esperance is a mega wealthy Australian suburb when the folk thing big, live big and kill big when things and people get in their way
A delicious array of narcissistic characters await and their back and current stories and how they have all ended up in this tragic self made misery of lies, secrets, lust and deception, I couldn’t stand most of them which meant of course they were just wonderful to read about and love to hate
There are a good few storylines in the book that all knit together and it does take a while to get to remember who is who and who is with you ( and who is with who who shouldn’t be 😊 ) and it all makes a pretty good community, neighbourhood thriller, the ending a lot deeper than maybe the beginning would have you believe it would be
Enjoyable

8/10
4 Stars

A crackling good thriller about a group of "friends" who run together. Underneath the glossy facade of perfection is a simmering brew of secrecy, lies and deceit. The chapters alternate between different characters and we slowly learn about their history together until one of them dies and then the focus switches to figuring out who is responsible. Really enjoyed this

Rating: 2.3/5

A running club in the wealthy and glamorous district of Esperance is the setting for this murder mystery from Ali Lowe. The leading characters are predominantly well-to-do females and I couldn't help but get a sense of "Desperate Housewives" meets "The Real Housewives of Cheshire" as I was reading this.

The author has clearly set out to make this a character driven novel, but I can't honestly say that I found the characterisation to be strong enough nor sufficiently convincing. None of the personalities are particularly likeable - not that it matters, as I have enjoyed many a good book where the characters have been all too easy to despise - but they are also just a little two-dimensional. The narrative is told from the perspectives of the various key protagonists, but in spite of the chapters being clearly signposted, I still found myself having to check back to see which one was providing the account at any given time, as I found myself struggling to differentiate between them.

There is ample glitz and gloss in "The Running Club", but not a great deal of substance once you scratch the surface. I found it too protracted and the pace only really picks up significantly in the final quarter. There are twists and turns, but I found them a touch too convenient to be truly believable. On the whole, this is an okay read, but there are far better examples of the genre out there.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.