The Deadly Book Club

Murder rattles an elite circle of book influencers in this tired thriller from Butler (The Fourth Daughter). Kate Spencer, Jessie Tang, Helena Davis, Leigh Strom, and Sidney Aquino are known as “the Bookers,” members of a monthly virtual book club that’s the envy of smaller-time influencers and the gold standard for publicists. During their latest meeting, each woman raises a cocktail before their screens freeze and screams ring out. Without revealing who’s been killed, or by whom, Butler flashes back one month to catalog each woman’s secrets and potential motives for murder. Kate is managing blowback after tanking an author’s career; Jessie is hiding her foray into high-class sex work from her friends and family; Helena is trying to keep her husband from learning that she’s bankrupted the family; Leigh is cheating on her husband with a high-powered publishing executive; and Sidney is navigating her own marriage troubles. Butler toggles rapidly between each woman’s perspective, but their two-dimensional characterizations make it difficult to care what happens to most of them. Some soapy twists manage to add some fun, but for the most part, this is a slog. Agent: Rachel Brooks, BookEnds Literary. (Oct.)