Review: Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club

Author: Duncan Whitehead 

Title: The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club

Description: Every afternoon at 4, the Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club (Heidi, Carla, and Cindy, all ladies of a certain age) convenes in the park to gossip about the neighbors and drink. As the novel opens, the fourth member of the club lies dying of cancer, while Carla and Cindy both set their caps at the soon-to-be widower, Elliott. Meanwhile, the ladies agree that the old man who brings his dog every afternoon needs to be reminded to use the Poopa Scoopa, that Tom & Heidi, Cindy’s next-door neighbors are both good looking enough to be models, and that it’s not quite right for Doug, a British expat, to have retired while his wife continues to work.  Oh, and did I mention the hit man lurking in the park?

Review source: Library Thing Early Reviewers

Plot: There are some pretty wild coincidences as events move toward their conclusion. No one would accuse Whitehead of not keeping the story moving; in fact, sometimes it jumps around a little too much.

Characters: None of the characters are too appealing; they are all pretty nasty, once you get to know much about them. Oddly enough, as well, there is no main character. All of the characters share the spotlight pretty evenly.

Writing style: The unbelievable coincidences and actions of some of the characters stretched my credulity, though I’m pretty sure Whitehead didn’t intend the novel to be realistic.

Audience: Mystery readers, I guess. The blurb made it sound like chick lit, but it’s not.

Wrap-up: This is a bizarre little book, which I finished in about 24 hours, so I guess it’s a bizarre little page-turner. 3.5/5*