Customer Reviews

Welcome to London's most unusual social club - By: Daniel Jolley, 05 Aug 2005
The Suicide Club is a really eye-catching title; once I saw Robert Louis Stevenson's name attached to it, I wasted little timein taking this little book home with me. I must say it's also rather striking to see a book of only 59 pages bearing a note that it is unabridged. Obviously, it's something of a short read, but it's also an enjoyable one. This is far from Stevenson's best-known work, but it's no secret that the author was a master storyteller.

The book consists of three interrelated short stories built around a most unusual prince & an even more unusual "social club." Prince Florizel of Bohemia indulges his thirst for adventure by undertaking all manner of secret excursionsin disguise, aided always by his friend & Master of the Horse, Colonel Geraldine. Whilein London, one such late-night adventure leads them to the doors of The Suicide Club. This secret club serves an unusual purpose - it's essentially an assisted-suicide service. Suicide is a messy business - a lot of desperate men just can't bring themselves to take their own lives, & most also do not wish to cause a scandal among the friends & families they leave behind. For a fee, The Suicide Club arranges for the "accidental" deaths of its members. The luck of the draw determines who will die - & who will do the killing - on any given night. Anxious to put an end to such a barbaric society, Prince Florizel sets out to bring the murderous president of the club to justice, thereby setting the stage for the following two stories.

"Story of the Physician & the Saratoga Trunk" finds a young Americanin France deceived by intrigues & seemingly framed for murder as he finds a dead bodyin his bed. A mysterious doctorin the next room engineers a plan for the innocent young man to avoid an undeserved fate - this is where the Saratoga trunk comes in, as it's the perfect size for hiding a corpse. The young man & his luggage are able to exit the countryin the company of Prince Florizel, but there is more than one surprisein store for the prince when he learns what his new friend is secretly transporting. It is nothing less than a most disturbing calling card from Florizel's enemy, the former president of The Suicide Club.

"The Adventure of the Hansom Cab" brings the saga to a close. A young war hero just back from India finds himself selectedin a most unusual manner for a secretive mission, one which culminatesin a final confrontation between Prince Florizel & the president of The Suicide Club.

The book gets less exciting as you progress through the second & third stories, but the opening "Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts" is a great read. The atmosphere inside The Suicide Club is palpable, from the Prince's initiation to the strained jocularity of the nervous society members to the tension of the high stakes card games designed to close out each evening's activities. It's a great concept, but the power of the original inspiration is lost somewhat as the two successive stories wander rather far afield before being directed back toward Prince Florizel & his campaign against The Suicide Clubin the end.