Review: The Society by Karen Winn
“You can’t unsee the beautiful.”
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The Basics
Title: The Society
Author: Karen Winn
Published: 2026
Note: I received an advanced finished copy from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher: Dutton — Penguin Random House
Pages: 455
Format: Paperback
Genres: Fiction — Contemporary fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Mystery Thriller
Book Synopsis
Taylor Adams left behind her native North Carolina for Boston, hoping to escape the monotony of life in her sleepy hometown and experience the glamour of city living. In the five months since her move, however, she’s discovered that reality rarely lives up to one’s expectations. Boston is not the exciting, glittering place that she hoped it would be — at least, not for her. The city is abounding with glitz and wealth, but it is off-limits to her and all the other non-elite residents. She seems condemned to life as an outsider, always viewing high society from the sidelines but never gaining entry into its inner circle.
That is, until Vivian Lawrence, the epitome of Boston’s beau monde, shows up at the ER where Taylor works with injuries sustained from a suspicious fall. When Vivian mysteriously disappears from her hospital room, Taylor is drawn into her world of wealth and deceit, determined to uncover her fate, but her curiosity soon morphs into obsession, blinding her to the danger in which she places herself.
Three weeks before landing in the ER, Vivian learns that her family’s fortune is gone, with hers on the verge of joining it. Desperate to avoid financial ruin and relinquish the type of life that she is accustomed to, she decides to pursue an old family legend that claims she has a familial tie to the Knox, Boston’s most exclusive and notorious secret society. If she can prove her family’s connection to the Knox, she can claim her inheritance: a portion of the society’s vast fortune.
But the Knox does not take kindly to outsiders trying to force their way in, a truth that is about to become all too apparent to Vivian and Taylor.
My Review & Overall Thoughts
TLDR: If you can persevere through the slow bits and look past its other flaws, The Society ends up being a decent read.
The Society is a difficult book to review. For the first quarter of it, I was uninterested, to put it mildly, and had I not been reviewing it, I would have shelved it then and there. Obligation, however, kept me reading, and to my surprise, the story gradually improved, piquing my interest and ultimately capturing my attention. So, in the end, I enjoyed The Society, but had I read it under normal circumstances, I never would have gotten to the point where I enjoyed it, let alone finished it.
The novel’s greatest shortcoming — and what had me itching to put it down — is its predisposition toward pretentiousness. Lofty descriptions and metaphorical language abound to the point of ostentation, bogging down the narrative and detracting from the story. To make matters worse, the book includes chapters written from the perspective of the Knox, the building in which the secret society by the same name resides. I had all I could do to not roll my eyes every time the point of view switched to that of the Knox. I mean, a townhouse as a narrator, really? In terms of pretentiousness, that’s right up there with non-French speakers who insist upon pronouncing croissant like “crwa-sahn.” Okay, maybe it’s not as bad as that (few things are), but it’s certainly up there.
As for the other corporeal characters, Taylor and Vivian, it’s a mixed bag. Vivian is intriguing enough, but Taylor is neither interesting nor likable. She is a woman caught in a perpetual state of envy, always wanting what others have and never satisfied with what she has. Her personality and backstory are fairly minimal, causing her to feel rather shallow and one-dimensional. Moreover, she lacks a true character arc; at the book’s conclusion, she is practically unchanged. While I realize that this was likely the author’s intent, I simply do not find this type of static, superficial protagonist appealing. I prefer characters who grow over the course of a story, learning from their experiences and adjusting their beliefs and behavior accordingly.
Also disappointing, borderline frustrating, is the excessive amount of Boston references, such as the names of actual restaurants and stores. At first, they’re a nice touch, but eventually, they begin to feel forced and heavy-handed, as though the author is trying to prove how well she knows the city. For me, the turning point came when the name of one of the secondary characters’ children was revealed to be Crimson, a blatant reference to Harvard, and the final nail in the coffin was the tacky name-dropping of a real-life Boston influencer.
The Good
While the first 100 pages might not be the most scintillating, once the story picks up, it’s off to the races. The stakes heighten. The suspense ratchets up several notches. You begin forming and revising theories, and the more you read, the more you need to keep reading to see if you’ve cracked the case.
Further compelling you to keep turning the pages is a pervasive sense of dread. Both Vivian and Taylor are walking a tightrope, trying to unearth the truth while evading suspicion from the Knox members. It is no easy feat: one misstep at any moment could bring about their demise. Plus, in the case of Vivian, we know that she is caught, or at least suspected enough to be pushed down the stairs, so whenever the narrative shifts to her timeline, there is always a fear that this could be when the shoe finally drops — when she is shoved down the stairs.
Perhaps The Society’s greatest asset, though, is its setting: the Knox. Its labyrinthine layout, claustrophobic spaces, and sordid past make it the perfect backdrop for a suspense novel. Just being inside the building is unsettling.
Overall
What I said at the beginning of this review holds true: The Society is a difficult book to review. Its initial flaws are sizeable enough to dissuade you from finishing it, but if you’re willing to stay the course, the story improves, ultimately securing your attention.
Have you read The Society? If so, share your thoughts with me in the comments section below!
-Julia
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