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What Would You Do: Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie
154 Plays17 days ago
What would you do if you were struggling at work and you were invited to join an exclusive club that promised to help elevate your career? Find out in the latest installment of our What Would You Do series when Brook and Sarah discuss Please Join Us (2022) by Catherine McKenzie.
Discussed and mentioned
Please Join Us (2022) Catherine McKenzie
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Transcript
Introduction and Spoiler Alert
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Hi Brooke. Hi Sarah, how are you today? I'm great. Thank you. How about you? I'm great and especially excited to be doing one of our favorite kind of episodes. What would you do?
00:00:32
Speaker
That's right. And today we are doing Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie. And this was published in 2022. And I will give our usual spoiler warning. We are going to go into a lot of detail about this book. So if if you haven't read it, and you don't want a spoiler, then put this episode on pause, go read the book and then come back.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yes, it's going to be a great talk today. So I'll give us kind of the overview of the storyline.
Nicole's Career Crisis
00:01:04
Speaker
Nicole Mueller is a rising corporate attorney whose once promising career has begun to falter. On the brink of losing her position at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, she receives a mysterious email. It's an invitation to join a private women's networking group called Panthera Leo.
Invitation to Panthera Leo
00:01:23
Speaker
Intrigued by the prospect of learning how to regain her career foothold and connect with other successful women, Nicole accepts. Not without some voiced concern by her husband, though. His warnings are mostly playful, but Dan, an attorney himself, isn't sure that joining the group is a wise idea.
00:01:43
Speaker
Nicole attends a spendy weekend retreat, learning about Panthera Leo, and although some of their activities are strange, she finds the group made up of confident women who seem ready to help her both professionally and personally. Upon returning from the retreat, Nicole's fortunes begin to turn around almost overnight. She gains new clients through the group, saving her job, and her housing crisis is resolved by Panthera Leo members as well.
00:02:11
Speaker
However, the more involved she becomes, the more she realizes there's a darker side to this elite collective. Favors come with hidden costs, and what once seemed like a supportive sisterhood soon feels like a network of secrets, manipulations, and suspicious plans.
Panthera Leo's Hidden Costs
00:02:30
Speaker
When Nicole is pressured into repaying these new friends in ways that challenge her ethics and potentially break the law, she begins to question whether the benefits are worth the risk. Finally, she decides that no, the secrets and dangerous plans are too much. She finally comes clean with Dan and solicits his help. Together they work to discover what Panthera Leo's real mission is in order to extricate Nicole and take them down.
Relatability of Nicole's Story
00:03:00
Speaker
So Sarah, I ask you,
00:03:02
Speaker
What would you do if your career was on the verge of collapse and a secretive networking group offered you a fast track back to success? Would you join even if you really didn't know much about them?
00:03:16
Speaker
So this is a great question to start with. And I think it's one that is and very relatable, right? We've all had periods of up and down in our careers. And ah you know I can just imagine being in the same situation as Nicole where She's received some tough news about her performance. She feels like her position at the firm is a little precarious and she gets this invitation. I think I probably would accept. I would be very curious about what is available and and I would accept
00:03:56
Speaker
and tell myself that I don't actually have to join them. I'm just learning more. What about you? Yeah, great point. I think that your comments about this being a relatable situation are we're going to say that time and time again through this book. And sometimes when we do these exercises, um you know, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief and you're like, OK, well, we'll put ourselves in this main character shoes, even though this is pretty far fetched.
00:04:25
Speaker
But I found this book time and time again to feel very ah either realistic or I could I could see this happening to a person and it felt relatable as you said and so I think that you're right. I think that I so would see myself taking this opportunity and Mackenzie does a great job of putting Nicole in the exact right position. You know, she's kind of mad at the good old boy network and this is a group of women who are all successful and professional
00:05:00
Speaker
So she's kind of tired of that good boy network. And she's really also tired of working really, really hard and not getting anywhere. She is a go-getter who has poured herself into her career. And so, yeah, I would think, you know, if I can get a leg up finally, let's see what this group has to offer.
Ethical Dilemmas and Networking
00:05:20
Speaker
Well, and and she talks herself into doing some things that she said she'd never done before. So when she pays for this retreat, she uses the corporate credit card, right? And she says she has seen other partners charging things that are at best marginally related to the work that they're doing. And she convinces herself that this is a networking opportunity and business is going to come of it. And so it's totally worth charging the retreat to her corporate card.
00:05:55
Speaker
huh Right. She's not, you know, whining and dining clients. She's not doing things that are perhaps ethically in the gray area. She's actually taking herself to what is proposed as this high level networking opportunity. But that decision does come back to haunt her.
00:06:17
Speaker
It does. And when that point of the book happened and she bought it with her company credit card, I felt a little pinch, like, oh, I don't know if that's a good idea. But when she explained it, then I thought, you know what? She's right. This is a work-related opportunity to be educated and grow. So I bought in, but you're right. It does come back later.
Too-Good-To-Be-True Offers
00:06:44
Speaker
So she gets back from this retreat and very shortly learns that their housing situation is about to change. The apartment that she and Dan have been renting from his great aunt, ah the great aunt has now died. And instead of signing the apartment over to them as she had promised, Dan's sister is going to get the apartment. And so they're going to have to move.
00:07:12
Speaker
and And as you said in the introduction, someone from Panthera Leo steps in and offers this fabulous apartment at a very reasonable rent. What would you do, Brooke? Would you take that apartment?
00:07:28
Speaker
This one was was hard because on the one hand, you really don't want to be homeless in New York City or having to pay this astronomical amount of rent for something that's probably much ah less quality than what you've been living in. And so, I mean, I think, yes, you think, okay, we're gonna, even if, sort of like you said with the retreat, like, I don't have to join, I'll just go learn more. Even if you say to yourself, this isn't permanent, but it gives us a place to be, and then we'll go from there. And, you know, this member of Panthera Leo rents them the apartment for the same price they were paying Aunt Penny for her apartment, which was already below
00:08:08
Speaker
you know industry standards, so to speak. ah So they're getting a steal on it. ah What I really thought about was how you know how your spouse would react to this strange gift. And Dan does express some reservations.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. He, he becomes increasingly hesitant about her involvement and it it causes some friction for them. Right. She feels herself pulling away from him because she doesn't want to have conversations about the great things that are happening because of her involvement with Panthera Leo. hu And I think he's trying his best to be supportive, but he really is concerned that something is off here.
00:08:56
Speaker
So one of the people that she meets at the retreat and then forges a bit of a relationship with ah right off the bat is a woman named Athena. And Athena is ah a semi-celebrity. She's been a a model and now she is a state senator, I believe. Nicole is sort of feeling starstruck, I think. And um so I guess my question is, is that something that you think would affect you, Sarah, like that, do you get starstruck or kind of like the celebrity awe? Would that help draw you in into this whole thing?
00:09:36
Speaker
It's a really good question. And I think the answer is probably yes. And that's that's probably the answer for nearly everybody, that um someone who is well-respected and well-known, because there's another there's another person in the group who is like a B-level actress,
00:09:58
Speaker
right? And we don't see Nicole being as drawn to her um as she is to Athena. I would agree completely. And I think it has a lot to do with ah something that you respect. I mean, if one of my favorite mystery authors of all time was in this group and like wanted to be my buddy,
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, i would I would totally take the bait. It's hard to say no to, but as we're talking about this, I'm wondering if you would question particularly that actresses membership in the group. So the other is there four or five of the other. So there's the, um, politician, uh, Connie, who is ah kind of like a technology startup leader who's well respected. Um, and she's, you know, developed apps and, and, um, is,
00:11:00
Speaker
quite prominent in the business community. And then there's Heather who is, Nicole has encountered her in previous business dealings. So she is um you know quite prominent in corporate takeovers and mergers and acquisitions.
00:11:18
Speaker
ah And so those women make up the pride um that they're all meant to support each other. And Brooke, did you pick up on the little head gesture that they have to do with each other?
Peer Pressure and Rituals
00:11:32
Speaker
Right. So you know in the opening, I said that some of their activities were strange. And you know I don't know, the group might have lost me when they were supposed to like nuzzle foreheads when they saw one another. And then the fact that they're like, we're in a pride. I don't know. it that The cheesiness of that and I'm not picking on that as a ah like as far as the story goes, but I think that it really shows that the way that they were drawing Nicole in. you know
00:12:04
Speaker
but so my My question before was, you've got these three prominent business people in Athena, Connie, Heather, and then Samantha, who is only ever described as a B-list actress. Would you question whether that is a group of all of them being high profile and prominent women?
00:12:33
Speaker
Wow, that's a good catch, Sarah. I really didn't pick up on that because I think that my idea was, again, sort of that semi-celebrity status. But now that was a good catch because you're right. Everyone else is in like sort of this high level professional scenarios. And then um one interesting thing, though, is Samantha has typically starred in um law and order like kind of shows or CSI or something. So and that will actually come back later, won't it? Because of those types of shows that Samantha has contacts in. Yeah, that's right. So looking at the group, Brooke. It doesn't take very long before Nicole forms some bonds and really starts to trust some of them. Do you think that it would be the same for you?
00:13:36
Speaker
You know, I am probably somebody who takes a little longer to warm up as far as really entrusting someone with you know the details of my life and the you know the situations, the private situations that I'm finding myself in.
00:13:51
Speaker
But I think kind of wrapped up in that is a feeling of um of peer pressure. like Everyone else were very tight-knit. They were rubbing foreheads. and you know I do have the drive to want to be part of the group. And so I could see that more from the ah peer pressure and wanting to you know act correctly in this group, I could see myself doing those things like going out and having all the dinners, having that was it weekly meetings to like report on the activities and and what you needed and and and that's where a lot of their um favors for one of them one another would would happen. So i it was believable to me. I think I could see myself falling into it. What about for you?
00:14:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think we are similar in that it it probably takes me a little while to warm up to someone. But once I trust them, I am am happy to share. ah And I do feel that Nicole. Yeah, she does share a lot with them and. Then she realizes that maybe she has shared too much. Mm hmm.
00:15:07
Speaker
Definitely. Well, they they play it very well because um she owes them essentially right from the beginning because Like you mentioned, as soon as she comes home, she's got a house to live in. Her job is picking back up. And so immediately, she owes these people. And that that's so hard to get yourself out of, but isn't it? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, because Connie not only provides her with this apartment, she brings her a very high profile, potentially very lucrative litigation case. But as Nicole digs into this case,
00:15:48
Speaker
She starts to feel that maybe something isn't quite right. Right. It takes her some time. But I think a big part of the light bulb going on for her that maybe these people are connected.
00:16:04
Speaker
in another way than just this pride of a of a networking organization. I think one of the things that tips her off is that they force her hand and and pressure her to get an associate hired to her firm. That's right. So it it turns out that this associate is a ah great asset to the case, but Nicole realizes that she's actually the daughter of one of the founders of Panthera Leo.
00:16:33
Speaker
And that sparks her to start looking into this more deeply. And so Sarah, once you realized that this was much bigger and that this wasn't just about you know being helpful to your fellow sister in the professional world, would you have just cut ties and got out? Or do you think that you would be very curious to dig deeper and and try to take it all apart?
00:17:03
Speaker
Well, I think, like you said, Brooke, because she now owes them, it's very hard for her to get out, right? And I think she tries, right? She she says to um Karma, I think, I want out. And then Karma lists off all of the things that have happened. And she realizes that, no, they've got some leverage on her.
00:17:30
Speaker
And they've even got a photograph of her meeting with the um I think it's the CEO of the company that um she's taken on this litigation for. And she goes out for, you know, a drink with him to talk about the case. But someone has taken a photo that looks like it might be um more than that. And she was dishonest with her husband and didn't share with him where she was going. So she's already feeling a little bit of guilt about having what was a harmless drink with this man. Right, right. So they threaten her and, and let's face it, she's
00:18:13
Speaker
She and her husband are living in the apartment that they otherwise would not have, don't have another housing option. There's so much leverage hanging over her head. So even if you would have wanted to just cut ties and say, you know, I'm not going to play your games anymore.
00:18:30
Speaker
she was stuck. And again, I will say that I think that Mackenzie did a great job of making that very believable and making me as a reader feel how stuck I would be in this situation. It's it's ah it's a very difficult dilemma. but And it is at around this time that she does open up to her husband and share
00:18:55
Speaker
look this is the situation that I've gotten myself into and not just myself but I've gotten you into this as well, right?
Manipulative Agenda Unveiled
00:19:03
Speaker
um And they realize that maybe the little pins that all of the members of the pride are meant to be wearing are more than pins and have in fact been tracking her movements and her conversations with people. So, you know, she has to um look through her apartment to see if there's any other surveillance devices and and she's, um you know, feeling unsafe at home.
00:19:32
Speaker
Right, right. and And so she decides that they're safe place to make a plan. She and Dan together is the old apartment and they're able to go there and spend some time with his sister um and make their plan to whatever they're going to do next to get themselves out of this in the safest way possible.
00:19:55
Speaker
That's right. So um we didn't talk about the structure of the book, but the first part of the book is kind of this dual timeline, right? Where um I think one of the opening scenes is her being instructed to help at Athena's apartment where Athena has just shot someone. So that takes place in October, then we go back to the summer when um She gets this news about her um her partnership with the firm. This dual timeline continues where ah we get the story of how she became a part of the pride and then what happens in this 24-hour period as she's trying to help Athena.
00:20:39
Speaker
deal with the situation that she's found herself in. And it's after that that she realizes this whole thing has been manipulated, right? So the situation at work has been manipulated and even before that she realizes they've been um working on this plan for quite some time, culminating with putting her in this situation where she feels obligated to help out after Athena has shot someone, they realized that actually it was just an actor and no one was really shot. Right. Thanks to those connections that Samantha has, they have access to an actor who played the role and made her believe that she had taken part in a murder. um So when she realizes that
00:21:35
Speaker
This is all just a set up. She goes to the other members to tell them, you know what, you guys, we have been tricked. And this it we've all been brought together to pull off this thing for the leaders. Do you think that you would have done that? I don't know.
00:21:55
Speaker
um She doesn't really suspect that they've known each other before or that they had any previous connection with Panther Elio. And she, as you said, has made this strong connection with ah Athena.
00:22:15
Speaker
um
00:22:18
Speaker
So I I get why she approached them, because She's also been coached for the last several months that these are the people you turn to when you need help. Yeah, yeah, great point. And I think it would be natural. And she's, you know, in her role as an attorney, she's wanting to help these people. She's wanting to, you know, kind of bring justice to the situation. um But it ends up backfiring, doesn't it?
Betrayals and Corporate Takeover
00:22:49
Speaker
Because in a great
00:22:52
Speaker
end twist in this book, we discover in a meeting that it's only Nicole who has been set up for this and everyone else in the pride we're in on the trick. and And that was simply to get Nicole to take on the case. So the real reason for the case that she's litigating is to facilitate this takeover of the defendant's company because several years previously, he had tried to take over Karma's company. So this is Karma trying to pay him back and take over his company. So she's been manipulating things. And as it turns out, the other members of the Pride are double crossing and working against Karma. Yeah, it gets
00:23:48
Speaker
really twisty at the end, but not in a bad way, I don't think. you know It wasn't one of those books where I was getting lost with all the twists and and that it felt, again, unbelievable. It was it was pretty well done, wasn't it? yeah um but Nicole has retained a little bit of power for herself and ends up crossing all of them.
00:24:17
Speaker
Do you think, Brooke, that you would have done the same in this in her situation? Well, I think maybe if I had her negotiation skills and her knowledge of the law and her you know, kind of her background, like me personally, I never would have thought of that. But I think I would like to think that with all of her knowledge and background, that I would have been um savvy and smart enough to do that.
00:24:48
Speaker
So the book ends ah with ah an invitation to Panthera Leo, but instead of it being from Michelle and Karma, it's from Nicole and Dan's sister, Catherine. So Brooke, as a final, what would you do? Would you have taken over Panthera Leo?
Nicole's New Role and Sequel Tease
00:25:10
Speaker
Oh, this is where I'm going to have to go against the book. I think that was a really good last jolt. um But I think that Nicole would not want to continue the deception and the lies. But it did make me wonder, does she have a generous ethical plan for this group that would truly be a sisterhood of ah professionals to help one another?
00:25:38
Speaker
Would you join that group if that was the case, Sarah? I mean i i think if it was um if it truly was as noble and well-meaning as it was intended to be, then than perhaps i would I would think about the invitation.
00:25:58
Speaker
The other thing I think the ending did was leave it open to perhaps a sequel. So Sarah, you and I will have to watch and see if ah this book ends up with a part two and maybe we'll do, and what would you do episode on that one as well? Sounds good. Well, thank you everyone for joining us today on Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah, and we both love mystery.
00:26:27
Speaker
Clued In Mystery is written and produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers. If you liked what you heard, please consider telling a friend, leaving a review, or subscribing with your favorite podcast listening app. Visit our website at cluedinmystery.com to sign up for our newsletter, The Clued In Chronicle, or to join our paid membership, The Clued In Cartel. We're on social media at Clued In Mystery.