The Suicide Club

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Welcome to London's most unusual social club - Rated
The Suicide Club is a really eye-catching title; once I saw Robert Louis Stevenson's name attached to it, I wasted little time in 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 and an even more unusual "social club." Prince Florizel of Bohemia indulges his thirst for adventure by undertaking all manner of secret excursions in disguise, aided always by his friend and Master of the Horse, Colonel Geraldine. While in 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, and most also do not wish to cause a scandal among the friends and 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 - and 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 and the Saratoga Trunk" finds a young American in France deceived by intrigues and seemingly framed for murder as he finds a dead body in his bed. A mysterious doctor in 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 and his luggage are able to exit the country in the company of Prince Florizel, but there is more than one surprise in 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 selected in a most unusual manner for a secretive mission, one which culminates in a final confrontation between Prince Florizel and the president of The Suicide Club.

The book gets less exciting as you progress through the second and 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 and his campaign against The Suicide Club in the end.