51. The Dinner Club by Saskia Noort

Karen and Michel are a thirty-something Dutch couple unhappy with the city life in Amsterdam once they have two small girls. When they decide to move to a small, quiet country village, their lives change. Friends who once eagerly came for weekend visits stopped their trips, and life especially for Karen became quieter and filled with transporting her kids to and from school. When Karen meets Hanneke at the school yard, they become instant friends and decide to start a dinner club with other couples their age. Soon five women and their husbands start meeting for drinks and dinner at their upscale houses – and start sharing more than meals. Infidelity, business deals with dubious backing, and suicide or even possibly murder start to creep into the group, with horrible results.

This was an extremely popular book in the Netherlands when Noort published it in 2004. Most readers will probably compare it to Desperate Housewives, but it is much darker and actually very well written. The ending comes of as a little unbelievable, and unfortunately it turns almost into a murder mystery near the end, but overall this is a fast, fun, and intriguing story.