diff --git a/dbclient/dbclient.go b/dbclient/dbclient.go
index 61c4d69..85049ea 100644
--- a/dbclient/dbclient.go
+++ b/dbclient/dbclient.go
@@ -1,2 +1,40 @@
 // Package dbclient provides the database client used by the API server
 package dbclient
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/jmoiron/sqlx"
+)
+
+// DBClient holds a *sqlx.DB and implements methods to manipulate the database
+type DBClient struct {
+	DB *sqlx.DB
+}
+
+func New(host, database, user, password string, port int, useSSL bool) (*DBClient, error) {
+	var SSLMode string
+
+	switch useSSL {
+	case true:
+		SSLMode = "enable"
+	case false:
+		SSLMode = "disable"
+	}
+
+	connectionString := fmt.Sprintf("postgres://%s:%s@%s:%d/%s?sslmode=%s",
+		user,
+		password,
+		host,
+		port,
+		database,
+		SSLMode,
+	)
+
+	db, err := sqlx.Connect("pgx", connectionString)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return &DBClient{DB: db}, nil
+}