𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤!

My plan was to just write a feature of this book, so I decided to read the first chapters, and I ended up reading it in one sitting. There’s something simply addictive about it; it was dark, disturbing and wicked, it was impossible to put down.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for this gifted copy.

Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier released January 25, 2022.

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

@elizajanebrazier is one to watch! Very impressed with her book #2 and def excited to read more from her! I loved this one. Super unique and overall a really fun read! I enjoyed how she wrote the alternating timelines and the back and forth between the characters. This one kept me guessing while on the edge of my seat.

Thanks so much to @berkleypub for this one. Good Rich People just released this week!

Wow. I wanted to start with something smart and intelligent about this book, but all I came up with is "wow". A mix between "The Hunger Games" and any book about a serial killer. For Graham, he is a puppeteer and he creates the story.

Eliza Jane Brazier crafts a book that truly sickening, twisted, and thrilling. I'd love to say that I fell in love with her characters, but I didn't. However, if I had, you should be worried about me - they are seriously sick individuals. If Brazier hasn't already, she should try her hand at writing script for television or movies... Seeing her stories come to life would make a grotesque visual, but there are lots of people who love that (granted, here I am as one of the people who enjoy reading books like this one...)

Looking at some of the other reviews before I read it, I saw a lot of 3 and 4 star reviews, but as I read them, I realized that they are not fans of sick and twisted books. I, however, am. Honestly, I enjoyed this book. It's going to be one of the books I recommend to the thriller die-hards in my life. If you like your books to be fairy good natured, this isn't the one for you. Its fabulous at evoking a physiological response.

Thank you Berkley for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion!

Graham and his mother Margo are filthy rich. Bored and entitled, they like to play games. Not the kind of games most people play, but those in which lives are ruined and ultimately lost. Lyla became a player in these games when she had the misfortune of marrying Graham. Playing the game is not optional. She must play and win in order to survive.

It always begins with a rental unit that is on the property. Graham has arranged for a woman to move in, and notifies Lyla that it is her turn to run the game. She knows that this means life or death for someone and she is determined to win, no matter how heinous the outcome.

Beginning the game is tricky, she must befriend the victim. It might seem simple, but the woman that has moved into the rental is skittish when Lyla tries to get close to her. There is something she is hiding, and Lyla really doesn’t care what it is as long as she can win the game to continue living the life she has created for herself, no matter how bizarre it has become. It’s the money. It is always about the money.

The game commences, but not in the way Lyla wants it to. Her plans have been thwarted, so she decides to go big or go home. A huge party is planned for Graham’s birthday. His wife has planned a party only the rich could afford. By the end of the night someone will most likely die and Lyla hopes to win the sadistic game she has agreed to play.

Good Rich People is a deadly game of cat and mouse. The author, Eliza Jane Brazier, pulls readers in on the first pages, twisting and turning the plot in unexpected ways. This is the second book she has published. Her debut novel is If I Disappear published in 2021. If you like a fast-paced novels, Good Rich People is the book for you.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a material connection because I received a review copy for free from the Author and Netgalley and the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. Copyright © 2022 Laura Hartman

Ooooh this book was chilling! If life is a game, how do you win? Lyla and her husband, Graham, live in a majestic house above the grit of LA, where only glamour exists. Obscenely wealthy and bored, they have devised a game where they manipulate the lives of their unfortunate tenants. Except their newest tenant, Demi, has some secrets of her own and is not afraid to be just as ruthless to get what she wants. Told from alternating perspectives, this creepy novel follows both women as they try to win the game. An incredibly dark novel, it explores themes of lust, power and greed. I found myself anticipating some of the twists while shocked by others. Creepy and intriguing, this one will keep you on your toes.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for my advance copy.

After loving If I Disappear, I was over the top excited to start Good Rich People, and it delivered just that way I hoped it would. Already named a Good Morning America “January Book That Can Get Is Through Anything”, a Most Anticipated Novel of 2022 by The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post, PopSugar, Shondaland, Yahoo!, and Crime Reads, how could you go wrong?

Eliza Jane Brazier’s @elizajanebrazier newest novel is pure dark and twisty escapist fun! Fill your tub with bubbles, grab a glass of Moet (you will understand once you have a chance to start reading) and get ready to be completely entertained 🥂

Thanks so much for inviting me to review! Link to 1/27/2022 post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZPmKCMrQBG/

What the f did I just read? I still don’t know. This is not your typical suspense novel. It’s an over-the-top twisted psychological thriller with characters you’ll hate and you’ll be rooting for all of them to lose. It’s not gonna be for everyone.

That being said, I devoured it. At about 20%, I couldn’t put it down. I was sneaking in pages whenever I could. If you don’t mind a gilded in gold f’ed up story and can come along for the ride, I think Good Rich People will suck you in too.

Trust no one. You never know who is playing the game.

This book was a wild good time. Truly terribly people, these characters sucked me in and I could not put this book down.

It took me a while to be able to write my thoughts about this book, it is very disturbing but at the same time so compelling that you can't stop reading until the end. The characters are not likable, and at least for me not relatable in their life experiences or actions, neither one of them, but maybe there are some people that don't feel the same as me.

is there really such an immeasurable gap of how one looks at life, as the book portrays depending on your social status? Are the uber rich so bored with their lives that they have to use the poor as their entertainment? I don't think so, but in this book that is the case.

Wonderfully written this book is full of self destruction, despicable behaviour by despicable human beings, violence but a gripping and twisty book for fans of psychological thriller.

Homeless and out of work, Demi has the opportunity to take over a rich woman’s life—if she’s only audacious enough to see it through. She doesn’t understand, though, that by assuming a new identity, she’s entering the orbit of Graham and Lyla. Not only is she a tenant in their Hollywood Hills guesthouse, unbeknownst to her, she’s just become a target of the family’s favorite game. They rent to successful self-made individuals only to destroy their lives.

Graham and Lyla always get what they want—but they’ve never come up against an opponent like Demi, one who is determined not to let go of the life she slipped into, but one who has been made suspicious and clever through her past experiences and knows when to trust her gut.

When Demi and Lyla face off, each is determined to be the last one standing, no matter what they leave in their wake.

GOOD RICH PEOPLE is deliberately outrageous. Lyla believes spaghetti sauce is flawed if it’s not expensive enough and would never deign to clean her own messes. The book also 100% entertaining! I flew through it in a day to find out what would happen to these very, very bad rich people. Although Demi knows something is suspicious, she is never aware what game she’s been drafted to play. Several wild cards disrupt and reshuffle the action, leading to some OMG! moments.

Beneath the fast-moving plot, however, are important observations about the privilege and power that comes from money, the fundamental (im)morality of wealth, and the great class divides in the country, highlighting the stereotypes of homeless.

The narration shifts between Lyla and Demi’s points of view, and Eliza Jane Brazier gives each distinct voices, and even Lyla, as horrible as she is, has moments of humanity.

It’s as fun as FOR YOUR OWN GOOD in the milieux of THE SINFUL LIVES OF TROPHY WIVES.

TW: violence, animal death

The cover of this book is perfect, the subjects of the picture have empty circles for eyes. They’re soulless, just like the characters in this book. I rarely come across a book where the characters are so unlikable. They’re sociopaths with no redeeming qualities.

Publisher’s description: “Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper.

Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling all her life, and she’s not about to go down without a fight.”

So, the premise is that Graham and his mother and later, his wife Lyla, need to be entertained at all times. They suffer from constant boredom, their wealth leaves them with nothing to strive for, no way to build self-esteem except for winning The Game. They have friends because you’re supposed to, but they hate them. Their staff is treated like 2nd class citizens.
Lyla has always observed the game, but this time she has to play, and she picks Demi to be their next tenant/victim.

Positives: Fascinating premise, satirical.
There were some genuinely funny lines.

Negatives: Couldn’t find anything to like about the characters.
The plot had huge holes
The characters were so cruel in some instances it made me uncomfortable.
The plot timeline jumped around and sometimes left me confused.
The death of a dog felt gratuitous.

3 stars. Thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

“You wouldn’t think you would be able to do a lot of things until you do.”

What a wicked delight! I read this mash-up of Parasite, You and American Psycho in just two days which for me, is a thrill in itself!

This dark, smart psychological thriller features alternating points of view between the main protagonists Lylah and Demi. The short chapters made this a tense, fast page turner, with sharp wit and sarcasm sprinkled throughout.

Lylah married into incredible wealth. Her husband Graham is handsome, alluring and borderline sociopathic. He disappears every weekend ostensibly for golf but who knows. He and his equally wealthy and narcissistic mother Margot draw Lylah into their wicked psychological games, all for the sake of their own entertainment and boredom. But Lylah is unable to walk away from the family even if she wanted to.

“I put up with him for the reason everybody did. Because beauty and money are God, and Graham is more beautiful, and has more money, than anyone I’ve ever known.”

These people barely acknowledge their staff and think of everyone else as beneath them. Lylah can’t comprehend how she will be able to play the game with Demi, their new tenant in one of the homes on their magnificent estate. Graham and Margot demand it. There must be a winner and a loser. But Lylah has no other way to survive. She can’t walk away from the wealth.

”I tell myself not to be greedy. I tell myself this is enough. When has that ever been true.”

Margot is aloof and cruel and certainly not mother of the year. She worships Graham and fawns over him but calls him a very bad boy and even tried to pay Lylah off not to marry her son. Margot definitely paid off Lylah’s own parents to stay away after Lylah married Graham. And they have.

The book is set in Los Angeles and does not gloss over the homelessness and drug addiction spiraling out of control within one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Graham, Lylah and Margot literally don’t even see literally what is happening right in front of them in the streets of L.A.

Demi doesn’t want to return to those rough streets. She has been destitute her whole life. But she happens to be the new tenant in the magnificent Herschel family compound. She will be the next player in the family’s twisted “game.”

“He won’t destroy me, not by accident, not by design. I’m smart. I can keep up with him. I can’t give up. I need to stop thinking about it.”

This surprising, sexy thriller is filled with jaw dropping twists and yes, extremely unlikeable characters. (Side note: even though he’s done some really cruel and dishonest things IRL, Arnie Hammer is all I could see for the role of the very decadent Graham!) I thoroughly enjoyed this book and want to read Eliza Jane Brazier’s first book, If I Disappear. I love the way her mind works!

Many thanks to the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts with such an interesting and actually at the same time horrifying premise. Lila and Graham are a wealthy couple who invite self-made success stories to live in their guest house but then decide to ruin their lives. They really are extremely self-involved and seem to think that those who are not as rich as them are there for their entertainment. Demi who is struggling decides to take the opportunity to take over another person‘s life and ends up as a pawn in Lila and grahams game. There is a twist though in that Demi is not so easily taken advantage of and Lila starts to see that this game is changing.

It’s an interesting book in that none of the characters are innocent. They all have foibles but some more than others. Demi is trying to survive and decides she is going to win the game. It’s interesting to see how Demi and Lila’srelationship changes throughout the book. Graham seems to be the protagonist That pushes Demi and Lila into a relationship which they both need in order to survive. There are twists and turns in this book and all in all it was highly entertaining as well as thought-provoking.

Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier was a wild ride! it felt like a Black Mirror episode and at times I found myself wondering what was happening. I didn’t love the characters but I was hooked and kept reading

I thought this book was going to be a lot more thrilling. The characters and plot fell very flat for me. I did not like a single character in this book, maybe that was the point, but that is not enjoyable to me. Not only were they all unlikeable, but they also all felt two dimensional to me as well, there was no depth to these characters. This could have also been intentional as well. Because most people are not as wealthy as these characters in this book most people cannot relate to these characters so in my honest opinion they need to have something that is either likable or relatable and these characters had none of these qualities. This book missed the mark completely for me. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The saying “money can’t buy happiness” has never been more true than when it comes to Layla and Graham. They have a lifestyle that is unimaginable to most - their glamorous house is built into the side of a mountain, they have staff to take care of their every need, and money to buy anything they want, but yet they are bored. Instead of seeking adrenaline in a more traditional manner by skydiving or another risky hobby, they choose to rent out the house below them and then “play games” to mess with the tenant’s life. Does their tenant have a family? No problem, they’ll stage an affair and gambling problem. Or maybe they’ll find a way to get the tenant hooked on drugs. Or maybe they’ll make the tenant so miserable that they will commit suicide. It doesn’t matter, as long as the tenant loses and Graham is entertained.

Now it’s Layla’s turn to prove herself to Graham. Can she make the new tenant miserable and destroy her life? Or will the new tenant “win”?

Good Rich People is twisted, gruesome, messy, and quite the page turner! As much as I would cringe on one page, I’d need to keep reading the next to uncover the next grisly turn of events. Kudos to Eliza Jane Brazier on a thriller that was both macabre and enthralling!

Thanks to Berkley Books and Eliza Jane Brazier for the advanced copy! Good Rich People is on shelves today, January 25. Be sure to check it out!

Lyla greatly enjoys being rich. All she has to do to stay that way is keep her husband and mother in laws game a secret. When they decide it is her turn to play however, things take a turn. See the target is Demi, but is she? Demi is not about to go out without a full fight…

Ok this book reminded me a modern day The Most Dangerous Game retelling. It wasn’t quite as fucked up as The Most Dangerous Game, but it was certainly up there. Truly goes to show how much the rich can get away with. I needed to know what Lyla was going to end up doing, and it kept me turning the pages nonstop. This was a unique story with a crazy plot.

In a word, this book is SAVAGE!! This is not for everyone and if you love a book about rich people behaving very badly - this will be a win for you! I've seen very positive reviews for this and I bumped this up on my TBR. I didn't love it quite as much as others, but also could not put it down to see how wicked these people really were! The people and places are described so vividly and many scenes will stay with me including the epic rose garden gun fight, the fountain, and the dinner scenes. This is truly a bizarre, highly addicted, unique, and wild ride.

4.5 Stars

If you're like me & enjoy books about rich people behaving badly, you've got to make it a point to pick up Eliza Jane Brazier's "Good Rich People"!

This was the first book I've read of Brazier's & I really enjoyed her writing style - the structure of this was so smart & provided for some great twists. There's a ton of amazing, searing commentary in here on the rich vs. the poor, & I loved that Brazier made it a point to shine some light on the homelessness situation going on in LA - the way that particular plot was woven in was done brilliantly, in my opinion. I honestly had no idea where this was all going to end up, but was so satisfied by how it all played out. This easily has one of the best finales of any thriller I've come across recently, channels some major "Ready or Not" vibes. There was one big question I had that I wish was answered, but sitting on it more, it didn't take away from the overall story whatsoever. All in all, Brazier really nailed that balance of dark comedy & genuine suspense - this was wicked good fun! I'll definitely be reading more from Brazier in the future!

Thank you so much Eliza Jane Brazier, NetGalley, & Berkley for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review, & to Berkley for having me as part of the blog blitz for the book's release!

Love and money drew Lyla to Graham. It’s why she fought for her marriage. It’s why she accepts Graham and his proclivities. It’s why she puts up with the game Graham and his mother play. She doesn’t play. No, she doesn’t have a taste for it. But after disastrous results with the last game—results they blame on Lyla—it seems Lyla will have to take a turn if she is to prove herself to the family.

Enter Demi. She’s young and very wealthy, not at all like the others who have been part of the game. Demi is to take up residence in the guesthouse. She’s to be Lyla’s game. But Demi is not exactly what any of them expected.

Will Lyla win? Or are the odds stacked against her?

Eliza Jane Brazier’s latest pokes fun at the fact that rich people can pretty much get away with anything. In a really dark and twisty way!

Lyla set her eyes on Graham and was not going to back down without a fight. It’s that strength and willingness to do anything that draws him to her. But her mother-in-law makes no bones about the fact that she doesn’t like Lyla. Lyla isn’t one of them and she never will be.

But that doesn’t mean she’s not going to try.

Demi is nothing like the others that have been drawn into the game. But Lyla and the family don’t even know the half of it!

Good Rich People is as twisted a read as they come. Everyone is lying to and manipulating everyone else! Which you might think would make for a book with no likable characters. And that's kind of true, except that I found I really did like Demi!

I liked Lyla’s evolution as well, which is already in play before the book starts. But I loved Demi’s determination!

All that said, I didn’t think everyone got quite what they deserved in the end. I wanted more of a resolution with Astrid. Hers was the only one I really felt was missing something. But she does have a resolution, so we’re not left hanging thankfully.

This is definitely one of those books where I think it's best to go into it without knowing too much about it. Which is why I'm trying to be kind of vague in my review—I want everyone to be able to go into it with as little info as possible, because I think that's the best way to enjoy the story.

There are so many aspects of Demi's character that I want to talk about, but I also think they're a bit spoilery! I can't wait to see what everyone thinks about this book. As a whole, Good Rich People is darkly comedic fun, certainly perfect for fans of If I Disappear, but just as great for newbies discovering Eliza Jane Brazier!