I am very neutral on Megan Abbott. I’ve loved a few of her books, and I’ve DNF’d a couple. The premise of <i>El Dorado Drive</i> was so good, and it’s definitely one of Abbott’s best.

The whole pyramid scheme/MLM plot point is well-done in that it really reveals the desperation required to suspend one’s disbelief enough to buy in, as it were. However, I also found Harper’s involvement in the group and her reasoning for needing money to be really drawn out and unbelievable, even silly to a degree. The Wheel as a concept isn’t as fully fleshed out as I would have liked, but this is ultimately a crime novel.

A death occurs halfway through the novel, which certainly changes the story but it also worked well. I’m a sucker for a good red herring, and they abound. I can confess that I didn’t see part of the ending coming, though I did guess part of it.

Overall, while certainly a crime novel, it’s also a story of three sisters who lost everything and try to get it all back, together. This is Abbott’s strength—writing relationship ships between women.

El Dorado Drive tells the story of three sisters as they cope with financial and family conflict. Along the way they become involved in a group that may not be quite as it seems. Typical Megan Abbott twists. Good character development, suspenseful read.

I chose to not finish this book. I got about 1/4 in and it just wasn’t grabbing my attention. The premise is intriguing, but it just moved too slow for me. I also wasn’t a fan of the super long chapters.

This was a unique concept with well written characters. I enjoyed the relationships between the sisters and especially enjoyed the many layers of Pam. There were some good twists as well. But in the end I was disappointed with the role of “the Wheel.” I expected the story to be more about shady dealings within the Wheel, but it felt like it was more about the dynamics of these three sisters. I would still give this three stars and recommend, but with different expectations for the type of mystery it is.

A story centered on loyalty, secrets and wealth, but it takes an awfully long time to get to the fireworks factory. Although I liked the focus on these three very different sisters who become willing participants in a pyramid scheme out of desperation for money, the pacing at first is quite slow and tested my patience often. However, once a crime finally occurs at around the halfway point, the tale comes alive and teases out some several intriguing red herrings before coming to a fairly satisfying resolution; I wish that the rest of the book had more of this propulsive energy.

When Harper is in financial trouble, she ends up moving in with her sister Pam and is surprised that she's doing so well financially. That's when Pam introduces her to The Wheel. A female empowerment group for an opportunity at wealth and sisterhood. As Harper gets more involved, she realizes that she is going down a rabbit hole and they are in real danger. Not only that, but is this even legal?

Megan Abbott sets up a twisty psychological thriller where everyone in the book is a suspect at some point. I couldn't put this down because of how realistic the situation of a pyramid scheme is. Much more than a thriller, it reads a bit literary fiction as well with superbly developed characters that let you into their minds with themes of family, betrayal, sisterhood, wealth, and money. Or dare I say the love of money and the lengths people will go to just for the idea of having it. Abbott's exploration of the duality of human nature and family bonds are absolutely brilliant. I highly recommend adding this to your TBR.

Many thanks to NetGalley, GP Putnam Sons, and Megan Abbott for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

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El Dorado Drive - Megan Abbott
Pub Date - 6/24/25
Rating - 3/5
Thoughts - Thank you to Netgalley, Megan Abbott, and Penguin Random House Putnam for this gifted advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. The premise of this book was very different from anything that I've ever read -- housewives involved in a pyramid scheme! The book has long chapters, which at first glance seem to make it a slowburn, but Abbott's unique writing style of capturing short scenes as if in a play helped me get through it faster than I was expecting. While the initial premise kept me reading, the ending fell flat. I thought it was very obvious based on the characters presented and I found myself saying.....that's it? I wish it was more thought out - definitely had the potential.

Entertaining overall, but nothing mind blowing.

Thank you NetGalley & PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the eARC.

Centered around a set of 3 sisters who grew up in a wealthy family, who've all experienced tremendous loss during their adult years and suffered plenty of financial woes. The chance to join a women's investment club (aka MLM/pyramid scheme type of deal) excites them as it is a way to make money fast and also giving them the comfort of female friendship in their community. The longer the club lasts, the deeper the secrets, and betrayal, get.

I loved the premise of the book. I don't think I've read any MLM plots yet so this one brought so much excitement when I first saw it on NetGalley. However, this book was incredibly slow and took a good bulk of it (maybe 60%) to really get in to it. The story kept jumping back and forth and it often left me confused and struggling to figure out what the hell I just read. There was so much detail around the Wheel, the actual name of the club that is not called the Wheel again at about 50% which was super confusing, and the parties and it was just so drawn out. There wasn't a whole lot of suspense or anything until the back half of the book. I will say, the twist at the end I didn't see coming, but also at that point I was so ready to wrap the book up that it didn't shock me as much as it could have.

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott, the book is about the bishop sisters Harper Debbie and Pam. When the story begins Pam son Patrick is graduating high school and we learned Pam has recently divorced her mover and shaker husband Doug who they not so affectionately called Demon Doug. No one is surprised when Doug doesn’t show up for the graduation but what does surprise them a few days later is when Pam learns Doug has gouged most of the money from his children’s trust funds. unfortunately like a lot of children caught in between Pam’s daughter Vivian takes her dad‘s side and believes her mom is just harassing him by bringing him to court all the time. When the three sisters were young their dad like most people in Detroit worked for a car manufacturer and when they were all still in college was affected by mass layoffs. Like her mom before Pam has downgraded to a rental while Doug lives in a townhouse driving a Mustang hybrid. This is why when Pam‘s high school friend sue Fox tells her about a great opportunity for women to help women Pam is all in. Because Pam is so sociable and friendly she starts raising ranks in the group and even brings in little sister Harper. for every high there is a low in the low is when Pam is found murdered in her kitchen. Despite them initially thinking they knew the culprit the truth is going to be much more surprising and Harper takes it on herself to find out what that is. everything about this book is awesome but the one thing that irritated me throughout the book is a reason why I only gave it a three star rating and that is if someone didn’t pay child support to My Sister and even gouged the trust funds of my niece and nephew the last thing I would stress about is paying them back. it would be a cold day in hell before I would even find myself doing them a favor. I have so many more opinions about that situation but as to not give plot spoilers away I digress. I thought it incongruent with Harper‘s personality to be and not only that situation but why she got in that situation to begin with. being the youngest of a set of three daughters I felt a bond with Harper and I think that is also why her stupid decisions affected me more than Pam and Debbie’s. I like all the sisters but by the end not so much. Do I recommend this book apps so freaking lewdly it is a great book I love Megan Abbott riding style and she really knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat but thought this one could’ve been executed and a much more believable fashion. #NetGalley,#PenguinGroupPutnam, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #MeganAbbott, #ElDoradoDrive,

I’m kind of iffy on Megan Abbot’s books and this one was just okay. I wanted to read it because of the location. Detroit, MI was not far from where I grew up and I love reading about that area.
The Bishop sisters are going through some rough times and they are offered a way to get through those times. They join a woman’s group that is a pyramid scheme called The Wheel. I didn’t understand the concept of the wheel. It wasn’t ever really explained how it worked. It did keep me guessing until the end.
I did struggle with the formatting. I read a lot of NetGalley but this was by far the worst reading experience I’ve had. It kept pulling me out of the story and kept losing focus. If I hadn’t liked the story I would’ve stopped.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for a honest opinion.
3.5⭐️

I love all of Megan Abbott’s books and El Dorado Drive is no exception - it’s one of the best domestic psychological suspense novels I’ve read in a while.

It follows three adult sisters living outside of recession-hit Detroit, Michigan whose lives have not turned out quite the way they’d planned. Facing failed relationships, failed careers, and medical debt, the sisters decide to join an exciting new club called the Wheel, a group focused on female empowerment and financial freedom. But like all get rich quick schemes, desperation and exploitation lurk beneath its surface, and the sisters quickly find themselves navigating jealousy, secrets, and betrayal.

The writing is typical of Abbot - a subtle, character-driven, social critique-infused slow burn mystery.

If you haven’t read Abbott before, I might suggest starting with Dare Me or You Will Know Me and then reading El Dorado Drive if you enjoy her style.

Based on subject matter alone, this will be one of the books of the summer, combining thriller vibes with MLM background context. El Dorado Drive would be an incredible book club pick and lead to some great discussion.

The three Bishop sisters grew up in the outskirts of Detroit, with a father that worked in the auto industry until one day, he didn't. With the context of the fall of the auto industry behind it, the plot of El Dorado Drive focuses on this family of women who used to HAVE and now have not. Exploring themes of money, want, and how to reach a point where you truly feel like you have enough, this book is a fascinating fictional take on how far people will go to feel like they have what they deserve, and how multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes can get under your skin and make you feel like you'll never be satisfied. When all three sisters end up joining the same downline of a group that seems too good to be true, each for their own reasons, we see them rocket towards a dramatic end. You can feel the tension simmer throughout this story, and at the end I could not stop thinking about the themes of ENOUGH.

I was so excited to get approved for this one on NetGalley—suburban suspense, sister drama, and Megan Abbott? Immediate yes.

This book drops you straight into the chaos. I genuinely paused at one point thinking, “Did I skip a chapter?” Harper, Pam, and Debra are all spiraling in different directions, and the mess is immediate. Harper’s desperate for money and ends up borrowing from Doug… who just happens to be her sister Pam’s ex-husband. You can imagine how well that goes.

Then there’s the wheel—a mysterious network of women helping each other with cash under the table. At first, it feels like a lifeline. Then it starts to feel like a cult. Honestly, the scenes with the wheel were my favorite—I would’ve loved even more of that intensity and weird, haunting tension.

Megan Abbott has a signature style: slow-burn suspense layered with complicated women, social power dynamics, and just the right amount of simmering dread. She doesn’t rely on shock value—instead, she builds tension through relationships, secrets, and the subtle ways people unravel. Her writing always feels a little claustrophobic in the best way, like you’re trapped in a very pretty house where something terrible is about to happen. Eldorado Drive is no exception.

The book shifts between timelines (mostly in 2008/2009, which adds a nostalgic layer), and once a certain murder hits mid-book, everything spirals. Harper starts lying to everyone—friends, family, even the police—and watching her unravel is like witnessing a slow-motion car crash.

It took a bit to find my footing, but when it picked up, it really picked up. I’d call this one strange, layered, and quietly unsettling in all the right ways.

“All I want is to be innocent again.” Same, Harper. Same.

Would you risk everything for a second chance—or walk away before the wheel spins again?

For Megan Abbott’s latest domestic thriller, there probably needs to be a trigger warning involving spiraling debt — the three Bishop sisters of this book, raised in affluent Grosse Pointe, Michigan, have all reached a point of trying to keep up the look of suburban wealth while diving deeper into not entirely self-inflicted poverty — divorces, sickness, worthless husbands, the declining auto industry that fed them all, and IRS liens have all contributed as well.

As divorced youngest sister Pam is putting on a grand fete for her son’s high school graduation, older sister Debra and middle sister Harper (with their own money problems) wonder how she’s financing it all. Is the next step losing her decent rental home and slipping into homelessness? However, a few months later, after Harper is gone for a summer job, she returns to Pam and Deb and finds them unusually flaunting normally unaffordable things. How? “The Wheel.” A “women helping women” scheme that isn’t Pampered Chef, Amway, or Avon. Yes, a probably friendly neighborhood pyramid scheme and we all know how those never end well. Our main character becomes Harper, as she hides her own secrets and tries to navigate the same path Pam and Deb are recklessly pursuing.

This is a sad, satirical portrayal of upper middle class suburban women who seem intent to be constantly reliving their high school clique years or secret sorority rushes. Their self worth, no matter what they chant about supporting each other, is all tied to visible displays of wealth.

Abbott builds the requisite suspense of “too good to be true” and “what’s the catch?” to reach the point when everything starts to fall apart and it does so spectacularly. The story is emotional, poignant, and sensitive — the sisters’ complicated relationship (to each other and to money) is at the core of this domestic thriller. 4 stars.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Doug has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO An ancient elm plays its part at the beginning and the end.

Thank you to GP Putnam/Penguin Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This was a fairly good read it took me some time to get into but once I got to the good parts I was taken all the way in so now I’m leaving my review it was a good read just wish it didn’t take long to get to the ploy

El Dorado Drive has an intriguing premise, but it’s too slowly paced, there’s a lot of repetition and the ending was OK, but…meh is my overall feeling. Came close to a DNF but I was mildly interested in the whodunit. After I finished this book I wish I would have skipped most of the middle chapters and just read the first few chapters and the last few chapters.

Several reviews complain about the structure with many short scenes within chapters. That’s actually one of the only things I really liked about this book. I was interested for about the first 2 chapters before the story got bogged down too much.

Megan Abbott takes on pyramid schemes?? Dream come true. Abbott does an excellent job of capturing the details of the worlds she explores in her novels, and this was no exception. Perfect summer thriller!

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I typically love this author but this one just didn't work. IT was weirdly written and hard to follow. Thank you for the opportunity.

I might be in the minority but this book was a little slow for me. The reviews are good but it wasnt the best for me.

Abbott is a wizard at inducing anxiety whilst reading! This kept me on the edge of my seat for hours while reading. I really felt for the sisters and then found myself questioning everything.