Money makes the world go around, the Bishop sisters learn, when they don’t have as much as they used to.

The three women grew up in a good Grosse Pointe neighborhood, not having to worry about money. Debra was the oldest, then Pam, then Harper. They looked after each other, and they made each other their target, in that way that sisters do. They grew up with money, so they thought life would always be easy. But the auto industry changed and Detroit lost a lot of wealth. Now, as adults, the sisters are struggling.

Debra is married to Perry, and they have a son Stevie. But Perry has cancer, and the treatment is exorbitantly expensive. Pam had a happy marriage, until she found out that her husband Doug had spent all their money, put them into debt, and even drained the trust funds they had set up for their kids Patrick and Vivian. Harper is just struggling to make ends meet each month. After a particularly difficult and drunken night with her sisters, as they all complained about their problems and debts, Harper needed to get away, so she took a job across the state for the summer, which turned into late October.

When Harper finally comes back to town, she is met by Pam, who is singing a very different song. She has leased a Lexus and talks about how much better things are for her. It turns out that shortly after Harper had left, Pam had bumped into a friend, Sue Fox, who helped rescue Pam from an embarrassing situation. And she had invited Pam to be a part of the Wheel.

A group of women meet twice a month for parties. They get together for support and friendship, and they bring the hostess of the party a gift. That gift is cash.

Each new member has to provide a buy-in of $5,000. That gets you on the board. Then you wait until it’s your turn, and every new member who shows up to your party gives you their gift, and that puts them on the board. And the Wheel turns, with women helping each other. Debts get paid. Lives are saved. Women are empowered, and they pass their good luck to the next woman who comes in the door. It’s a beautiful thing.

But anyone who has been in debt, on the verge of financial collapse, knows how desperate it can make you. Bad decisions get made. Desperate people do desperate things. Sometimes they even kill. And the Bishop sisters will find themselves in the middle of that as the Wheel rolls right over them.

Megan Abbott is back with a masterful tale of debt and desperation in a world where women still struggle for personal power. I am a big fan of Abbott. I love the depth and nuance of her writing as she parses out the tiny cracks in the relationships between these sisters. The secrets that bind them, and the ones that wedge between them, the details of the era, everything comes together to create this tense domestic thriller with unexpected twists and a stunner of an ending.

Abbott is one of those writers who takes everything I have to give through the course of her novel. It’s emotional and powerful and lingers in my memory for months. I can’t read too many books like that in one year, but I am always happy to reserve one of those spots for a new Megan Abbott book. I loved El Dorado Drive, and now I have time to recover from it before her next book hits bookstores.

Egalleys for El Dorado Drive were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

This is my first Megan Abbott book (I know, I know) and I really enjoyed it. More of a slow burn suspense than thriller, the writing is absolutely gorgeous. And I always love when I don’t see a twist coming. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Meg Cabot’s El Dorado Drive is about three sisters who have all fallen from the wealth they grew up with and have joined a pyramid scheme in search of financial independence.

It’s an interesting read. Each sister finds her way to the women’s group for her own reasons: divorce, medical bills, or a secret loan. Cabot does a good job framing it as anti-patriarchal, and she creates such a frenetic environment when Harper is finally let in on the secret that you understand why she joins. At the same time, Cabot creates a dark, foreboding atmosphere, as she often does in these late-stage books of her career, making it clear the story is headed nowhere positive.

It’s a compelling argument that men play around with money like it’s nothing, so why can’t women? But it was clear from the beginning that the group was a pyramid scheme, and once that was revealed, I turned pretty hard against the book. The final third becomes a mystery, which is executed very well and fits with the general unease of the story. Ultimately, that’s how I felt about the book overall. I didn’t have a good time reading it, and I don’t think Cabot wanted you to. The town and the family are in a total state of decay.

This book was SO good! The book starts off as a really slow burn, but it sets the rest of the story up perfectly. There was so much drama and tension. I had no idea what to expect as I was reading, and the author really delivered on the twists, and the ending was so rewarding!
I cannot recommend this thriller enough!



Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This fast-paced novel follows three sisters entangled in financial hardship, a bitter divorce, a shady money scheme—and ultimately, a murder. Narrated by Harper, the youngest of the trio, the story unfolds with escalating tension and layers of deceit, keeping readers hooked from start to finish.

Perfect for fans of twisty, character-driven thrillers, this is an addictive, page-turning read that blends family drama with dark secrets in all the best ways.

Any story focusing on sisters relationships is always going to be on my reading list. This one did not disappoint. We drama from years past, to the current problem at hand, El Dorado Drive kept me entertained throughout!!!

While I'm willing to believe that this accurately captures a certain slice of society, it's not a slice I find myself interested in. The concept of society wife as a profession just has no intersection with my own life, and then when you throw in the fact that none of them can actually afford to live this way it makes me even less sympathetic. Get a job like the rest of us! Instead, they come up with a ridiculous pyramid "investment club" scheme, which is blatantly unsupportable, especially as a secret, cult-like operation. Needless to say, murder happens. The exploration of different possible resolution threads was generally well done, which each possibility feeling plausible. The ultimate solution works, it's just that the cast of characters as a whole are extremely unlikeable. I think that's intentional, but it just makes it harder to truly enjoy as a read.

How far will one go to be more comfortable in life? That’s what Harper asked herself when she was brought into an all women empowerment club. She was promised to make money to live a more comfortable life and do so by uplifting other women who want the same. Her sisters promised her this. But after joining The Club, is there really a way to get out? And at what cost?

The cult-like following of the pyramid scheme was fun but I felt as if the outcomes of the book were a little far fetched for what they were trying for. It didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat wanting more, so it was definitely more of a slow burn thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley, G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Penguin Random House for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in return for my honest feedback.

El Dorado Drive should've been a book I loved. 3 sisters enter into a pyramid scheme and it all falls down from there. But the writing...wasn't great. So many chapters felt extremely repetitive. We get it the sisters are broke, deep in debt, and desperate. There are only so many ways I can read the same plot points over and over. Halfway through the book, I couldn't believe we were ONLY halfway through the book?! I wanted to DNF this book but I needed to see how it ended. The ending somewhat threw me off and it left me annoyed. It seemed extremely far fetched and out of character for those involved. This one didn't work for me sadly.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thnaks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

Megan Abbott is such a fun author. She writes thrillers that never feel in your face but you feel the tension right below the surface until it appears. Boom. El Dorado Drive really got me it was a culty like pyramid scheme and I ate it right up.

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott was just fantastic!
She never fails to hook me and always keeps me coming back for more.
This was once again another amazing psychological thriller.
The characters are well-developed.
Abbott skillfully creates a tense and atmospheric setting.
Overall, this is an intriguing read. It's very entertaining, gripping and comes with an unexpected twist.

Many thanks to NetGalley, and Penguin Random House | Putnam Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Megan Abbott. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Harper is forced to move back in with her sister, Pam, because of financial issues. Once there, she's surprised to see that Pam seems to be doing so well financially after a nasty divorce and her husband cleaning out their bank accounts and even the kids' money. Pam shares her secret - a women's group called the Wheel, whose function is to lift each other up. But when Harper and their other sister join, the sisters unleash a darkness within the group.

This is a slow burn thriller that leads up to quite the ending! I liked the timeframe - in the 70s and 80s in Detroit after the crash of the car industry there. It had a gritty, desperate feeling throughout when opportunities were few and people suddenly had to do without. And just what would some people do to get money? It was the perfect setup for groups such as Mary Kay, Amway, and the Wheel to come in and promise the world. I liked the interaction between the sisters and Pam's daughter Vivian's storyline as well.

The three Bishop sisters – Debra, Pam, and Harper – know what it’s like to fall on hard times. They grew up privileged in an upscale Detroit suburb, only to see their family’s circumstances crash when the auto industry did. Now adults, the hard times are knocking again. Debra and her husband are buried under a mountain of medical bills, Pam is locked in a contentious and expensive divorce battle, and Harper’s finances are so bad that she moved in with Pam and her kids.

When Pam comes to Harper with an unusual way of making money, Harper is skeptical but she’s also desperate. So she agrees to join The Wheel, which is basically a pyramid scheme where you have to bring in new members to make your way up the levels to make money. But with The Wheel’s success comes greed, and some members will stop at nothing – even murder – to keep it going.

Megan Abbott has this talent for writing tense, simmering suspense that keeps me glued to the pages, and El Dorado Drive is a prime example! This isn’t an in-your-face thriller with over the top twists, it’s a slow burn that digs deep into the bonds of sisterhood, betrayal, greed, and power. The prose is compelling and atmospheric, perfectly evoking the 2008 Grosse Pointe setting. Abbott knows Michigan inside and out, and as a Metro Detroiter, I absolutely loved how all of the little details set the scene. Every little thing, from road names, restaurants, and even the high school mascot, is 100% on point.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me an advance copy of this book.

I’ve read one other book by Abbott and listened to two others. I prefer reading her books and this one may have been my favorite. It has a large cast of characters but they are distinct. The resolution, although convoluted, was satisfying.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This is a story of sisters that I felt like was just OK. It was a thriller that I wish had more twists.

Abbott is an auto read author and el dorado drive returns to similar territory as the turnout, exploring the bonds between sisters. Set against the 2009 recession during the auto industry collapse in Michigan, everyone is struggling and the setting and tone are bleak. The bishop sisters are no exception-once a successful and comfortable family’, Deb, Harper, and Pam find themselves down on their luck and desperate. That is until the opportunity to join a female-led society offering them wealth and growth (ie pyramid scheme) called the wheel presents itself to them, at first it seems bright and promising for the sisters, and they feel hope. However, the wheel soon begins to show a dark side. As usual, death and chaos ensure in the back half. As with most of Abbott’s books, the tension simmers low and slow and then picks up steam and explodes. Abbott has a knack for evoking setting and drawing you into her characters and and plot effortlessly. I’m not sure if she covers any new ground with this one, but I will continue to follow where she leads!

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Abbott returns to a familiar theme she explored in her book The Turnout: The enigmatic interpersonal dynamic known as sisters. You hate each other, you love each other, you want to chop off each other’s hair, you braid it and put ribbons in it instead. You steal each other’s clothes and lend each other clothes and give each other clothing as gifts. It’s a bond no one else understands.

There’s another kind of sisterhood to speak of in this book too: that of sorority, of exclusive membership, of belonging to a group of other women just like you who seemingly have the same needs, wants, and desires. Who share the same goals and motivations in life.

They say the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, but how was that blood cut?

El Dorado Drive is the type of thriller that simmers as you read, with a low-riding tension that jars occasionally like you’ve hit a pothole in the road. It swings us back in time to Michigan in 2009, just after the auto manufacturing companies here in the US got bailed out by our government during the worldwide economic “recession”. All of our main characters are down on their luck because of money woes: houses foreclosed on, trust funds drained, laid off from jobs, healthcare bills piling up, debts accruing interest, 401Ks being liquidated, and marriage after marriage ending in divorce. These characters are desperate, and desperate people do desperate things. This leads to an increasingly manic atmosphere that pops and leaves behind a mystery that then takes you through some fantastic twists and turns trying to figure out whodunit. 4⭐️



I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: LGBTQ Fiction/Suspense Thriller/Women’s Fiction

Abbott is one of the best as social thrillers, digging into the small problems of everyday life which can spiral into much worse. The Bishop sisters are living in a decaying suburb of Detroit, and their money problems lead them into a group which is part self-help, part ponzi scheme. Unsurprisingly there is death and disaster which follow. Abbott is amazing at place and the unspoken mores of a social structure. She paints the rules of women of certain age in a specific corner of America and then rips out the seams.

The Bishop sisters grew up in wealth just outside Detroit, but as the auto industry crumbled, so did their privileged lifestyle. Harper, struggling to make ends meet, is pulled into a mysterious club called the Wheel by her two older sisters, Pam and Debra. The Wheel promises financial independence for women like them, but it quickly becomes something much darker—addictive, dangerous, and ultimately criminal. As the stakes rise, one shocking act threatens to unravel everything they've built. This was an interesting and fun read—my first by Megan Abbott—and I really enjoyed the slow-burn tension and twists throughout. The story dives deep into sisterhood, desperation, and power in such a sharp and compelling way. I’ll definitely be picking up more from her!

Happy Publication Day!

This story was dark and twisted!

Harper is down on her luck and moves in with her sister, Pam. She is surprised to find that Pam is doing so well financially after surviving an ugly divorce. But Pam has a secret. She is a member of the ‘Wheel’, a group of women helping women. New members add cash to a pool and then one lucky member wins the pot of money. When Pam invites Harper to join, they accidentally set off a series of dark events that could cost the sisters everything.

This was a slow burn. I was gripped by the way these desperate women were willing to participate in something so risky and insane. There was definitely a shocking feeling that something like this could actually take place in real life. I thought this novel idea was unique, original and well executed.

Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.