This is very much a slow burn. The mystery does not come into affect until half way through. It has a lot to say about human nature and money. Some horrible characters here. I did like the sisterly bonds and Harper's strength.

Harper, Pam, and Debra — 3 sisters just scraping by. That is until they find The Wheel, a female financial empowerment group that might just solve all their problems.

This book is very moody. The writing is good and it really puts you into the place the sisters are. You can feel the longing, hope and desperation. The characters are complex and layered. You both like them and hate them.

However, it moved just too slowly for me. It was hard to keep my attention even though it had all the elements to be able to do so.

I would label this more as a family drama than a thriller but it does have some thriller elements.

Megan Abbott has such a distinct, hypnotic style that you either fall under its spell or you don’t—and I definitely did. El Dorado Drive is dripping with atmosphere. It’s sun-soaked L.A. noir, but with ann emotional undercurrent. It’s not a fast-paced thriller, but it is deeply unsettling in that quiet, creeping way.

The story centers around a former actress and her teenage daughter, who are both tangled up in the legacy of a decades old Hollywood scandal. But this isn’t really a “true crime” story in the traditional sense. It’s more about how a crime, and the story we tell about it, can echo across generations. The way Megan Abbott writes about female identity, performance, and the slippery boundary between truth and fiction is so interesting.

There’s a dreamy quality to the writing that made me feel like I was inside the world, like I could smell the chlorine and feel the heat radiating off the pavement. I wouldn’t call it twisty, but there’s this constant tension, like something is just barely holding together. I found myself completely absorbed, especially in the dynamic between mother and daughter. It’s intimate, and at times, kind of heartbreaking.

If you liked “The Turnout” or “Give Me Your Hand”, I think you’ll love this one. It’s a bit slower in pace, but the payoff is in the mood, the characters, and the psychological depth. I finished it feeling both unsettled and oddly satisfied.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for the ARC.

“Women trust, women give, women protect.”

I love a cult - and really what is a MLM if not a cult? However, like the previous Megan Miranda I read, I don’t think this author is for me. I really appreciated the Michigan setting, but otherwise I likely would not have picked this one up.

El Dorado Drive didn’t quite work for me. The premise had potential—a suburban women’s group with sinister undertones—but the execution felt flat. Harper’s decision to join the group happens with almost no hesitation, even though it’s clearly a scheme from the beginning. That lack of resistance made it hard to believe or invest in her journey.

The central mystery never really grabbed me, mostly because the characters at the heart of it are unlikable that it’s hard to care what happened to them. The plot is slow and repetitive, circling the same ideas until a reveal that doesn’t feel worth the buildup. It’s unsettling, but not in the gripping, psychological way you’d want—more in a way that just feels uncomfortable to sit with.

Ultimately, it felt like there just wasn’t enough story here for a full novel. This might have worked better as a short story, but as a novel, it left me feeling unsatisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Very slow start, nearly DNF’d at 30% in, glad I stuck with it! Suburban women participating in a pyramid scheme club, The Wheel, with the three Bishop sisters at the center of this mess. Thanks to NetGalley and Gp Putnam for an advanced copy for an honest review .

Buckle up! This is a wild ride! Growing up, sisters Harper, Pam and Deb had it all. Their family was well to do in Detroit - until the American car companies started to go bust. As adults, they haven’t fared much better. And the lack of funds coupled with mounting debts is creating desperation - which is never good. Until they discover The Club…a sure fire way to make money and feel empowered. Which was great - until a member is murdered. A great read!

I as intrigued by the premise of this book, however the book itself is written in a format that I found very difficult to follow. It jumped around a lot and didn't keep me engaged.

The desperate economy of 2009, especially in an area like Detroit with families who have been failed by the auto industry, makes a perfect setting for this one, where women are going to questionable lengths in the name of empowerment and financial stability- and makes the ways MLMs thrive very clear. With characters solidly in middle age and having adult life complications- illness, divorce, etc.- this book, and the way it is told, is very intriguing.

This riveting story from Megan Abbott is a winner. The story involves the Bishop sisters who grew up privelidged but are now all down on their luck. This is a story about money and power. About the bonds of sisterhood. About acceptance and belonging. Desperation.

I loved this story and found it compelling and atmospheric. It completely consumed me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam Son's publishing for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

A bit of departure for Megan Abbott except there's some teen angst and her typical outstanding character development. Loved seeing this take roll out, knowing it would not end well. Nothing is as it seems!

A MLM scheme turns deadly when one sister of three is murdered after getting the other two involved in 'The Wheel' that has women 'donating' cash and taking turns being the 'receiver.' Full of twists, jealousies, secrets and lots of suspects, this one was a unique take on multi-level marketing plus a dark domestic suspense story. Good on audio narrated by my fav, Brittany Pressley and an entertaining beach read for the summer. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and gifted finished copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review. Recommended for fans of books like Death in the downline by Maria Abrams.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Three sisters are struggling to keep up with the Jones and make some bad choices. Harper’s in debt. Pam is going through a nasty divorce and struggling to raise two teenagers. Debra is dealing with financial strain from her husband’s cancer diagnosis. However, when introduced to the Wheel, it promises to turn things around for the sisters, with women giving to women. Yet, it has a more sinister underbelly. How far will people really go to get what they feel they deserve?

This is a great read for anyone who likes a good domestic noir with a side of crime. I am stunned at the amount of realism and personal depth put into it. An engrossing read!

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a complimentary copy of this novel! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Harper has fallen on tough times financially, so he sister Pam offers to let her stay with her until she is able to get back on her feet. Pam has her own troubles as well, her ex-husband Doug has taken their children’s trust fund money. Regardless of this and Doug not paying alimony, Pam seems to be doing well financially. So Pam lets her sister in on the secret – it’s all thanks to the wheel! A private group where the female members meet a few times a month. Each time new members are recruited, they must bring $5,000 cash to be allowed to join the group. The money is then pooled together and given to the next member in line to receive the gift! They eventually each get their turn to receive the gift. However, when one of them turns up dead, is it something personal or something much deeper? Maybe someone is jealous and impatient for their turn? This is Megan Abbott’s newest novel. It didn’t seem as fast paced at the beginning, but I still enjoyed it and kept me guessing until the end! AVAILABLE June 24, 2025!

2.5/5 rounded up

The premise of this book sounded promising. Privileged women encountering financial strain who start a money-making scheme. Unfortunately this was an incredibly slow going book for me and I ended up not finishing it because it was so hard to focus on. The writing felt more like a disjointed early draft versus an ARC that was about to be published. The characters weren't likable and the story was hard to follow. I hate to give such a low review, but I struggled with this from the start.

Another time trying a Megan Abbott that just wasn’t for me. I want to love her books but I always feel the writing can be a bit of a slog, and the story too slow-paced for what is billed as a thriller.

This book is set in 2008 in Grosse Point, the wealthy suburb of Detroit. 3 sisters, all with differing financial troubles, join a pyramid scheme with other local women who “gift” each other money. All is going well, until one of the sisters is murdered.

I thought it was a fine book, until about 20% in I realized this all seemed very familiar to me. There is an HBO documentary from 2020 called Murder on Middle Beach that is way too similar to this story to call it a coincidence. The woman who was murdered in real life was part of a gifting table, was found by her sister, had a son at college and a rebellious daughter (who, spoiler, is also maybe a suspect). I hoped Abbott would acknowledge this case in the beginning of the book or the acknowledgements, but she doesn’t. I found an article where she mentions the murder in relation to the gifting table phenomenon, but doesn’t say it was directly lifted. This just left a bad taste in my mouth! The second book I’ve read this year where a novel is labeled as fiction but so clearly based on a real true crime case without a nod to the actual victims or their families. This is why this book was knocked down from a 3 to a 2 stars for me.

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott

This one was tough for me for several reasons: 1) the short scenes never allowed me to get pulled into the story, 2) the slow start, and 3) the desperation didn’t seem to make sense.

Both the short scenes and slow start baffled me. While I felt like the beginning dragged, I also wanted more time in some of the scenes. I understand that sounds hypocritical, but if the pace was going to pick up (which I needed it to), then I wanted less disjointedness between scenes. Both slow start and short scenes kept me from being able to connect with or care about the characters. For point three, the desperation felt like a cop-out. I thought many of this could be resolved by having conversations or making smarter decisions.

I was pulled to this one because of a promise of a “women-led pyramid scheme in suburban Detroit” suspense. Instead, I missed the suspense and found it to be more a slow-burn family drama with a large emphasis on money and keeping up appearances.

“El Dorado Drive” is like if “Big Little Lies” got mugged in a Michigan cul-de-sac and then quietly joined a pyramid scheme to pay for the therapy. But this isn’t Monterey with ocean views and crisp rosé. It’s the Detroit suburbs, circa 2008, where the wealth has rusted, the driveways are cracked, and every cul-de-sac is haunted by the ghost of a pension that never came. The American Dream packed up and left years ago, and now all that's left is resentment, manicured rage, and a financial “gifting circle” called the Wheel. Spoiler: it’s not a gift. It’s a literal pyramid scheme.

We meet Harper crawling back to her older sister Pam after a breakup nuked her bank account and left her owing money to someone she'd rather hex than Venmo. Pam is somehow thriving in her own post-divorce era in that way where you just know something’s off. She's got money. A new ride. Confidence that smells suspiciously like secret debt. Harper thinks she’s found safe harbor, but what she’s actually walking into is a very pretty house of cards, already teetering under the weight of expectations, debt, and whispered desperation.

But here’s the twist. Pam and Debra were already neck deep in the Wheel before Harper showed up. And the Wheel isn’t just some woo-woo women’s circle. It’s a pyramid scheme dressed up in empowerment language and crowns made from hundred dollar bills. It promises financial freedom through “gifting,” where you pay your way in and recruit other women to keep the money flowing. It’s legal adjacent, morally gray, and emotionally devastating. These women didn’t stumble into it. They chose it. Not because they were naive, but because they were running out of options. They followed the rules, did everything right... and still got left behind. The men in their lives failed upward. The Wheel was the only thing that finally said, “We’ll make you rich, no husband required.”

The Wheel isn’t a cult. It doesn’t need to be. It offers something much more seductive; a promise. It says you can be safe again. You can be rich again. You can be seen. And it offers that promise wrapped in glossy language about abundance and sisterhood. But what it really trades in is pressure. Guilt. Desperation. It weaponizes community, turns support into obligation, and gives women just enough hope to ruin themselves chasing it.

Megan Abbott makes that quiet unraveling feel like a slow exhale you didn’t realize you were holding. The fear here doesn’t come from jump scares or twists. It comes from watching women you understand, maybe even love, make choices that shrink them. It’s in the way they smile through panic. In the lies they tell themselves so they can sleep at night. Every scene hums with that tension. What are we willing to risk when the world tells us we’re already done?

Pam is the emotional core. Her arc is devastating because it’s not a fall from grace. It’s a surrender to necessity. Debra’s doing what women have done forever. Shouldering the weight, quietly, until it breaks her. And Harper... poor Harper walks in thinking she’s joining something empowering. What she’s really joining is a closed loop of hope, shame, and survival instinct. By the time she realizes the cost, she’s already too far in.

The crime, yes, there is one, doesn’t explode. It emerges like mold behind wallpaper. Quiet. Inevitable. And not entirely surprising. If you come here expecting a traditional thriller, you’ll be waiting. But if you’re here for the slow rot of power, money, and gender dynamics, this one delivers.

Still, I wanted one more crack. One moment where the mask truly slips. The emotional tension is high, but the climax feels a little too controlled, a little too polite. This story deserved a scream. It gave us a sigh.

That said, what Megan Abbott nails every time is the psychology of women who’ve been underestimated one time too many. This isn’t a story about evil. It’s a story about erosion. About what it costs to survive in a world that was never designed for you to win. 3.5 stars for the ache, the atmosphere, and the quiet devastation of wanting back what you once had, even if you have to lie to yourself to get there.

Whodunity Award: For Best Use of Midwestern Passive-Aggression in a Financial Crime Drama

Big thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and NetGalley for slipping me an early copy like a juicy piece of suburban gossip. I devoured it faster than Pam recruits new Wheel members.

Against a suburban backdrop, Megan Abbott’s El Dorado Drive follows three formerly well-off sisters, each now struggling financially, who get wrapped up in a local “women’s financial empowerment group” - actually a thinly veiled pyramid scheme. When one of the sisters is murdered, everyone is a suspect, money is the motive, and secrets may come to the surface.

What stands out for me is the building suspense. There are endless twists to keep you hooked until the end. Aside from the thrilling story, as a Michigander myself, I appreciated the rich sense of place. Abbott’s callbacks to Grosse Pointe and the metro Detroit area add authenticity.

One thing I felt was missing was more insight into the inner workings and drama of the women’s group itself. While the relationship between the sisters was compelling and relatable, the book’s description did have me expecting the women’s group to play more of a major role. I had hoped to delve more into the group dynamics of the women involved in the scheme. Instead it feels like we briefly visit the group meetings before returning to the main drama of the novel.

Overall, the balance between domestic drama and sharp suspense is really well done. El Dorado Drive delivers on the twists and is a nuanced exploration of relationships between sisters, family, and neighbors. I’d recommend this one to fans of twisty thrillers that hit close to home or readers of women’s fiction looking for something with a bit of an edge.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was NOT it. I am convinced I could rant about this one forever. First, we spent like 50% of the book with literally nothing happening. Second, the Leigh storyline is so random to me because we never got any sort of follow up? Idk, didn't love that. Third, how did the police learn the final puzzle piece? Did Harper tell them? I wish we could have cut out 80% of the discussion of the wheel (we didn't need so many boring details), so that the book could've spent way more time flushing out the actual mystery.