El Dorado Drive

When the Bishop sisters find their privileged lives upended by the collapse of Detroit’s auto industry, they sign on to a financial scheme that turns dangerous.

Megan Abbott remains the queen of cultural femme-noir, taking readers to unique places rarely explored thematically in noir thrillers or suspense—the ballet, cheerleading, and now MLMs.

Her latest, El Dorado Drive, tells the story of the Bishop sisters, who have lost their financial security due to the downfall of Detroit’s auto industry. Layer on circumstances beyond their control and a few personal secrets, and the suspense builds. Pam has lost everything in her divorce and can think only about how she will pay for her son’s college. Debra faces unmanageable medical bills after her husband’s job loss and cancer diagnosis. The youngest, Harper, carries a crippling secret debt that threatens her relationship with her sisters.

When Pam suddenly buys a new car, the sisters know something has shifted—and it’s “the Wheel.” When confronted, Pam tells them about a group of women who are helping each other through the financial crisis.

Dressed up as a tool of sisterhood and liberation, the Wheel feels like their way out. Pam recruits her sisters, who are desperate—even though they catch the whiff of a pyramid scheme and are aghast at the $5K buy-in. Pam reassures them that a lawyer has confirmed there’s nothing illegal about what they are doing. Each meeting of the Wheel is kept hush-hush and carries an upscale party atmosphere along with a thrum of suspense—who will walk away with the $25K payout? Champagne flows, food amazes, and laughter fills the air. The women chant, “I know a woman who believes in her power! I know a woman who is ready for change.” Then the money crowns the night. Each hostess tries to outdo the last, and everyone feels the surge of adrenaline, hope, and power.

Until they don’t.

The suspense in El Dorado Drive burns slowly. The pressure to recruit new members implodes, and so do the sisters’ unspoken resentments toward one another. Megan Abbott’s writing style, voice, and language elevate her novels above most in the genre. She’s one of the few authors whose books improve upon a second read, just to savor her attention to detail and ability to immerse the reader in all five senses. Take this, for example:

“Harper found herself whispering, tugging at the black stockings she’d bought an hour before at Bob’s Drugs. Tacky to the touch, they reminded her of the ones that used to come in those plastic eggs when she was little.”

El Dorado Drive also resonates on numerous levels. No one knows what the future holds, but choices must be made. Abbott builds sympathy for these women, whose motives are deeply tied to family and survival. As Harper thinks to herself:

“Money isn’t about money. It’s about security, freedom, independence, a promise of wholeness.”

But underneath these sympathetic motives lies the human need to keep a rosy reputation and an affluent lifestyle. When greed takes over, the pyramid scheme creates rifts between winners and losers. The secret of the Wheel leaks to less desirable recruits. To keep the Wheel going, the sisters are forced to bring in people they don’t want involved—but they need them. The pressure builds, leading to an inevitable, shocking ending. Will the sisters survive?

This is cultural femme-noir at its finest.

Thank you to #MeganAbbott, #NetGalley, and #PenguinGroupPutnam for this advanced copy of El Dorado Drive in exchange for an honest review.