Named ‘Best Book of the Summer’ by several major US newspapers, El Dorado Drive is the latest novel by Megan Abbott, an American crime writer who has a number of well-received books to her name. Published earlier this year, it’s a tense, dark story of menace, murder, social class, women in midlife crisis and the collapse of the American Dream. I thought it was a really good book – definitely worth reading.
El Dorado Drive is set in Detroit in 2009 and the year is significant because, as you may remember, the global economy took a serious downturn that year, which resulted in the US motor industry crashing spectacularly and both GM and Chrysler declaring bankruptcy. And that’s the background to this story.
The main characters are three middle-aged sisters: Becky, Pam and Harper. They grew up in a well-to-do family, with a father who was a chief executive in one of the big companies in Detroit, until he was laid off and they became poor.
Now years later they are all struggling. Becky has a very ill husband and mounting medical bills; Pam is going through a punishing divorce from a real shyster husband; and Harper, the narrator, is gay and has never quite been accepted as such by her family. Besides, she carries a big secret.
In desperate need of money, company and fun, the three sisters join an exclusive women’s club, The Wheel, which promises riches and financial security. Actually, it’s a sort of pyramid scheme: new members at the bottom of the pyramid bring in money by hook or by crook, the total raised goes to the person on the top, who then moves back to the bottom again, and all others move up. In theory they should all have a chance of winning the jackpot, but some seem more lucky winners than others. And this scheme, of course, only works if they can endlessly recruit new members and also avoid the tax authorities. As a consequence, people either hide their money under the mattress, or spend recklessly. Of course it all goes wrong, and half way through the book there is a murder, but the killer does not find the woman’s hidden money.
Right from the start of this book there is a real and growing sense of menace. We know something bad is coming and we are waiting with dread for it.
My verdict
As I’ve said, I thought El Dorado Drive was a really good book. It’s more than just a thriller, or a detective story; it’s a mesmerising tale of rich white people who have fallen on hard times and are struggling, but who, in many cases, are unable to shed their old habits of spending recklessly. It’s also a true tale of a city that’s coming apart at the seams, and an economy that’s in free-fall.
The book is well written. Most of the characters are clearly drawn, especially the sisters who are well-portrayed with their secrets and hopes, and their dread for the future. And Pam’s fiery daughter is a boon to the story, because she’s always angry at life and her mother, and as a character she feels very real. Otherwise, the women in the Wheel are quite sketchily drawn, apart from one or two, who are over-privileged WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) – a class of Americans of whom I knew next to nothing.
Eventually the mystery of the murder does get solved and Harper, in particular, is instrumental in getting to the truth, despite the fact the police have suspected she might be the killer.
I did like this novel a lot, but I can quite see it may not be to everybody’s taste. At times Megan Abbott allows the crime to take a backseat to the social implications of the financial crash and its consequences, but I found that interesting to read about too. It’s a tense and gripping tale and definitely deserves 4 Stars.
Review by: Freyja
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