Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - One of Us is Dead

One of Us is Dead was a funny tale of how being a Karen will get you murdered. Jenny owns Glow, an upscale salon that caters to the “finest” women in Buckhead. She is the central point for all things in her clients lives. From affairs to revenge, a lot of the plot takes place in Glow.

This novel started strong with an opening that hooked me by the first page. The characters were full of personality and some had more complexities than others. The premise of the book is we start in the present with Jenny explaining to Detective Sanford how the murder occurred. But we have no clue who is actually dead.

The tale is a telling of all the events that lead up to the death of a prominent member of Buckhead. And as you read on it might become pretty clear on who ends up dead. The who wasn’t surprising to me in fact, both the author and the editor probably wanted it to be obvious. What is surprising is the how and who ends up murdering them.

All in all, this was an entertaining read. It gives desperate housewives and gossip girl vibes. The ending was rushed and the style of present vs past telling was a nice addition to the story. If you enjoy reading about rich white women gossip and skeam for revenge then this will be the book for you.

*****THE FOLLOWING SECTION MAY BE CONSIDERED SPOILERS, READERS DISCRETION ADVISED******

There were little things that didn’t add up in the book like characters programming phones to burners??? How would they know how to do that? And it took a while to get to “who was killed” reveal. I’m a little disappointed that who I thought was dead actually turned out to be dead. It’s quite obvious throughout the book as the character is one of the most hated.

Reading the book it’s pretty obvious it was going to be her that ended up dead. She was an awful person. The person who kills her though? Definitely did not expect that.

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Narration 👍: Lots of POVs so different narrators helped for keeping track while listening. The narrators were suited to (or shaped) the characters and weren’t annoying. I only had a bit of trouble telling Karen and Shannon apart.

Main POVs 😵‍💫: First-person narration heavy on observation and dialogue

An entrepreneur whose business is their motivation, but now that they have success they are wishing for a partner to share it with
A grudge-holding, insecure, egotistical, likely psychopathic ‘frenemy’
A temporarily but dramatically unhinged outcast
A seemingly sweet, naïve newcomer
A peace-keeping, people-pleasing parent

Atmosphere 🫥: Antagonistic, disparaging, humorous

Set in a rich suburb (I think near Atlanta, Georgia) mainly in the exclusive local salon and salon members’ homes and parties.

Cred Rating 🍸🤑: OTT campy

Simple, potentially fun read that is best taken at face-value. Not meant for overthinking or realistic, deep reading moments, but does touch on some serious issues.

Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐺🐕:

The characters and their spouses were almost caricatures and just…a LOT. They start off as walking stereotypes ranging from asshole to insufferable to dense, but somehow, they started to grow on me as the story progressed.
I had multiple “get to the point!” DNF moments on this one that I managed to fight off. It was just so long to me sometimes. Twists/reveals start off as small, scintillating relationship and frenemy drama and progress to more serious criminal enterprises. The trouble was that each reveal seemed so drawn out because we see almost every happening from all five POVs before we can progress to more of the story. I stuck with it because I was curious.
I get overly frustrated by dialogue-driven existential crisis plots, but now that it has ended I kinda miss these characters (er, some of them). I'm also relieved to be rid of them!
I appreciate how the author pulled off an OTT character drama that didn’t rely on the tropes typical to rich people/domestic thriller-dramas. There wasn’t a single “hold-back, if only you knew”, “it's impossible to be childfree-by-choice”, “my children are my entire reason for existing (and therefore whiny and insufferable)”, “suspense through conversation interruptions” trope in this story!

Reading Journey 🥴: Watching one of those rich housewife reality shows to kill time on the plane heading to a vacay destination.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Dialogue-driven narratives
Rich people behaving badly
OTT housewives reality show can’t-look-away energy
Amateur frenemy crime-fighting suspense

Vibes: 🫠🤪🤭

Content Heads-Up: Misogyny. Misandry. Outing. Bullying. Possible good bisexuality rep.

Format: Audible

Content Warnings

kelisabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

jaylee_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Not my favorite.

Content Warnings

katiejohns's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Content Warnings

cady_sass's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This felt like a 3 star read for the first half of the book. The characters are painfully unlikeable (on purpose) and the writing is quite good but I just don’t feel entertained by middle aged rich housewives. Then somewhere around 60% things got REAL. The characters still suck, but there are some dark twists that I did not see coming. Read this in one day, fun and unputdownable. If you’re a real housewives fan I think you would EAT this up!

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