One of Us Is Dead
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Rich People drama! One of Us is Dead makes me glad I'm poor. But this novel is far from being a thriller or mystery. I found it hard to stay with the story because it set my teeth on edge for a whole different reason.
Let's start off by saying that One of Us is Dead drags on with the drama between rich wives that don't seem to be able to stand up for themselves to the Big Bully. I've read and seen many rich dramas, and this is often the case. In order to keep face, you have to be friends with the asshole because they always have the higher power.
Now the characters:
Jenny is the owner of the popular salon Glow, where these wives go to share their secrets.
Keisha is Jenny's best friend and employee.
Olivia is the top dog of the rich wives. She's married to Dean, whose job is not mentioned until the end. She's also the major bitch of the story. So it's pretty obvious she's the one that dies.
Karen is a real estate lawyer, who's married to a plastic surgeon, Mark that is sleeping with his patient, Olivia., and has a young son.
Shannon is the newest divorcee who was married to Bryce, a local politician.
Crystal is Bryce's new (25 y/o) bride, whom he was having an affair with for months before his divorce. Don't worry. That's not a spoiler. It's mentioned at the very off of the book.
Now, the story itself. Like I said earlier, One of Us is Dead is more drama than any other genre it tries to sell. The mystery aspect is sporadically spread throughout because, in the beginning, we are in the present time with Jenny and the lead detective discussing about what happened. We know someone is dead but aren't told who until the very end. If you unhid my spoiler, you know who it is. I don't think I've ever read/listened to a book where I'm not even given the victim until the end. There are no thrills AT ALL in this novel. These women are all maddening. They drive me up the f*cking wall.
I am curious as to the writing. Perhaps it's because I don't hang out with rich women or whatever, but the fact that they all are written so poorly. They hate each other, it's obvious, but they still hang out with one another. One that really had me scratching my head was Shannon and Crystal. Karen, Shannon's closest friend (if that's even possible with these women) can't decide if she should be loyal to Shannon because Crystal is so pretty and nice. This woman stole your "good friend's" husband, you spent many nights with her crying on your shoulder about how betrayed she felt after her husband was going behind her back with the younger woman, and you think it's all right to be the other woman's friend.
I guess to each their own. Karen can be friends with whomever she wants. I mean, it's not her husband sleeping with a younger woman. He's sleeping with and paying your other friend, Olivia.
My main question is why Crystal thinks she would be able to lighten Shannon up and be her friend. Was Ms. Rose a mistress before? She wrote Crystal like she wanted her readers to like her. Crystal stole another woman's husband. I don't care what her excuse was: "I fell in love with him before he told me he was married." Sure, it was Bryce's fault too. I'm not saying we should only blame the girl, but when she found out he was married, she still went along with the affair. Really? And I'm supposed to like her? I hated Bryce, of course, but I hated Crystal more.
Yet, regardless of this, Shannon and Crystal become friends. Shannon praises Crystal, talking about how strong she is after learning about her past. Crystal killed an abusive boyfriend in self-defense and Shannon learns this in the very beginning. For some unknown reason, she keeps it to herself. She doesn't keep it as ammo for late use like Olivia does when she walks in on Karen and Keisha having sex in the salon. Why didn't she tell anyone?
Shannon also doesn't confront Olivia when she finds out she catfished her when Shannon had planned on going on her first date since her divorce. Olivia invited Shannon to a bar/club under the guise of a guy named Jack(??) where she had arranged for a girl's night with the other girls (that agree to go even though they know Olivia never does anything like this for anyone). This entire scene is pointless. I don't know why we needed to be put through this. We already know Olivia is a c*nt bitch, but do we really need to pour salt in the wound? All this was to provide the context of Olivia and Dean having no money since Olivia's credit cards decline when paying the bill. This could've been shown when Olivia wasn't able to pay her membership with Jenny.
There are too many scenes that add nothing to the story. Perhaps it's me, but I can't stand filler scenes in my thrillers. That's why I say this is not a thriller, but a drama with murder tossed in for some reason.
I bought this novel on audio and had to speed up the last two hours to 2x because it was so freaking long and boring, I just wanted to get to the end.
Let's start off by saying that One of Us is Dead drags on with the drama between rich wives that don't seem to be able to stand up for themselves to the Big Bully. I've read and seen many rich dramas, and this is often the case. In order to keep face, you have to be friends with the asshole because they always have the higher power.
Now the characters:
Jenny is the owner of the popular salon Glow, where these wives go to share their secrets.
Keisha is Jenny's best friend and employee.
Olivia is the top dog of the rich wives. She's married to Dean, whose job is not mentioned until the end. She's also the major bitch of the story. So it's pretty obvious she's the one that dies.
Karen is a real estate lawyer, who's married to a plastic surgeon, Mark that is sleeping with his patient, Olivia., and has a young son.
Shannon is the newest divorcee who was married to Bryce, a local politician.
Crystal is Bryce's new (25 y/o) bride, whom he was having an affair with for months before his divorce. Don't worry. That's not a spoiler. It's mentioned at the very off of the book.
Now, the story itself. Like I said earlier, One of Us is Dead is more drama than any other genre it tries to sell. The mystery aspect is sporadically spread throughout because, in the beginning, we are in the present time with Jenny and the lead detective discussing about what happened. We know someone is dead but aren't told who until the very end. If you unhid my spoiler, you know who it is. I don't think I've ever read/listened to a book where I'm not even given the victim until the end. There are no thrills AT ALL in this novel. These women are all maddening. They drive me up the f*cking wall.
I am curious as to the writing. Perhaps it's because I don't hang out with rich women or whatever, but the fact that they all are written so poorly. They hate each other, it's obvious, but they still hang out with one another. One that really had me scratching my head was Shannon and Crystal. Karen, Shannon's closest friend (if that's even possible with these women) can't decide if she should be loyal to Shannon because Crystal is so pretty and nice. This woman stole your "good friend's" husband, you spent many nights with her crying on your shoulder about how betrayed she felt after her husband was going behind her back with the younger woman, and you think it's all right to be the other woman's friend.
I guess to each their own. Karen can be friends with whomever she wants. I mean, it's not her husband sleeping with a younger woman. He's sleeping with and paying your other friend, Olivia.
My main question is why Crystal thinks she would be able to lighten Shannon up and be her friend. Was Ms. Rose a mistress before? She wrote Crystal like she wanted her readers to like her. Crystal stole another woman's husband. I don't care what her excuse was: "I fell in love with him before he told me he was married." Sure, it was Bryce's fault too. I'm not saying we should only blame the girl, but when she found out he was married, she still went along with the affair. Really? And I'm supposed to like her? I hated Bryce, of course, but I hated Crystal more.
Yet, regardless of this, Shannon and Crystal become friends. Shannon praises Crystal, talking about how strong she is after learning about her past. Crystal killed an abusive boyfriend in self-defense and Shannon learns this in the very beginning. For some unknown reason, she keeps it to herself. She doesn't keep it as ammo for late use like Olivia does when she walks in on Karen and Keisha having sex in the salon. Why didn't she tell anyone?
Shannon also doesn't confront Olivia when she finds out she catfished her when Shannon had planned on going on her first date since her divorce. Olivia invited Shannon to a bar/club under the guise of a guy named Jack(??) where she had arranged for a girl's night with the other girls (that agree to go even though they know Olivia never does anything like this for anyone). This entire scene is pointless. I don't know why we needed to be put through this. We already know Olivia is a c*nt bitch, but do we really need to pour salt in the wound? All this was to provide the context of Olivia and Dean having no money since Olivia's credit cards decline when paying the bill. This could've been shown when Olivia wasn't able to pay her membership with Jenny.
There are too many scenes that add nothing to the story. Perhaps it's me, but I can't stand filler scenes in my thrillers. That's why I say this is not a thriller, but a drama with murder tossed in for some reason.
I bought this novel on audio and had to speed up the last two hours to 2x because it was so freaking long and boring, I just wanted to get to the end.
This book kept me interested the whole time, and while I had the characters I liked and disliked, I found myself jumping around to a conclusion of what was actually going to happen and which character was going to be the "one" from the title One of Us Is Dead. I liked that the audio book had different narrators for each character, and I liked the little twists all through the book.
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