REVIEW: One of Us is Dead (book) by Jeneva Rose

One of Us is Dead is a thriller/mystery. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Buckhead is the kind of place where beautiful, rich people smile at each other while giving each other backhanded compliments. Until recently, Shannon was one of the top ladies of Buckhead. However, her now ex-husband has remarried, replacing her with younger, fresher, and prettier Crystal from Texas. Olivia has decided to take full advantage of the shift in power dynamics and is doing her best to take every inch of Shannon's Buckhead political territory while her "friend" is still off licking her wounds. Karen, meanwhile, recognizes what Olivia is doing but is powerless to stop it.

At some point in this story, one of Buckhead's ladies will end up dead. And Jenny, the owner of Glow, the most exclusive salon in town, is there to see it all play out.

This was one of my Book Bonanza purchases. I don't think the author was expecting anyone to be interested in her thrillers, so all she had at her table was The Girl I Was. I was particularly interested in the author's The Perfect Marriage, but that wasn't available at the on-site store and this book seemed like a good fit for me too.

So, pretty much all the women in this were terrible in some way, although there was definitely a hierarchy of awfulness. Olivia was, hands down, the worst. One of the book's big mysteries was which of the women was going to end up dead, and I spent a large chunk of time hoping it was Olivia. She hinted that there were reasons for her awfulness, past bad behavior on Shannon's part, but that was hard to believe when she seemed to be the only character who didn't have an ounce of genuine affection for anyone in her life. Shannon and Karen at least seemed to genuinely like each other, and Crystal truly felt bad about being "the other woman" (not that it stopped her, or made her wonder about Bryce's overall ability to be faithful for even a moment). Jenny and Keisha (Jenny's best friend and employee at Glow) also seemed relatively normal, just willing to put up with a lot in order to keep getting business from the richest women in Buckhead.

The awfulness was certainly entertaining. I was glued to the book, simultaneously waiting, vulture-like, for someone to finally die, and also rubbernecking at the enormous disaster that was all of these women living in the same community. Shannon, for instance, was 100% determined to get Bryce, her ex-husband, back. It didn't matter that he'd already remarried - Crystal was obviously just a temporary setback. Meanwhile, Olivia set Shannon up for crushingly embarrassing failure at every turn. Crystal was keeping secrets, Karen was trying to figure out what was wrong with her marriage while her husband regularly cheated on her, and Jenny and Keisha let themselves get way too close to the rich people flames.

The ending was a bit much for me. I was supposed to believe that there were particular lines the characters would and wouldn't cross, and that everyone involved would somehow perfectly coordinate all of it. Some aspects worked for me, but the whole of it was difficult to believe.

That said, it was a fun ride, and I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's books.