Death in the Downline
A Multi-Level Marketing Murder Mystery
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
It's multi-level murder in this darkly funny mystery novel about the glamorous world of MLM "huns"—and the dangerous secrets at the top of the pyramid.
Drew thought she was destined to become a star journalist in New York City. But now she's back in New Jersey, pushing thirty, newly single, and living with her father.
After a chance encounter, she reconnects with her former best friend, Steph, who married young and never left their hometown. But Steph looks . . . good. She's tanned, glowing, and only wears designer labels. Her secret? A skincare sales opportunity called LuminUS. With nothing left to lose, Drew gets sucked into this glamorous world of downlines, sales parties, and girls' trips.
But when a LuminUS distributor is found dead Drew must uncover the dark secret at the heart of the organization—and save her best friend—before it’s too late.
Gripping, wickedly funny, and a pitch-perfect skewering of pyramid schemes, Death in the Downline is a page-turner that will have readers cheering for Drew until the cathartic conclusion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Abrams aims to skewer the world of multilevel marketing in her breezy if undercooked debut. After a failed stint as a journalist in New York City, 30-year-old Drew Cooper has reluctantly returned home to Clearwater, N.J. Adrift and depressed, she crawls through her days until she runs into her high school best friend, Stephanie Murphy, at the supermarket. Taken aback by Stephanie's pristine, youthful appearance, which she attributes to the products she sells for cosmetics company LuminUS, Drew agrees to join her as a sales rep. After an initial boost to her self-confidence (and her bank balance), Drew starts to sense simmering animosities among her LuminUS cohorts. Stephanie, however, admits to no such divisions—even when one of the region's top sellers turns up dead under suspicious circumstances and another murder follows. Abrams's attempts to expose the dark heart of pyramid schemes by satirizing the predatory glee of their sales reps are amusing enough, but the book's brisk pacing becomes a liability by the time the rushed conclusion rolls around. Though there's some tongue-in-cheek fun to be had, this feels like a missed opportunity.
