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Book: “Death in the Downline” by Maria Abrams
Publishing Info: Quirk Books, January 2025
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book 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 rise above her small New Jersey hometown and make it as a serious journalist in New York City. But now she’s back in Clearfield, pushing thirty, newly single, and living with her father.
After a chance encounter at the grocery store, she reconnects with her former best friend, Steph, who married young and never left their hometown. But Steph looks . . . good. She’s tanned, clear skinned, and glowing. She drives an expensive car and wears only name brands. What’s her secret? A multi-level marketing scheme called LuminUS that’s taken the ladies of Clearfield by storm. With nothing left to lose, Drew gets sucked into this glamorous world of downlines, sales parties, and girls’ trips.
But when a LuminUS distributor dies under mysterious circumstances, can Drew uncover the dark secret at the heart of the organization—and save her best friend—before it’s too late?
Laugh-out-loud funny and a pitch-perfect skewering of pyramid schemes, Death in the Downline is a page-turner that will have readers nodding in recognition and cheering for Drew until the cathartic conclusion.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!
While I myself haven’t been sucked into an MLM/multilevel marketing/pyramid scheme, I know some people who have. One of whom was my grandmother! I have memories when I was a girl and we would visit my grandparents in Iowa and she would have all these Aloe Vera based skin products, be it lotion, bug spray, or analgesic heat cream for muscle aches. And confession, the heat cream was fantastic, as I used it a lot when I was playing softball and it really did the job. But it didn’t really make her any money, with her main customers being her close friends and kids. I’ve been obsessed with the scammy and manipulative nature of MLMs for awhile, and the way they suck people in and drain them for all they are worth. Because of this I was really, really excited to read “Death in the Downline” by Maria Abrams. Not only is it a murder mystery, which I am into, but a satire on MLMs?! Yes! I want it!
As a mystery I really enjoyed “Death in the Downline”. It starts with Drew, a down on her luck journalist who had to leave New York City with her tail between her legs and move back in with her father in her small hometown. She reconnects with her former best friend Steph, who seems to have a picture perfect life of wealth and luxury, seemingly all due to her ‘business’ LuminUS, a wellness brand that sells creams, supplements, and other ‘healthy’ things. Steph convinces Drew to join her ‘team’, and Drew, needing money and feeling desperate, agrees. But soon she realizes that some things about LumiUS aren’t adding up, and then a member of the team is murdered while they’re all on a conference. I love a journalist trying to break a story, and Drew is a really fun protagonist because she’s scrappy, a little sour, and gets sucked into figuring out what happened to her acquaintance and how much Steph, and LuminUS, is hiding. The mystery is well done with some good curves, but it always feels a little cozy and fizzy as we see these MLM huns going to really forced parties, sniping at each other, and scrambling to make sales even as their friend is dead. But Abrams even expands it to feel not only a little “Real Housewives”, but also to feel a little corporate conspiracy, as not only is there a murderer at hand, but also the very real potential of a shady company trying to cover its own ass in regards to its pyramid scheme. I loved the two mysteries and thought that Abrams blended them well with some fun and bitchy characters to round it all out.
But what I loved even more is how Abrams tackles the very upsetting reality that MLMs are predatory scams that target (predominantly) women of varying circumstances (be it a wish to provide for their families while feeling unable to work outside the home, or a need for money, or other circumstances of desperation or drive) and suck them dry while walking away with their money. I think about my grandmother who had all this product and not much to show for it, and the horror stories you hear about places like LulaRoe or Monat or what have you. In this book it’s LuminUS, which has taken a small town and surrounding suburbs by storm as the local economies shake and the need for money is dire for some. While Drew is more within it because she smells a story, we see other women like bestie Steph and the women on her ‘team’ who have their own reasons to join, betting their life and their investments on this sketchy product. The LuminUS lore draws from a lot of MLM inspirations and brings in not only the way that it manipulates and scams people and drives them to debt while promising riches, but also some serious questions about the lack of regulations on ‘wellness’ products that we hear about time and time again when it comes to MLMs. I loved this angle because it gave it a little more bite and could perhaps open up some reflection from potential readers who would otherwise be tricked.
I really liked “Death in the Downline”! It was cozy but also a little snide, but in a way that wasn’t off putting. I will definitely be checking out more books by Maria Abrams in the future!
Rating 8: Fun, funny, twisty, and just an all around good time, “Death in the Downline” is a witty mystery that takes on predatory MLMs and the unachievable promises they make with a dash of murder on the side.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Death in the Downline” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “#Girlboss Mysteries”.
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