Good Rich People knows its a crazy and absurd book and owns it. And while that can be pretty frustrating at times you sort of just learn you're along for the ride and just have to enjoy it.

<i>When you're rich, you can control anything. Except the richer.</i>

it must be so boring being rich, i mean being SO rich that the possibilities are literally limitless, where being able to just...<i>have</i> anything you could ever possibly <i>think</i> to want removes all of life's challenges.

but if you're rich AND a sociopath, you can make your own challenges, like the challenge of ruining the lives of others.

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graham herschel and his mother margo are two such sociopaths, taking extreme measures to avoid becoming weighed down by the ennui of their extreme wealth. margo lives with her beloved dog bean in a massive castle-like edifice towering imposingly on the edge of a cliff overlooking the hollywood hills. graham and his wife lyla also live on her sprawling property, in a slightly-more-modest home plopped on top of a subterranean guesthouse that they oh-so-charitably rent out to self-made, new-money tenants.

however, these unfortunate tenants will become unwitting participants in the winner-take-all game graham and margo have been perfecting for years. the roots of this game began with margo devising new and exciting ways to crush the spirits of overfamiliar staff for her own amusement, but when graham was old enough, she looped him in and it evolved into a competition between the two, taking turns in an ever-escalating display of power and inventive cruelty.

<blockquote>The game is simple, in theory, but in practice it always gets messy. The tenant is the pawn. The landlord is the player. The family is the audience. We observe from a distance, talk it over at private dinners.</blockquote>

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the game is won by destroying the tenant's reputation, career, relationships, health—whatever they have that <i>can</i> be destroyed, <i>will</i> be destroyed.

<blockquote>Everyone is playing a game all the time. It only matters when you're losing.</blockquote>

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graham's wife lyla has always been a passive spectator to these games, never a participant:

<blockquote>I don't want to play. It's different when it's them, when it's something I see at a distance. Something I am aware of, but can easily ignore.</blockquote>

however, she inadvertently ruined the last game by getting too close to the tenant; by having the audacity to befriend the prey.

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<blockquote>The most important rule was no interference—not because anyone was afraid of losing but because rich people can't deal with any conflict they didn't create. In fact, it's almost impossible to "lose" the game because the players have all the advantages, and the tenants have no idea they are being played with. It's very much like hunting. You don't walk into the forest and punch a deer in the face. You have a gun, a deer stand and a bloated sense of your own virility.</blockquote>

lyla's genuine affection for the last tenant caused her to break this rule, and her interference—warning her friend of the danger she was in—undermined graham’s plans. although the goal was technically achieved and things certainly ended horribly for the tenant,

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her inevitable destruction occurred outside of the game's parameters, resulting in a hollow, unsatisfying victory. boooo.

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now, part punishment/part test, graham and margo have decided it's lyla's turn to play, and she's determined to Do a Good Job in order to prove her loyalty and rekindle graham's flagging interest in her through the aphrodisiac of cruelty.

but she didn't count on demi golding.

after a long slow decline in her life's prospects, demi finds herself homeless and desperate, so when an opportunity to improve her situation presents itself, she has no qualms about grabbing it with both hands—putting the “con” in “economic disparity” by assuming someone else's identity and moving into the curs'ed guesthouse, unaware of what the herschels—what <i>lyla</i>—has planned for her.

but if there's one thing she's learned from her hardships, it's how to survive.

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demi doesn't need to be warned of the danger—her whole life has trained her to expect that someone will try to knock her down.

<blockquote>The trouble with living a hard life is that you start to see the world differently. Your mind and your instincts and your outlook are forever altered by negative experiences. You expect bad things to happen. When you're crossing the street, you imagine every car veering to hit you. You plan escape routes in tight alleyways. You think, <i>What would you do if that man—that one, right there—suddenly punched you?</i> Would you hit back? What weapons are at your disposal? What are your emergency exits, safety nets?

Oddly, this leaves you <i>less</i> prepared to deal with bad things when they do happen. You have become accustomed to not trusting your instincts. You are so used to telling yourself that it is all in your head that you can't tell when it's not.</blockquote>

surrounded by new comforts and the opportunities that are suddenly unfolding before her, demi is braced for discovery; for everything to be taken away from her again, but she’s also prepared to fight to hold onto everything she’s managed to scrabble together.

<blockquote>I would rather be in a rich person's hell than a poor person's heaven.

And I am so fucking close.</blockquote>

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the novel alternates between lyla and demi's POVs, where both women are revealed to be complex and flawed and full of secrets.

lyla is so profoundly narcissistic that it’s tempting to wanna see her taken down a peg. although she's far more sympathetic than either margo or graham, she's still a nightmare person living in an unpoppable vanity-bubble:

<blockquote>I stop to check my reflection in the full-length mirror. Sometimes I am scared by how beautiful I am. Every inch of me is buffed and primed. My face hangs exactly right. My muscles are taut and organized. I am scared because I don't want to lose it: the shaped nails, the tip of my nose, the sapphire glow of my eyes. I am sad because I want everyone to see it, but I don't want to see them. I want them to know how lucky I am but I don't want them to have access to me. It's a real problem. </blockquote>

as deliciously vapid as she is, she has a clear-eyed view of what graham is and is not, and there’s more to her than meets the eye.

<blockquote>Everything is shallow with Graham: his looks, his thoughts, his actions. And there is something so attractive about that, the lack of depth. No hidden parts. No secret baggage.</blockquote>

this is a terrific cat-and-mouse thriller full of venom and deplorable characters,

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and for the most part it's highly enjoyable froth, but there's a sharp-toothed <i>fineness</i> in how the author handles demi's assimilation into the privileged life and how quickly she begins to take its comforts for granted.

<blockquote>...there is something about having things to lose that makes me afraid in a different way. I used to be numb, accepting everything that came, but now I feel almost <i>more</i> vulnerable.</blockquote>

in her life, she has learned that <i>Failure is just like success: It doesn't happen overnight,</i> but here, she <i>has</i> been transformed overnight, and if she hasn't technically <i>achieved</i> success, she has certainly achieved its trappings, discovering the transformative power of wealth; how it consumes, insulates, softens everything; how it makes problems disappear, and how quickly it makes the memories of struggle no matter how intense, fall away. and if her path to stability has been morally questionable, well, she’s not the only one.

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<blockquote>I want to tell him I am just like him now. Except I earned it. I earned it the same way every rich person does: by stepping over a body.</blockquote>

this is a zippy thriller that escalates into an extravagant chaos-party that’ll leave you with plenty of moral ambiguity to chew on by the end.

i had a great time with this one, because rooting for terrible people is one of my weaknesses, and i'd apologize, but

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i received a free ARC from macmillan in exchange for an honest review &yadda &etc.

I have to admit that I am often drawn to a book by its cover, and Good Rich People has an eye-catching one!

FIRST SENTENCE: "There is blood in the fountain turning the water an eerie rust color."

THE STORY: When Lyla married Graham she thought she was winning, but now he is bored with her and every other aspect of his life. His filthy rich domineering mother indulges and encourages the worst aspects of his need for amusement. They play games and there is always a loser.

For their entertainment, they lure successful people to their property by providing housing. Then they ruin them. When Demi moves in, the game takes an unexpected turn.

WHAT I THOUGHT: A dark, psychological comedy, Good Rich People is also a cautionary tale of wealthy people who will do anything for amusement contrasted with the destitute who will do anything to survive.

This is not a book for everyone. The characters are unpleasant. We hope they are not like us but we find them utterly fascinating. The twists and turns are unexpected and will keep the reader turning pages to discover the next outrageous move in the game.

When I got to the end, I asked myself, "What did I just read?" I'm still trying to reconcile and understand the meaning of the title and the ending.

There seemed to be lots of unanswered questions at the end. Perhaps the game just goes on.

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you like black comedy with lots of violence. This book is NOT for everyone.

DISCLAIMER: Thank you to NetGalley / Berkley Publishing Group and the author for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a dark, twisty domestic thriller! This is not for everyone, but fansof My Lovely Wife will love Good Rich People.

Twisted! Characters you love to hate, quick chapters, and a plot that kept me engaged…I really enjoyed this one! From page one you may (or may not be) shocked at the internal dialogue of these “good rich people”. It’s quite a wild ride living inside the heads of two women who will do whatever it takes to climb the social ladder and acquire/keep the kind of money that let’s you get away with nearly anything. The sentences themselves are short and almost frantic at times and a sense of dread hangs over this entire book. I was dying to see how it all played out and even though some of it was over the top, and there were a few loose ends when I finished, I had a blast with this one.

I appreciate the opportunity to view this galley, but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this one.

Lyla and Graham are a beautiful and rich couple who live in a house on the property of Margo, Graham’s mother. There is an apartment below their home that they rent out to one lucky person. Unbeknown to this lucky tenant, Graham and Margo selected them for their twisted game - and with the newest tenant, the pair have forced Lyla to play the game as well. But in a twist of fate, the tenant Demi is used to playing games to survive, and only one woman can come out of this game the winner. With multiple twists, lots of suspense,
Good Rich People is a quick and enjoyable thriller.

The storyline with the housekeeper felt somewhat disconnected and didn’t really do much for the story - I think that was a missed opportunity to add another twist and add more suspense, but otherwise, this was a great book. The ending was unpredictable and gave just enough closure to feel satisfied.

Thank you to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. #GoodRichPeople #NetGalley

Rating: 5/5

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with an advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Lyla, her husband Graham, and her mother-in-law Margo are the kind of rich that most people only dream of. Graham and his mother get easily bored, however, and being influential, affluent, and powerful isn't enough for them, so they ease their ennui by inviting less fortunate tenants to stay in their guesthouse and subsequently ruin their lives. Lyla is content to be a spectator until Graham announces that it's her turn to play.

Let's get this out of the way: every single character in this book is detestable at worst and inoffensively annoying at best. Don't go into this one expecting to find someone to root for. I'm not put off by books about horrible people, and this one had a unique and interesting (if at times unbelievable) premise at its core. It's escapism at it's best: the reader is immersed in a world where everyone is beautiful and consequences don't really matter.

That being said, I felt that the storyline did meander a little bit and there were some details that made it challenging for me to really suspend my disbelief fully. While it was interesting at times to see the same situation from different characters' points of view, sometimes it was too repetitive and sometimes there were gaping plot holes that remained unresolved. I feel like there was something of substance here that could have really packed a punch, but everything somehow ended up feeling a little too diluted.

The novel's climax didn't really feel like much of anything at all, and the ending was wrapped up in a nice, pretty bow, which really didn't work here. I wanted some of the characters to experience some sort of justice for their misdeeds, but instead I was left wanting.

This was a fun and quick read, but I do wish the plotline was a little more focused.

This was a very interesting, suspenseful story that I enjoyed. The concept of the plot isn’t new. A woman marries an extremely rich man and finds herself thrown into this crazy lifestyle, but what they do for fun is far from normal. I found the overlaying darkness that loomed over the entire book quite captivating, but the characters were a mix of extremely interesting and quite dull. I found Graham and Margo so fascinating–I seriously couldn’t imagine having as much money as they do and being able to have everything you could ever want at your disposal, and when you’re bored you quite literally torment people for enjoyment, however Lyla was just a bit…blah. I picked up what Brazier was trying to do with her character, but I just couldn’t connect with her. My biggest issue was I felt like Lyla didn’t know what she wanted to do. Did she want to continue to enjoy her fabulous (yet boring) life? Get away from it all? Partake in Graham and Margo’s game? She changed her mind a few too many times for my liking. I absolutely loved Demi and her grittiness. For me, she was a perfect example of what it is like to be lower income in America. The imagery that Brazier was able to achieve was amazing. I could picture every flower, every glitter molecule, the deep pits of Graham’s dimples perfectly. The twist at the end left me with my jaw on the floor. I found myself thinking about this one when I wasn’t reading it, and in the end I did enjoy it.

Thank you to Eliza Jane Brazier, Berkeley Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.

Thanks to Berkley for an advanced copy of Good RIch People.

I don't know what I just read. It was so disturbing and twisty and strange at the same time. It's a pyschological thriller about a rich couple (and his mom) and the games they play with other people.

While reading this so many times I questioned WTF I was reading, but at the same time I couldn't put it down. The short chapters made it go by quickly and while I hated the characters, they were well written and I couldn't tell where this book was going to go next.

The only CW I'm going to give is a scene where a dog is murdered. I don't like it when something like this is used for shock value.

If you're into dark, twisty and slightly disturbing then I recommend this book!

Loved this book! It’s sarcastic, hilarious, disturbing, & I couldn’t put it down! Definitely recommend!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

“Rich People live in a different world.” …. ‘I want to live in that world. I want to live in a world where I can step over a body, not look need in the eye, where I can be free of want, free of me.”

Good Rich People is one of those books that I had to think about for a while after I finished. It was the same with Eliza Jane’s first book, If I Disappear, which I loved for all its incredible weirdness. There’s something surreal, almost sotto voce about the theme that actually screamed loudly; It left me feeling extremely disturbed. First off, the characters are horrible – this is not to say they aren’t well-developed, on the contrary, they are very much so but man, I did not like them.

There are a few off-the-wall things that happen that put this outside the realm of reality but it didn’t really deter from my enjoyment that much. It’s the depravity of the characters that kept me turning pages, wondering just how far each would go.

Definitely unusual and unique with a darkness that is as shocking as it is vicious, this is one I’ll be recommending.

If a dark, snarky and twisty thriller is your cup of tea, then grab a cup and settle in. It's nothing but a game for Lyla and Graham in Good Rich People, how far will they go to win though? Past secrets with previous guests living in their guesthouse bubble at the surface as a new guest moves in. But new resident, Demi isn't all that she seems either and has secrets of her own. I didn't find any of the characters likable, relatable or reliable, but I feel that was the intent of the story, and I was perfectly fine rooting for the downfall of everyone. A compulsive read, a bit over the top and a plot line that is excessive at times, actually make for an unputdownable book. Like reading a Tarantino film. If you like books that are fast paced, a bit of dark humor, and keep you guessing the entire time this is the book for you.

Thank you to netgalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the opportunity of receiving an advanced copy to read and review honestly.

Good Rich People is a psychological thriller about a rich couple and a dark game they play. The couple rents out a guest cottage on their property. They choose people they can torment and attempt to ruin their lives. Unfortunately for them, their latest tenant is not one to go down easy.

Lyla, Graham, and Margo, Graham’s mother, are very rich. So rich they invent their own game to ruin other people’s lives. Their latest target, Demi, is tough to break though. The characters are well developed, unlikable, and fun to read about. The point of views alternate throughout the story, helping make it a more engaging read.

An over-the-top thrill ride of secrets and lies. Good Rich People is a gripping and twisty book for fans of psychological thriller.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oof. This one was a major DNF for me. Could not get into the storyline, did not like the characters, and honestly just felt it wasn’t my cup of tea. Such a strange one and there are way too many on my tbr to keep going.

Lyla is a rich woman living on an estate with her husband Graham and his mother, Marjorie. There is also a guest house on their property that they frequently rent out. Not because they need the money but because Graham and his mother are bored and make a sport out of ruining the lives of their tenants. Now they want Lyla to join them and prove herself.
Demi is their newest tenant but she isn't quite what she seems. She has taken over someone else's life and has nothing to lose except her freedom.
This is not a book with likable characters but the storyline was just crazy enough to draw and keep my attention. There were a few twists, some of them you could see coming and some that came out of left field.

When Lyla married Graham, she had no idea what she was getting into. He was rich. Like billionaire rich. Shortly after their marriage, Graham got bored. He needed entertainment. In order to be entertained, he and his mother would rent out their guesthouse and then ruin the lives of their guests. Now it’s Lyla’s turn. Graham and his mother, Margo, found a particularly difficult tenant for Lyla. However, this tenant is not who she seems.

I flew through this book. I had no idea where it was going, but I had to find out! I couldn’t trust any of the characters, which made it all the more thrilling. I loved how the chapters were organized and we got to see Lyla’s and Demi’s perspectives of the same events. This was one of the most twisty thrillers I’ve ever read!

This book is sharp, witty and full of sarcasm. It’s a gold mine of hilarious quotes (in a dark sense) as it’s full of self destruction, violence and plain vile human beings.

All the characters are savage and I mean sa-vage! You can really tell the talent Eliza has in writing with this one. Each character has their own set of mental issues and definitely haven’t worked on them. The chapters all come from different POVs which help the perception of the game become well rounded and doubly disturbing.
Don’t want to spoil this-just know it’s a gem.

Thank you Netgalley for my advance copy in exchange for my review!

A story with twists and turns I did not see coming. We are following multiple POVs as this rich couple who lives with their rich mother in law love to bring in tenants and mess with theit lives. The dialogue was a little all over the place, the couple spoke like the campiest Ryan Murphy villains, but everyone else seemed to speak fine. Interesting.

Okay...what the heck was that?!? There were so many plot holes, unexplained ridiculous occurrences, and yet, I could not put this down and kind of loved it. I feel like it will get plenty of terrible reviews, but not from me. I loved the Demi (replacement) character, but the other characters were not at all developed and were pretty unrealistic. I have so many questions. This book still gets an A for originality from me. I'm going to be thinking about it for a while...

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review. I loved every second.