Despite the book’s suggestive title, the landscape is anything but illusory for Abbott, who grew up in Grosse Pointe and spent the first 18 years of her life there. Evoking a rich setting has never been a weakness of Abbott’s stories. Her novels have a hyperreal quality and are often populated by characters churning with desires they cannot manage ... Abbott is especially adept at rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people and at making a book’s backstory as suspenseful as the narrative engine that drives the plot. In El Dorado Drive, however, the focus is on adults, and the past mostly stays in the past. The result is a novel in which the story is straightforward and the stakes are low. Nevertheless, true to her penchant for shocking violence, Abbott delivers a revolting revelation that sets up a series of twists that propels the story to its inevitable, but no less satisfying, conclusion ... We may not know where we’ll be tomorrow, but Abbott knows wagering that the wheel of grift, greed and corruption will keep on turning is always a safe bet.
Abbott effortlessly excels at exploring the complexities of women’s relationships with suspenseful, atmospheric storytelling. Unsettling and darkly clever, her latest will delight her many fans and attract new ones.
Abott strikes gold again with this taut, suspenseful story ... Abbott continues her study of noir themes and imagery in a suburban setting. The family dynamic is irresistible, the story is subtly unnerving, and, as Harper is drawn ever deeper into the Wheel, the tension is stomach-knottingly palpable. Another top-flight thriller from a genre master ... Cult-favorite turned crime genre A-lister Abbott comes through with yet another suspenseful read.
