Death in the downline A novel

Drew Cooper was a serious journalist (well, okay, she wrote listicle clickbait for Buzzfeed) until she lost her job and was forced to move home to Clearfield, New Jersey. After a chance run-in at a grocery store, Drew reconnects with her former bff Stephanie Murphy, now making a good living as a consultant for beauty company LuminUS. She convinces Drew that she could make a killing, too; she just has to pay a small start-up fee and meet a monthly minimum. LuminUS is not a pyramid scheme, Steph insists, and Drew is desperate, so she signs on. Through the company, she meets a cadre of thin, blonde women for whom LuminUS is life--until one of them dies at a LuminUS convention. Though the police rule it a suicide, Drew's journalistic instincts kick in, and she's reluctantly suspicious of Steph anyway. Soon, Drew is knee-deep in the mysterious overdose deaths that have plagued Clearfield and its environs. Abrams perfectly skewers the MLM movement, sprinkling podcast transcripts, marketing materials, and social media posts into a funny, spot-on mystery that will appeal to genre fans and MLM-skeptics.

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. Agent: Lane Heymont, Tobias Literary. (Jan.)

From the Podcast Pyramid Scream: Inside the LuminUS Murders Episode 1: How Did Someone Like Her Fall for This? Before I begin this podcast, I have a message for my listeners. Joining an MLM doesn't make you stupid. Some of the smartest, most educated women I know, like the ones you'll hear about this season of Pyramid Scream , have been duped. Corporations like LuminUS are expert scammers. They know exactly what to say and how to say it with the sole purpose of convincing you to ignore your better judgment and join them. I have the utmost respect for those who have joined and made it out the other side. I think those in MLMs are some of the hardest workers out there. As much as the companies promise flexible work hours (fit LuminUS into the nooks and crannies of your busy #momlife!), it's a 24/7 job. Time away from the hustle equals missing out on a sale. I don't, however, have respect for predatory CEOs like Dixie LaVey who know the damage they're causing and do it anyway. Or for those #bossbabes who tell their downlines to take out another line of credit to support their own glamorous lifestyles. One of the more troubling aspects of this story--apart from the murders--is that here we have this educated, successful woman, Drew Cooper, who by all accounts should have known better. And yet, she still got sucked into this scam. That's how charismatic these LuminUS "huns" are. They can convince you to go bankrupt selling their bogus products. They can make you refinance your home, sell your assets, take out loans you can't afford to pay back, and borrow money from family, all to buy more and more inventory despite not moving any. How do they do it? Is it their charisma? Their enviable, social-media-ready lifestyles? Their promise of a built-in sisterhood? Or is it the brainwashing tactics they learned from the LuminUS handbook? Whatever it is, it was enough to persuade someone like Drew Cooper to put aside her common sense, as well as the gnawing feeling that this was too good to be true, to become another puppet in Stephanie Murphy's downline. Hijacking your finances is the easy part. Once they have control over that aspect of your life, the areas their influence can reach are limitless. They can control your relationships, your social life, your shopping habits, and your appearance, and they can even upend your sense of morality. As you listen to this season of Pyramid Scream , put yourself in these women's shoes, and ask yourself, "How far would I have gone?" Let the LuminUs ladies in--crack the door open even an inch--and they will never leave. Not until they get everything they want, whatever the sacrifice. Excerpted from Death in the Downline: A Multi-Level Marketing Murder Mystery by Maria Abrams All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.