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Drew Cooper thought she had it all. She had escaped her small town of Clearfield, New Jersey, to live the life of a journalist in NYC. She had a great apartment and a wonderful boyfriend. So what if she wrote quizzes for Buzzfeed? It was still journalism, wasn’t it? But things quickly implode when she loses her job, her boyfriend surprises her with the news that he loves someone else (she thought his surprise was a proposal) and since the apartment is his, she has nowhere to live. Now she is back home living with her widowed father and trying to figure out what to do with her life.

Growing up, Drew had a best friend, Steph, but a falling out over a guy ruined their friendship, and they haven’t spoken since college. Well, what a surprise when one day she bumps into her at the grocery store. Steph is excited to see her and wants to get together to talk things over. They exchange numbers, and after some very enthusiastic texts from Steph (Hey grrrl!), they soon meet for coffee.

Steph looks wonderful, great clothes, beautiful hair, perfect makeup, while Drew feels like a schleppy loser. Steph has the perfect husband, the perfect kids and lives in the perfect home. How does she do this? Steph pulls out some skin care products and introduces her to the world of LuminUS, a vitamin and skin care MLM company. Wouldn’t Drew want to have her own business and make her own money, lots of money? Wouldn’t she want to look good? Drew is insulted! This wasn’t some friendly gesture to try to heal the past; this was a sales pitch. But it isn’t just a sales pitch; she wants Drew to become a distributor, aka a “downline.”

Steph is apologetic, but Drew will have none of it. Once home, she thinks back to their friendship, how Steph was there when her mother died, getting her through the hardest time of her life. Add to that the current situation of Drew’s nearly negative bank account, and she decides she has nothing to lose. Even a few dollars is better than nothing. LuminUS it is! She meets other distributors who are all skinny, tanned and blonde. People talk about the money they are making, the cars they are winning and all the advantages of not just the products but the company. As for Drew, the skin products are doing nothing for her; if anything, her chronic acne looks worse. And where is her “big money?” I guess it doesn’t help that she hates selling, but still.

Then she is invited to a big training event, “LuminSANITY,” which is filled with much hoopla and excitement until one of the distributors turns up dead. Ruled a suicide, Drew thinks it is murder. She starts investigating, and things are just not adding up. Not the money, not the promises and not the products.

This book was an awful lot of fun to read. In addition to that, it tackled the serious subject of women who get caught up and taken advantage of by pyramid schemes. Schemes that do nothing but drain their wallets all the while promising the perfect life, everything from good health, great fun, friends and of course lots of money! I have friends who are or have been in various MLM companies, and this book is spot on. Before and after photos, testimonies, encouraging Facebook posts, the lingo… the author knows what she is talking about. And even a tribute to the passing of a good friend needs to include a pitch for product….Tacky, right? According to the author, this is actually commonplace in some of the MLM world.

The murder mystery itself is good, but I didn’t feel it was the star of the show. The real star was everything behind LuminUS and the stories of the distributors. You could say that was the real mystery. The characters were interesting, though initially, I wanted to shout at Drew to get it together. But to her credit, she does. So if you have ever been approached by a friend you haven’t seen in ages (and yes, this happened to me), be forewarned and good luck, though I’m sure it won’t end quite like this. And be forewarned, you will not be able to put this book down.