Book Review: Good Rich People | Eliza Jane Brazier

A twisted story of deceit that will have you questioning if it is possible for good, rich people to exist?

About the Book | Good Rich People

Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper.

Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling all her life, and she’s not about to go down without a fight.

In a twist that neither woman sees coming, the game quickly devolves into chaos and rockets toward an explosive conclusion.

Because every good rich person knows: in money and in life, it’s winner take all. Even if you have to leave a few bodies behind. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review | Good Rich People

At first, you’ll read this and likely strongly dislike the main character Lila. She’s vapid, out of touch, and entitled. But for me, as the story went on I began to like parts of Lila. Initially I just found her entertaining (her commentary on her life and other people can be humorous and absurd). But eventually I realized that as a character she goes through a subtle growth arc. The Lila the book ends with is not exactly the same person who began it. Is money the root of evil afterall?

“My relationship with Graham has always been a throuple: me, Graham, and boredom.”

Lyla is so beautiful that sometimes she even gazes at herself in awe. Some of it is natural, and some of it is the sort of beauty that money can help with. Her husband Graham has the two things that make a man impossible to resist: money and looks. And Graham is extremely wealthy and extremely handsome.

But Graham also has a coldness to him. He’s obsessed with games. Lyla thinks she is too, but most of her personality is actually her trying to like the same things as Graham or be the person she thinks he wants her to be. Graham and his mother Margot like to play a game. They invite someone to live in the guest house on their property, befriend them, and then ruin their life. They particularly love to do this to someone poor or vulnerable.

Trust me when I say you will hate them! Graham and Margot the most, but you’ll hate Lyla too for letting it happen. It’s clear that she doesn’t really want to play along with them, but she also doesn’t stop them—this is in my opinion Lyla’s biggest character flaw at the beginning of the novel.

“I don’t believe that the disadvantaged can ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’; they’re born without boots.”

Things really get complicated when Graham and Margot insist that it is Lyla’s turn to play (they say she needs to prove herself). Lyla doesn’t want to, but she doesn’t see a way to get out of it when they find someone to move in. The new tenant is a wealthy tech professional named Demi, and she’s about to change everything for them.

Because it turns out, Demi isn’t actually the person they intended to move in. The Demi they know is actually a homeless women who followed the real Demi home one night after she bought heroin from a man named Michael in the homeless camp. Upon arriving home, Demi falls asleep and when she wakes up, the woman has overdosed. She goes to leave the scene in terror, but runs into Lyla and realizes Lyla doesn’t know she isn’t the real Demi.

So she decides maybe she can slip into Demi’s life—just for a little bit! No one will know and no one will be hurt by it, right? But when Michael arrives and helps her dispose of the body, Demi becomes trapped in the life. She enjoys it’s privileges but what will happen when she becomes ensnared in the cruel games Graham, Margot, and Lyla play?

“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…. Oddly, this leaves you less 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.”

This book is entertaining and witty. The central couple are so over the top that often the book veers towards comical. Lyla is particularly entertaining and funny—she can be so out of touch but she’s not as bad as Graham and Margot. Lyla wants friends badly. She wants Graham to love her and actually be intimate with her. Often, even their marriage is a game to him.

So many things in the book are extravagant and jump off the page. Margot’s gardens, for instance, are modeled on different levels and represent the nine circles of Hell. Lyla is planning a birthday party for Graham and knowing his love of games, buys real guns that use “simmunition”—fake ammunition that police officers use for gun training. The one that Lyla procured will splatter the person shot in gold glitter. The game will be played in the grand mansion including a hall of mirrors to distract everyone. I could just picture it!

Demi is another fascinating character. Before she becomes Demi (I don’t think we ever learn her real name—she drifts alone without identity until she becomes Demi), she describes her back story. Many of the things Demi says about being poor or homeless are profound—she made me think about her life in a very real way. This is in sharp contrast to Lyla’s life, which is ridiculous, over the top, and impossible to relate to.

By the end of the book, I was left with a strong message about the worth of a human life and what really differentiates rich and poor people. The title is also referenced in the book, as Demi muses if it is possible for there to be good people who are incredibly rich? Demi reflects on her status—and over the book she muses on how she always felt she wasn’t good enough to be rich, or have a secure life, or even a home. But what will she discover by the end of this twisted story?

Entertaining, sharp, and a mix of shallow characters with deep messages!

About the Author | Eliza Jane Brazier

Eliza Jane Brazier is an author, screenwriter, and journalist from California. Her first book, If I Disappear, is a mystery thriller about a true crime podcaster going missing and one of her fan’s attempts to find out what happened to her. If I Disappear is currently being developed by Eliza for television.