Book Review: Long Way Down by Lisa Kusel

4⭐
Genre ~ domestic fiction
Setting ~ California
Publication date ~ October 21, 2025
Est Page Count ~ 313 (p+ 46 chapters)
Audio length ~ 8 hours 20 minutes
Narrator ~ Cicely Meadows
POV ~ multiple 1st, present tense (Deni, Detective Torres & Erika) & single 3rd (Grant)
Featuring ~ family drama, controlling, rich & snobby parents, secrets, lies, flashbacks, murder, slow burn

My review:

Deni, I suppose, is someone considered to be from the other side of the tracks. Growing up poor she’s thrilled to be marrying Cal and into his wealthy family. Not money hungry per se, just ready to start a new life different from the one she grew up in. But are wealthy families always as they seem? We’ll soon find out they’ve got some secrets, and disturbing at that.

Grant is fresh out of rehab and heading back home to Gold Hills with his girlfriend Erika. Erika doesn’t come off as the nicest person and it only intensifies after the his parents and Cal die in a plane crash. And really who is this Erika who thinks she has a right to remodel the mansion only days after their death. Of course, she’s got a secret, too, that’ll slowly be revealed.

We get some flashbacks to high school that make you wonder why on earth this girl wanted to marry Cal in the first place. Then something is found on his phone that’ll make her question everything she thought she knew about her beloved fiance.

Detective Robyn Torres and Tom are investigating the murder of a young lady. Could this seemingly drug related murder somehow be connected to the plane crash? I thought they were pretty good investigators.

Overall, everything weaved together nicely. I can’t really say there are many characters to like, but I found it to be steadily paced with an interesting ending…or was it?

Side note ~ I love the book Erika was reading by the pool ~ well played, Lisa.

Narration notes:
One narrator, which is a bummer, but she did a fine job. However, since there are 3 female POV’s it would have been nice if each chapter stated who was talking because sometimes it took me a minute to figure out who it was. Maybe this looks different in print?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/3LkwDJh

Add to your never ending TBR  ~ goodreads

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read it.

Book blurb:

She thinks she’s marrying the perfect man. But nothing is as it seems.

Perfect for fans of Rachel Hawkins and Darby Kane, this suspense-packed novel entangles readers in family lies and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless.

Deni Rydell believes her life is finally about to change for the better just as soon as she marries Cal Cooper Jr., heir to a massive California mining fortune.

When Cal and his parents perish in a plane crash, Deni’s dreams are shattered. She’s hoping to find solace with Cal’s brother Grant, who only recently returned to the small town of Gold Hills after a year’s stay in rehab. Too bad Grant is caught up trying to please Erika, the mysterious woman he brought home with him.

Meanwhile, Gold Hills detective Robyn Torres is assigned to investigate a vicious murder which she assumes to be a drug robbery that turned deadly. The deeper she digs, though, the clearer it is that she couldn’t be further from the truth. Soon enough, Torres begins to uncover a series of disturbing family secrets and dark lies connected to the Cooper family that threaten to destroy everything Deni knew to be true.

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