One of Us by Elizabeth Day (Paradise City; The Party) circles the captivating lives of the elite Fitzmaurice family. After Fliss Fitzmaurice's body washes up on a Bali beach, Martin, an old school friend of her brother Ben, wonders how Fliss met such an untimely end and why he has been invited to her funeral years after falling out with the family.
Martin is thrust back into the Fitzmaurices' world, resurrecting his feelings for Ben, yearning for the family's acceptance, and anger over how easily he was cast aside--despite his role in saving them from a public scandal. In addition to Martin's perspective, chapters alternate between Ben's wife, his daughter, his political peer Richard, and Fliss herself. Together, they portray how the Fitzmaurices' glowing wealth, reputation, and power lift them high above everyone else but also give them further to fall.
As it becomes clear that Ben intends to run for prime minister of the United Kingdom, the people who feel they aren't part of the perfect portrait that the Fitzmaurices have engineered uncover unsavory secrets of the family's past, which link to Fliss's death. The complex narrative of love and revenge exposes the double-edged sword of social and economic advantages. Day dissects the enthralling intersection of good and bad as those who threaten to expose the truth also grapple with their own entanglement in the constructed facade. Her keen observations and flawed characters contribute to a witty portrayal of the dark side of wealth and the upper class. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer