by Megan Abbott
First published 2025
Harper Bishop can barely pay her bills. The auto industry collapse took the family money with it, leaving the three Bishop sisters scrambling in Detroit's suburbs. When her charismatic sister Pam and eldest sister Debra invite Harper to join the Wheel, it sounds like salvation. The club promises middle-aged women a path to financial independence, no husbands required. Pam needs the money desperately as she battles her ex-husband in court. Harper needs it to survive. The Wheel delivers at first, but success breeds addiction. The sisters take bigger risks, push harder boundaries. What started as financial empowerment spirals into something darker. The women who joined seeking security find themselves capable of shocking crimes. Abbott explores how desperation transforms ordinary people, showing three sisters whose bond becomes both their strength and their downfall.
Genres: drama, crime, contemporary, adult-fiction, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intense, morally-complex, psychological
Tropes: downward-spiral, found-family, moral-corruption, sisters-bond
Setting: Detroit, Detroit suburbs
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
368 pages · Paperback · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: addiction, violence