As the assistant of the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Nicole Underwood has plenty of tasks on her to-do list—one of which is the blowout birthday celebration for her nightmare, one-percenter boss, Xander Chambers. But when the party ends in chaos and murder and Nicole is one of the survivors, suspicion—from the investigators to the media—lands on her. Was she the reason for all the bloodshed?
A year after those deadly events, Nicole tries to set the public record straight by agreeing to consult on a feature film based on her story. However, on the set in LA, she's sidelined by inappropriate casting and persistent, bizarre script changes, while also haunted by the events of that party weekend with visions of her now-deceased boss. It seems clearing her name isn't so simple when the question of guilt or innocence is...complicated.
In Deadly Company by L.S. Stratton will be publihsed September 2, 2025. Union Square and Company, a subsidiary of Sterling Publishing, provided an early galley for review.
I was very excited to see Shelley's newest book listed. I enjoyed her last one and wanted to see what she was offering this time around. As she notes at the start, she decided to branch out a bit from her usual this time, always something good to see writers do now and again.
Even still, there are many elements that both this novel and her previous one share. Both have a split narrative structure (past and present). Both have something mysterious that has happened that the reader is slowly let in on as the story progresses. Both also feature very strong female protagonists and an interesting cast of characters.
Overall, I found it to be an engaging read with a plot that moved at a good pace to keep me turning pages. The POV mostly stays with Nicole, though it does stray to two other characters a bit in order to reveal events that Nicole would not be aware of at the time they occurred. These switches are for the reader's benefit.
For those who enjoy arcs of empowerment and comeuppance, this book should deliver.
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