This is a hard review for me to write as I love MR's books in the fantasy worlds she's written but I didn't love this despite wanting to. The stripper club world of Real Easy was engaging, interesting and fascinating, all the more for being set in the 1980s.

This 'sisterhood' of dancers behind the scenes was full of connections, jealousy, support and rivalry. I connected as reader with Samantha but ultimately that was a mistake. The other characters in this story were tolerable but there were not any that I could connect with. Once the book hit 30%, the POVs exploded and it made for difficult reading. Adding to that, the choppy moves from one POV to another, sometimes after a page or two were jolting. This was a book written with very descriptive detail.

Plot wise, I was on board for the first quarter but I stayed around for completion. I didn't enjoy the plot and I ultimately found it a dissatisfying story.

From a social commentary perspective of the time, the seedy world that was portrayed, this book had fascinating aspects but ultimately the execution of the story and the POVs didn't work for me.

There are lots of content warnings for this book, so please DM me if you want to know more.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an early copy of this book.

Real easy by Marie Rutkoski.
It's 1999, and Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club. She's not used to taking anyone under her wing - after all, between her disapproving boyfriend and his daughter, who may as well be her own child, she has enough to worry about. But when Samantha overrides her better judgment to drive a new dancer home, they are run off the road. The police arrive at the scene of the accident - but find only one body. Georgia, another dancer, is drawn into the investigation as she tries to assist Holly, a detective with a complicated story of her own. As the point of view shifts from police officers and detectives to club patrons, the women circle around a list of suspects, all the while grappling with their own understanding of loss and love. As they get closer to the truth they must each confront a fundamental question:
How do women live their lives knowing that men can hurt them?
A real gritty edge of your seat read. I did enjoy this book. I loved the cover. 4*.

I am so grateful I had the chance to read this phenomenal book early! The story follows primarily a couple of dancers at a strip club in 1999 but includes the perspectives of numerous other characters. Samantha is a popular dancer at the club with a boyfriend and his child, who Samantha treats like her own. She takes a young new dancer sort of under her wing and ends up driving the young woman home one night. They are run off the road by another car and the police discover only one body at the scene. From there we switch focus to another dancer, Georgia who becomes embroiled in the police investigation and also tries to figure out what she really wants from life.

I honestly loved this book – it was my first read of 2022 and will certainly be one of my top books of the year. Real Easy is heartbreaking, gritty, honest, emotional and unrelentingly engrossing. There are so many different perspectives, with other dancers, the police detectives and the bouncers all becoming the focus of different chapters and it worked beautifully. It created a viscerally vivid portrait of a place and time – with so much of the action revolving around The Lovely Lady strip club – a place of danger and seediness but also a home of sorts to some of these women. I found every single woman in this book deeply affecting, especially Samantha. The very sad fact that women are always at risk from men who could hurt them or even kill them is a heart-wrenching truth which permeates the entire book. Real Easy is at times harrowing and traumatic but there is also a real sense of humanity and possibly even Hope present as well. I could not recommend this book more highly. Strikingly written and sensationally good.

As a massive fan of Marie Rutkoski’s previous works, I was eager to read ger first adult thriller. I really enjoyed this unique and fast paced read, and finished the entire book over the course of a few hours. The book centers on a group of strippers who work together at a club. Samantha, who is the most popular of the group, goes missing, and the chapters alternate between her POV as well as those of her colleagues and the police trying to find her.

There are a lot of different voices in this book but the author does a fantastic job of connecting the reader with each character, which is often hard to do. I enjoyed learning about each one of them and could relate to whatever it was they were dealing with. Special attention was paid to the dancers themselves, who were just trying to make a living by working there.

I couldn’t figure out who the villain was, as the author gave me so many plausible choices. I figured it out about the same time the characters did and felt that the reveal, and the clues leading up to it, was really well done. The book is heartbreakingly sad at times, and does not provide a happily-ever-after ending for all characters, but loose ends were tied up and I was left thinking about what these characters would do next, after the book was over.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read and provided something that was new and unique to me.

Police procedural meets the gritty world of pole dancing in in this rare cross-over of genres. The multiple povs makes it hard to follow the story sometimes but overall it adds layers to our understanding of the girls. The separate voices came through quite clearly, they all remained distinct and had their own character. The author was able to make us understand the characters, even when they were not strictly likeable. It tackles a lot of themes, such as Alzheimer, non-traditional families etc.

4.25/5 ⭐
Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher for providing the eARC for an honest review.
Plot:
Samantha is one of the dancers at the lovely lady strip club. Between her jealous boyfriend, his daughter and her medical problems she tries to live an honest life being kind and committed. One day when another dancer is sick, she gives her a ride home and on the way, this get out of hand and one of them goes missing and the other ends up dead.
With police detectives doing their investigation with no leads, another dancer gets involved with the case with her own investigation which might ultimately solve the mystery or kill her too.
Writing:
I really loved how the setting was dark and raw in so many instances. Every character has their own battles and both their good and bad sides were portrayed well.
What I liked:
- How the story, the characters and the direction kept me intrigued throughout the book.
- The not so happy ending which made it more realistic.
- One of the main characters having rare chromosomal disorder and how it affects their life and how it is viewed by others.
What I didn't like:
- I agree with multiple POVs but not when they get introduced at a later stage for no reason at all. Some perspectives were simply there without contributing much to the story as such.
- I could not figure out the reason behind the title 'Real Easy'.
- I expected more of killer's perspective/reasoning or profiling.
Note: The language spoken by the dancers and such is raw and crass. There's no censoring or sugar coating of anything.

I found this book to be really enjoyable, I liked the writing, characters and the storyline. Once I got into it I couldnt put it down and read it quickly. I would recommend picking it up.

I picked up Real Easy from Netgalley when I was drawn in by the cover. I've recently leant away from books that require heavy investment and stuck to crime, suspense and thriller genres as opposed to my usual horror, fantasy and scifi. This one looked like it would fit the bill and I recognised the author name.

The epicentre of Real Easy is the mysterious protagonist, we only know he's familiar to Samantha. There are familiar tropes; the pair that won't admit they're in love, the typical white trash stripper, the hardened cop with a traumatic past etc. You can probably guess most.
What is unique to Real Easy (but reads like a token addition) is Samantha's disorder, a woman with an XY chromosome. A lot of emphasis is put on this to begin with which made for clunky reading. I got the sense of a character trait thrown in as an afterthought to tick boxes. Thankfully the sapphic subplot was much better handled and felt genuine.

I'd lean toward Samantha being the main focus but with so many intersecting POVs; from the club, her family, the police and the strip club patrons her peril gets lost amongst the noise.
I was most annoyed by a single sentence at the midway point of Real Easy that destroys any suspense Rutkoski had managed to build. I can't share it without spoiling for others but if you read (or have already read) this book you'll know it immediately.

Of all the character segments throughout Real Easy my favourite was Georgia's -unsurprising as she was the only likeable one aside from Samantha herself.
That said, the strip club made an entertaining location and I enjoyed the bitchy banter between the dancers. It was interesting to read the circumstances that had lead each girl into that life and how their stripper aliases differed to their out of work personas, even if these weren't all necessary additions to the plot.

Around the 50% mark Rutkoski starts to throw in a lot of minor character POVs which felt like lazy red herrings to me- including a massive, sloppy coincidence when a very minor character resurfaces for a single pivotal moment.
At this point I realised none of the characters had developed very much during the story, if at all.

For fans of crime thrillers I do recommend Real Easy as a run-of-the-mill, serial killer guess who mystery. The characters and setting were entertaining but aside from that it's a little generic.

I absolutely loved this! What a fantastic plot, beautifully written, intertwining the relationships between the characters in such an ingenious and realistic way.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Lovely Lady strip club has been Sam's workplace for many years and everything she has witnessed inside its walls has aided in hardening her tough exterior. She isn't prone to providing comfort to the new girls who venture there, with hopes of quick cash and glamour or in an attempt to escape a life even worse than the new one it can provide for them. When that changes, so does her entire life, and it is definitely not for the better.

I've enjoyed this author's fantastical publications, aimed at the young adult age range, and was eager to see how she would take on the contemporary world and the adult market. I believe she did so with great success and a lot of heart.

The topics tackled here were important, timely, and heart-breaking to read. Rutkoski delivered dry wit and tough love alongside harrowing moments and blood-soaked scenes. The light in this book was never lost to the encroaching darkness and the power of it lay in the author's ability to easily navigate her way through the two and deliver them both to the reader, in equal measure. This was a hard read but also a necessary one.

Real Easy was not what I expected at all…and I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before publication.
Our setting is the Lovely Lady strip club. We get to meet the girls, the other staff and some of the patrons over the course of the novel as we watch the police try to uncover the identity of the person responsible for running two women (both of whom worked at the club) off the road, killing one and then holding the other hostage.
The scenario around the serial killer targeting strippers feels like it has been done before, but this was a cast of characters that you couldn’t help but root for. We receive a sympathetic portrayal of a business that may not be to everyone’s states, and a chilling reminder set of the risks involved in certain types of work.
There were more than one or two moments where I found it hard not to prejudge. While I still had a lot of questions, there was plenty to keep me satisfied.

Delivered from multiple perspectives, Marie Rutkoski immerses the reader into the small town American world of The Lovely Lady strip club in 1999, the dancers, their everyday lives and relationships with each other conducted through their stripper names, the paternalistic owner of the club, Dale Gately, the DJ, the bouncers and the clientele that form a close community. This character driven novel lays bare the vulnerabilities and dangers faced by the women who work as strippers, the clientele who can barely see beyond their bodies, many trying to push the boundaries of what is allowed, the buying and partaking of champagne bottles, the way that society scarcely sees them as real human beings as can be observed with the 'banter' between some police officers.

We come to understand how some of the women came to end up working as strippers, their families, children, and boyfriends and the way they support each other. Samantha Lund is Ruby, with a rare chromosomal disorder, living with jealous boyfriend Nick Sullivan, treasuring the stepmother-daughter bond she has with his daughter, Rosie. A kind and compassionate woman, she offers to take home the struggling newbie, Jolene, after she is left in no fit state after taking drugs. An act that is to lead to murder and the abduction of Samantha by a serial killer preying on strippers. Detective Victor Amador is first on the crime scene, joined by the still grieving Detective Holly Meylin. With leads being scarce, Holly wants another dancer, Georgia, to become a confidential agent, but could this not bring great danger to Georgia?

Rutkoski depicts the world of the strip club and the women with authenticity and expertise, there is a strong melancholic feel in the narrative, and a pertinent social commentary on how strippers are perceived by the men who use their services and within wider society. This is a dark and atmospheric crime read, Samantha's relationship with Rosie is a true highlight, it is engaging and fascinating with its in depth portrayal of the women who work as strippers, which I appreciated as it is not a world I am familiar with. A brilliant crime read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This was a well paced thriller, not immediately predictable, with a cast of characters that I unexpectedly really felt for. The sense of sisterhood in the face of the male gaze (due to their profession) and the inherent threat of being a woman in a world where men are capable of committing such horrors against us, really hit in this book, and made it something more than you might expect from a first glance.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Headline for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

Perfect for fans of A Promising Young Woman and Sadie. This was a gripping read, fraught with tension and twists.

Real Easy is a compelling, character-driven thriller that, if I hadn’t already read and loved most of Marie Rutkoski’s books, would be the kind of book to make me want to go and read the entirety of her backlist.

The story follows multiple points of view, all circling the main story: the disappearance of one woman and the murder of another. The POVs you get—the woman herself, another dancer, the two detectives on the investigation—all serve to give you differing angles on it all. This contributes to what makes the best part of the book to me, the character-driven nature of it all.

Because the book isn’t just about investigating this disappearance, really. The disappearance is a mere catalyst for what it reveals about the characters and their relationships. That’s the best kind of mystery/thriller to me, one that’s not entirely about the mystery itself but also takes the time and care with its characters. And Marie Rutkoski does that so effectively here.

I think, conversely then, that the only reason I rounded this down to 4 stars from 4.5, was that… it’s not a massively thrilling thriller for a lot of it. It is, in fact, quite slowburning, which is not in itself a bad thing. Because when it does get going, it will leave you gasping for breath. But up to that point? Let’s just say it’s probably a good thing that the character work is as compelling as it is. With a different author, I might see myself getting a little bored by the pacing. Not with Marie Rutkoski though, obviously.

But overall, as I said, this was a very good book. It’s the kind of book that sucks you in, and you keep reading and reading, until you look up and hours have passed you by. It’s definitely one that I would highly recommend.

Many thanks to Netgalley/Author/Publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

This book had me hooked from the start, despite not being my usual kind of thriller read, it's fast-paced, fun, and makes you want to know the outcome.

The characters are very well detailed, Samantha and her dancer friends, alongside Detective Holly who is solving the case of Samantha's disappearance.

Throw in the fact that this is a "who dunnit" style book, set in a 90's strip club and you are on to a winner!

Cannot wait for the release date!

Centred around the Lovely Lady strip club in the Midwest in 1999.

One 'girl' is missing, another dead.

The characterisation is very good, we meet the strippers, their customers, the cops, and various other characters.

The writing style is an atmospheric and descriptive noir, not the fastest read but great to relax into and lose yourself in. There are some lovely lyrical flourishes and I think fans of Chris Whitaker and RJ Ellory will lap it up.

While the writing is very good, I would have preferred a bit more pace and a more involved plot.

This isn't my preferred style of Crime novel by any means, but I certainly appreciate the high quality of the writing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Headline