Jia Song was a striver since high school. She had just been made junior partner at a prestigious New York law firm but her eyes were already on the real prize-to be the youngest full partner ever, and she's going to get her chance. As the Korean-American daughter of immigrant parents, Jia was tapped by the head partner to handle a tricky sensitive case that was brought by the ultra-wealthy children of Jenny and Seven Park. The three Parks siblings, twin daughters Sora (the doctor) and Suzie (the messed-up one) and their MBA brother Minsoo, explained the situation to Jia with various levels of contempt, for her and each other. Their mother Jenny is dying of breast cancer and has a very short time left. Her husband left her during her illness and took up with a much younger woman, and they are now engaged and expecting a child. He has made an extremely lowball offer to his children in order to cut ties with them. He has listed "all" of his assets which they know doesn't cover the bulk of his holdings, but the investigators they've hired can't come up with the rest of the loot. They want to hire the law firm to find all of the hidden funds so that they can negotiate a fair (read amazingly over the top) settlement before Jenny dies. And to make this harder, Jenny wants them to accept the first offer and stop harassing Seven. If Jia can swing this case, the law firm will reap billions in new business and Jia can write her own ticket.
When Jia meets the elegant Jenny, she can't get her to budge from her implacable stance, but she does complete her first deal-Jenny will allow Jia twenty-nine days to find Seven's money. This begins the deep dive into luxury to which the siblings are accustomed-the best food, the best drink, the best hotels, the best clothing and accessories, and generally all of the money they would ever need for anything. Jia strategizes a plan-she will do her research and mine the siblings for information, then travel incognito to Seven's residences in search of documentation. Unfortunately, she can't get the jump on him-there's a mole leaking plans and he always turns up to thwart her or the evidence gets moved. So who's the traitor...is it perfect Sora who's getting tired of being the pillar of the family, is it crazy Suzie who leads with her emotions, or is it Minsoo, who Seven believes is too flawed to inherit the business? Or could it possibly be the swoony house manager Darius who reminds Jia of the previous guy who broke her heart?
The author does a great job of ratcheting up the tension as Jia tries to complete her mission in the time allotted. The novel deals with the problems of immigrants scratching out new lives in America and the sometimes harsh price they pay to attain success. As we follow Jia, her good friends, and her strict family life, we can observe the lengths one can go to achieve without fully understanding whether the goal will lead to happiness or personal satisfaction. This is a cautionary tale told in a witty sophisticated voice-hope to hear more from Ahdieh soon.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
June 3, 2025
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