People Like Us

Dominick Dunne's novel is narrated by Gus Bailey, a journalist who watches how wealth and status work in an exclusive social world. Elias and Ruby Renthal arrive in New York from Cincinnati, and their fortune grows from millions into billions once they settle there.

Society has its rules about who belongs, yet it is hard to shut out people with that much money. Refusing the Renthals would be rude, and it could also cost the people who turn them away. While the markets keep rising, the couple seems untouchable, but old secrets could still surface and cause trouble.

Dunne spent much of his career as a journalist and novelist writing about the rich and their scandals, and that background shapes this sharply observed satire of New York high society.