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A Little Bit Bad
“Pretty much the platonic-ideal beach read.” —Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Crush
I had tried to be a good person and live a nice, normal life. It wasn’t working out. Why was I such a no-but-er? I would be a yes-ander!... And after that moment, I didn’t give another little f*ck what I did.
Perdita Jungfrau thought she was going to be married to her husband forever, so falling in love with Nando, her neighbour's anarcho-Marxist roofer, is a crisis. Life seems to put every possible obstacle in their she’s pregnant, he has a girlfriend, he’s fifteen years younger, she’s terrified of messing up her children and equally drawn towards this magnetic man who entrusts her with his deepest secret.
Now it's three years later and Nando has been murdered.
As her bewildered husband tries to make sense of the wildly unpredictable person his wife has become, Perdita has other things on her mind. For starters, who is the mysterious woman sitting outside her house in a parked car all day? How can she stop her adored baby brother from being pulled under by his opioid addiction? Can someone with a childhood like hers ever be the mother her children deserve?
And most of all, what should she do with the searing memories of the affair which turned her life upside down?
I had tried to be a good person and live a nice, normal life. It wasn’t working out. Why was I such a no-but-er? I would be a yes-ander!... And after that moment, I didn’t give another little f*ck what I did.
Perdita Jungfrau thought she was going to be married to her husband forever, so falling in love with Nando, her neighbour's anarcho-Marxist roofer, is a crisis. Life seems to put every possible obstacle in their she’s pregnant, he has a girlfriend, he’s fifteen years younger, she’s terrified of messing up her children and equally drawn towards this magnetic man who entrusts her with his deepest secret.
Now it's three years later and Nando has been murdered.
As her bewildered husband tries to make sense of the wildly unpredictable person his wife has become, Perdita has other things on her mind. For starters, who is the mysterious woman sitting outside her house in a parked car all day? How can she stop her adored baby brother from being pulled under by his opioid addiction? Can someone with a childhood like hers ever be the mother her children deserve?
And most of all, what should she do with the searing memories of the affair which turned her life upside down?
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2026
About the author
Cassandra Neyenesch
5 books47 followersCassandra Neyenesch has written for Art in America, The Guardian, Huffpost and Public Books, among other publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
May 19, 2026
A Little Bit Bad, the debut novel by Cassandra Neyenesch, starts with a man falling off a ladder. Reading this gleefully disorienting story, you’ll know how he feels.
Neyenesch’s book is a little bit of many things, none of them bad: It’s a feminist critique of parenting labor, a parody of true-crime documentaries, a tale of erotic obsession, and, most improbably, a murder mystery.
The narrator, Perdie, announces on the opening page that she hates “shows about unsolved crimes,” but that’s no guarantee she’ll solve the murder of her old lover. Lying in bed next to her husband at 4 a.m., she spots the headline on her phone: Nando was shot and killed in the street. That news sends her spinning back three years.
In those dull, prelapsarian days, Perdie had been only vaguely aware of the man working on her neighbor’s roof — “You know when someone is either handsome or kind of wild-looking, and you don’t know which it is?” — but they weren’t properly introduced until Nando’s ladder tipped sideways and hurled him 25 feet to the ground.
Perdie calls an ambulance and knows just what to say because she listens to 911 calls on YouTube. She keeps Nando talking while they wait for....
To read the rest of this review, go to my Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/the...
Neyenesch’s book is a little bit of many things, none of them bad: It’s a feminist critique of parenting labor, a parody of true-crime documentaries, a tale of erotic obsession, and, most improbably, a murder mystery.
The narrator, Perdie, announces on the opening page that she hates “shows about unsolved crimes,” but that’s no guarantee she’ll solve the murder of her old lover. Lying in bed next to her husband at 4 a.m., she spots the headline on her phone: Nando was shot and killed in the street. That news sends her spinning back three years.
In those dull, prelapsarian days, Perdie had been only vaguely aware of the man working on her neighbor’s roof — “You know when someone is either handsome or kind of wild-looking, and you don’t know which it is?” — but they weren’t properly introduced until Nando’s ladder tipped sideways and hurled him 25 feet to the ground.
Perdie calls an ambulance and knows just what to say because she listens to 911 calls on YouTube. She keeps Nando talking while they wait for....
To read the rest of this review, go to my Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/the...
November 7, 2026
oh my god I hate her and he wasn’t even that cool
May 27, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster | S&S/Summit Books for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
One of those stories where the chapters flip between the present( 2010) and the past, and is centred on the death of a roofer( Nando) who once had an affair with an unhappy wife and mother, Perdita.
I read it all the way through. It covers some good topics, including motherhood, addiction, and navigating the grey areas of adulthood. The novel has a darkly comedic vibe, and the main protagonist, Perdita, is both relatable and frustrating. Admittedly, I didn't always enjoy being in her head. Also, I had moments when I wanted to throw in the towel and stop reading.
So, these conflicting feelings place me firmly in the "it's okay" 2-star rating.
Publication Date 05/05/26
Goodreads Review 26/05/26
One of those stories where the chapters flip between the present( 2010) and the past, and is centred on the death of a roofer( Nando) who once had an affair with an unhappy wife and mother, Perdita.
I read it all the way through. It covers some good topics, including motherhood, addiction, and navigating the grey areas of adulthood. The novel has a darkly comedic vibe, and the main protagonist, Perdita, is both relatable and frustrating. Admittedly, I didn't always enjoy being in her head. Also, I had moments when I wanted to throw in the towel and stop reading.
So, these conflicting feelings place me firmly in the "it's okay" 2-star rating.
Publication Date 05/05/26
Goodreads Review 26/05/26
May 4, 2026
A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch is one of those novels that sets up a fascinating premise and then deliberately refuses to stay in a single lane. At its core, it follows Perdita Jungfrau, a married mother whose life unravels after an affair with her much younger, politically radical neighbor, Nando. Years later, his murder forces her into a present that feels just as unstable as her past, where grief, guilt, and lingering obsession collide with everyday pressures like parenting, marriage, and family crisis. The setup promises intensity, and it delivers that, but not always in a steady or cohesive way.
What stands out most is Perdita herself. She’s deeply flawed, often frustrating, and consistently makes questionable decisions, but she’s also compelling in a messy, human way. The sardonic, dark humor threaded through her perspective helps keep the story from sinking under its heavier themes, and there are moments where her voice really cuts through. At the same time, the pacing feels uneven, and the narrative tone shifts between domestic mundanity and heightened drama in a way that doesn’t always fully settle. It leans into a genre blending structure—part literary drama, part psychological unraveling, part domestic suspense—but it occasionally feels like it hasn’t quite decided what it wants to be.
Ultimately, this is a book that intrigues more than it fully satisfies. The emotional threads; motherhood, addiction, memory, and the long tail of an affair are all interesting in isolation, but they don’t always come together in a fully cohesive way. Still, there’s something oddly absorbing about it, especially if you don’t mind an unpolished narrative that mirrors its protagonist’s own instability. For me, it lands in that middle of the road space: ambitious, occasionally gripping, but ultimately uneven. A solid 3-star read.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Wow, what a ride through mental health awareness this was. The main character tells a dual timeline story through multiple POV as her internal perspective shifts through different emotional lenses. Perdita is insightful and therapeutic even while her life is messy and chaotic at times. I kept changing who I thought the killer was and then circled back around.
The book took me by surprise, challenged me to think more deeply about mental illness versus internal conflict, and moved me as I reflected back on it.
Thank you, Summit Books and NetGalley, for the ARC and opportunity to provide an honest review.
The book took me by surprise, challenged me to think more deeply about mental illness versus internal conflict, and moved me as I reflected back on it.
Thank you, Summit Books and NetGalley, for the ARC and opportunity to provide an honest review.
May 10, 2026
This story snowballed from ‘a little bit bad’ to ‘pretty bad’ to ‘I think ‘illegal’ is the word you were going for’. And no, we can’t actually blame any of this on the owl witch. At its core, I think this book depicts the extremes
of a midlife crisis and how an intense lack of satisfaction, appreciation and/or companionship can negatively impact one’s psyche and mental wellbeing. Motherhood is one of the most under-appreciated roles out there and it can certainly be isolating (especially if you and your toddler get kicked out of music class), though again, Perdita’s predicament is certainly an outlier. Also, Nando is just a textbook fuckboy. This story definitely went off the rails in the last 25% and I’m still honestly scratching my head, but if you like watching not-so-bad people doing pretty bad things, I recommend giving this a read- it’s literally and metaphorically like watching a car crash.
of a midlife crisis and how an intense lack of satisfaction, appreciation and/or companionship can negatively impact one’s psyche and mental wellbeing. Motherhood is one of the most under-appreciated roles out there and it can certainly be isolating (especially if you and your toddler get kicked out of music class), though again, Perdita’s predicament is certainly an outlier. Also, Nando is just a textbook fuckboy. This story definitely went off the rails in the last 25% and I’m still honestly scratching my head, but if you like watching not-so-bad people doing pretty bad things, I recommend giving this a read- it’s literally and metaphorically like watching a car crash.
August 27, 2026
Perhaps my unhinged fave of the year
January 25, 2026
Wow! This was one of those books you’re reading and screaming “ Yes! This is fantastic!” the whole time. It’s funny (Hilarious) and relevant and touches on so many things in a woman’s life and loves. Cassandra Neyenesch is an exciting new voice. Straight to the point and unguarded. Voicing thoughts I’ve had before that I never dreamed someone else was thinking. This story is many things. Most of all it’s a great read. I predict this will be one of those books everyone is talking about. Read this and enjoy the ride.
August 5, 2026
One thing I love about our book club is that it sometimes chooses books I wouldn’t normally read. This was definitely one of those books.
It’s a dark, often comedic novel, and there were times when the situations made me uncomfortable. I didn’t always like the protagonist, Perdita. She often came across as selfish and made choices that were frustrating—and sometimes difficult—to read about.
Even so, I absolutely loved this book! It kept me captivated from beginning to end, and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. And as someone who’s a sucker for a good mystery, I thought this one delivered beautifully.
It’s a dark, often comedic novel, and there were times when the situations made me uncomfortable. I didn’t always like the protagonist, Perdita. She often came across as selfish and made choices that were frustrating—and sometimes difficult—to read about.
Even so, I absolutely loved this book! It kept me captivated from beginning to end, and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. And as someone who’s a sucker for a good mystery, I thought this one delivered beautifully.
January 31, 2026
This. Was. Messy.!!!! In the best way lol! What a crazy time line of events - although I know this totally unfolds in real life - the main character shares open and real thoughts about parenthood, having an emotionally distant husband, a brother struggling with addiction, and a never-present dad turned Monk in his later years of life while having an affair with the roofer her neighbor hired for work. If you are into family drama, secrets, “who done it” murders… this one is for you!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.
May 28, 2026
I really don’t know how to give a review for this book. I don’t want to be mean but how ever I word it it’s going to sound horrible. I’ve been million on how to write it for a few days and I’m just going to say the truth the best I can.
If the FMC was a social worker for real she would be fired. I feel like the story had no purpose. It feels like a 12 year old girl with a lot going on in her head wrote it. It was all over the place. The back and forth in time wasn’t always evident. A few side characters that didn’t bring much to the story. I could not relate to ANY of the characters. They were not realistic at all. I only finished it because it was an ARC and I owed that to NetGalley. The narrator voice was not the right fit for this book.
I’m sorry, it was not good, confusing and pointless.
Thanks NetGalley and Audio.
If the FMC was a social worker for real she would be fired. I feel like the story had no purpose. It feels like a 12 year old girl with a lot going on in her head wrote it. It was all over the place. The back and forth in time wasn’t always evident. A few side characters that didn’t bring much to the story. I could not relate to ANY of the characters. They were not realistic at all. I only finished it because it was an ARC and I owed that to NetGalley. The narrator voice was not the right fit for this book.
I’m sorry, it was not good, confusing and pointless.
Thanks NetGalley and Audio.
May 6, 2026
Published today, May 5th.
Perdita is a social worker turned stay at home mother to a son with health and social issues. With a husband who won't help with even the most basic chores or childcare, she finds herself estranged from any support systems. When her neighbor's roofer falls from the 2nd story, she rushes to help and so begins their relationship.
This isn't one of those 'will they or won't they' situations, Nando and Perdita are almost immediately completely captivated with each other. Their relationship is challenging for so many reasons, not the least of which is that as they find more time for each other, the rest of their lives begin to fall apart.
Perdita is so complicated, and her singular focus on Nando to everyone else's detriment is painful to watch. It's disheartening to see her repeatedly hand over ownership of her life, knowing what's at stake for her.
I loved the emotional growth and turns this novel took, it was bold and wildly original.
3.5, rounded up because I'm a native San Diegan and it's fun to travel well beaten paths and laugh at the creative liberties.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster | S&S/Summit Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
Perdita is a social worker turned stay at home mother to a son with health and social issues. With a husband who won't help with even the most basic chores or childcare, she finds herself estranged from any support systems. When her neighbor's roofer falls from the 2nd story, she rushes to help and so begins their relationship.
This isn't one of those 'will they or won't they' situations, Nando and Perdita are almost immediately completely captivated with each other. Their relationship is challenging for so many reasons, not the least of which is that as they find more time for each other, the rest of their lives begin to fall apart.
Perdita is so complicated, and her singular focus on Nando to everyone else's detriment is painful to watch. It's disheartening to see her repeatedly hand over ownership of her life, knowing what's at stake for her.
I loved the emotional growth and turns this novel took, it was bold and wildly original.
3.5, rounded up because I'm a native San Diegan and it's fun to travel well beaten paths and laugh at the creative liberties.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster | S&S/Summit Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
May 5, 2026
*3.5 stars rounded up. Little lost Perdita has a very nice life but just isn't happy--it seems her husband isn't helping out as much as he could with their children and isn't paying her enough attention or really listening to her. She develops a crush on a much-younger roofer working next door and as their friendship develops, she comes to believe he is her soulmate, her one true love. Not surprisingly, this affair doesn't end well.
The story goes back and forth between then and now which can get confusing at times. Perdita is not a very likable character, I just could not relate to her, but her story drew me in and the mystery kept me guessing. Yes, Perdita is a little bit bad.
I received an arc from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks.
The story goes back and forth between then and now which can get confusing at times. Perdita is not a very likable character, I just could not relate to her, but her story drew me in and the mystery kept me guessing. Yes, Perdita is a little bit bad.
I received an arc from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks.
October 10, 2026
Cassandra Neyenesch's A Little Bit Bad includes a murder as part of the plot. We know Nando is dead from the beginning of the book. Perdita Jungfrau is devasted because Nando had become part of her life. Don't read this book for clues and motives, looking for the crime to be solved. Read it for understanding how an ordinary marriage with a husband and two kids can lead to infidelity and obsession. Many couples face infidelity, but this book is about seemingly ordinary people, not about bored couples seeking extra-marital excitement. Perdita's crush on her roofer was not just an adventure to share with friends over lunch after a shopping trip. Could her brother or her mother be Nando's killer? Or could it have been Charleigh, Nando's on again, off again girlfriend?
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I did not enjoy this book. The characters are not relatable or enjoyable for that matter. Perdita makes some very questionable choices and is just over all messy. The ending did shock me, I did not see that coming.
Thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Cassandra Neyenesch for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Publication date for A Little Bit Bad is May 5, 2026.
Thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Cassandra Neyenesch for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Publication date for A Little Bit Bad is May 5, 2026.
tbr-arc
November 2, 2025i smell drama, i'll be at the front row of the show
*thank you to S&S/Summit Books for the ARC*
*thank you to S&S/Summit Books for the ARC*
May 27, 2026
A little bit bad was .. a little bit unhinged. And by a little bit, I mean a lot bit, but in a good way. This book sort of straddled genres and kept me on my toes guessing what had happened, and I liked it was set in San Diego, because I grew up there and it’s not often a book takes place there! The one thing that sometimes seemed misplaced in the book was the Obama commentary (the book partially takes place during his presidency) as it was not a political book at all so the dialogue about it seemed out of place. Otherwise I really enjoyed this one and the absolute craziness of it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this book and provide honest feedback.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this book and provide honest feedback.
October 21, 2026
I was reading this on the side, for some light reading. And that’s definitely what this is, not too much of anything.
I really enjoyed the last two chapters where Perdita really is kinda losing her mind. I think there could’ve been more, more crazy more sadness more neglect more anything.
But i guess it does say “a little bit bad”.
That’s what the characters are, just a little bit bad.
I love a character that is just a bit bad, you can relate we all try to be a bit good or great even, but always end up being a little bit bad.
Sadly this book was just okay.
I really enjoyed the last two chapters where Perdita really is kinda losing her mind. I think there could’ve been more, more crazy more sadness more neglect more anything.
But i guess it does say “a little bit bad”.
That’s what the characters are, just a little bit bad.
I love a character that is just a bit bad, you can relate we all try to be a bit good or great even, but always end up being a little bit bad.
Sadly this book was just okay.
August 10, 2026
Thanks Netgalley for the arc.
This book was not a "woman on the verge" story until, all of a sudden, it was! I liked that about it. Before that it was just a sad affair. San Diego was a full character. I didnt get a lot of the pop culture references. It was kind of discouraging reading this as woman in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy. All things considered, I recommend!
This book was not a "woman on the verge" story until, all of a sudden, it was! I liked that about it. Before that it was just a sad affair. San Diego was a full character. I didnt get a lot of the pop culture references. It was kind of discouraging reading this as woman in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy. All things considered, I recommend!
July 10, 2026
Had to binge in a day! I thought it was fun. I also used to live in normal heights and feel like it’s a very random part of SD so it was fun that she lived there. Honestly didn’t see the twist coming! Maybe I should have? The parts where she neglected her family were tough to read (the car crash) but it was a fun ride otherwise!
November 4, 2026
Initially sucked me in but then became a bit of a slog until the final few chapters and I struggled to keep going. Definitely got a Miranda July energy from this so if you liked All Fours you’d probably enjoy this.
June 8, 2026
A dark delight…
June 17, 2026
I received this book from NetGalley and the Publisher in return for an honest review. I'd rate this book 4.5/5 stars. Overall, this was a quick, fun, read; perfect for summer. I felt like the main character Perdita was unlikeable, but in a way that kept you wanting to know what she was going to do next. This book had a good storyline with a mix of humor and some heavier topics (abuse, addiction, trauma). I felt it all played out well together. I felt like the author did a good job of keeping the ending suspenseful, as I was surprised by the twist at the end. I think I'd recommend this book to someone looking for a summer read who likes suspense/thrillers with some contemporary fiction.
February 19, 2026
I want to begin this review by saying a huge thank you to the team at Penguin Figtree for sending me this proof copy of A Little Bit Bad in exchange for a totally honest review.
I honestly found this book to be so unique, engaging and riveting. I couldn't put it down. We are introduced to Perdita, a mother and a wife. Her characterisation was absolutely perfect, and I just couldn't figure her out, which added an immense layer to the mystery of the book.
I thought that the way in which Neyenesch approached the mystery element was very unconventional and this made for great reading. I spent the entire novel trying to figure Perdita out, understand what was going through her head and process what was happening.
It felt so unbelievably refreshing to read a mystery novel that was unpredictable. This novel did not follow conventional storylines, plot changes, characterisation and tropes that would be expected in a novel of its calibre and yet, I found myself feeling at home in the book and desperately wanting to uncover what had happened to Nando. The book left me feeling on edge, at times uncomfortable, and quite frankly disturbed, but in the best and most controlled way.
An absolute raging success for me and one I will be recommending to all mystery lovers.
A Little Bit Bad is out June 4th.
I honestly found this book to be so unique, engaging and riveting. I couldn't put it down. We are introduced to Perdita, a mother and a wife. Her characterisation was absolutely perfect, and I just couldn't figure her out, which added an immense layer to the mystery of the book.
I thought that the way in which Neyenesch approached the mystery element was very unconventional and this made for great reading. I spent the entire novel trying to figure Perdita out, understand what was going through her head and process what was happening.
It felt so unbelievably refreshing to read a mystery novel that was unpredictable. This novel did not follow conventional storylines, plot changes, characterisation and tropes that would be expected in a novel of its calibre and yet, I found myself feeling at home in the book and desperately wanting to uncover what had happened to Nando. The book left me feeling on edge, at times uncomfortable, and quite frankly disturbed, but in the best and most controlled way.
An absolute raging success for me and one I will be recommending to all mystery lovers.
A Little Bit Bad is out June 4th.
June 5, 2026
On the outside, Perdita Jungfrau has the perfect life. But boiling just underneath the surface is some serious discontent. Each day, she looks at her husband and hates him just a little bit more. Enter Nando, a charismatic roofer ten years younger than her, who she ends up having an affair with. The story begins three years after their affair ended, when Perdita finds out that Nando has apparently murdered in a mugging gone wrong. His death forces her to look back over their passionate and destructive relationship and how it changed her life forever. We switch between the present-day aftermath of his murder and the past, showing how they became involved despite so many obstacles-she is married and pregnant, he has a girlfriend, and they both know that whatever happens between them is going to end in disaster. As she looks back at their affair and tries to come to terms with Nando’s death, she also struggles with several personal crises. Her husband is trying to understand the person she has become, her beloved younger brother is battling opioid addiction, and a strange woman seems to be watching her from a white VW Beetle. As these seemingly unrelated threads weave together, it builds to a mind blowing conclusion about what really happened to Nando.
I loved SO much about this book its hard to know where to start! Although we have this mystery of who killed Nando, this really isn't the main focus of the book. We get an in depth look into main character Perdita’s life and what leads her to the decisions she makes. She is unhappy with her marriage, is exhausted by the realities of motherhood, has a deep set longing for freedom, and is determined to follow her desire despite the consequences that may arise from that. Perdita is without a doubt one of my favourite characters I’ve ever encountered in a book. She is an incredibly complicated character, intelligent, frustrated, so very self aware and yet so very flawed. She is absolutely hilarious and her internal dialogue feels so familiar and real. Several times I had to take photos of specific lines or paragraphs to show my friend followed by “that’s so us” or “I feel like this” which just shows how very relatable she is. Rather than creating a predictably likeable heroine, we get a woman who makes mistakes, acts selfishly, and constantly questions herself, clearly dissatisfied with this carefully constructed life that she is leading.
The affair between Nando and Perdita is passionate, reckless, and often uncomfortable to witness because both you and they understand from the beginning that it is doomed, yet they pursue it anyway. The author has captured the intoxicating nature of obsession with remarkable honesty, showing how desire can cloud judgment and reshape a person's understanding of themselves. Their romance is never made out to be something beautiful, instead it’s presented as exhilarating but completely destructive, and this is just reflected further by Perdita’s increasingly erratic and selfish behaviour.
Another aspect I loved was the novel's treatment of motherhood and marriage. Perdita's frustrations with domestic life, the unequal burdens of parenting, and her struggle to reconcile personal freedom with family responsibility are explored with sharp insight and biting humour. The book raises difficult questions about what society expects from women and what happens when those expectations become suffocating.
Neyenesch's writing is absolutely phenomenal. It is witty, conversational, and laugh out loud hilarious, even when dealing with darker subject matter. The novel balances the humour with heartbreak beautifully, moving effortlessly between moments of absurdity, tenderness, and suspense. The whole time I was reading this, it felt like I was in conversation with a friend, them telling me about their affair with the same honesty and “I’m funny to hide the trauma” kind of attitude that so many of us fall back on to deal with awful situations.
The mystery surrounding Nando’s death does add this thriller layer to the book, and all the way through you do question who is involved and how. Everyone is a suspect and it really could have been anyone right up until it is revealed who did it and why. However, this really isn't a thriller in the traditional sense, and you actually find yourself less invested in what happened to him than you are in this character driven tale of lust, obsession and revenge.
Overall this is one of my favourite books of the year and I will be recommending it to everyone I know!
I loved SO much about this book its hard to know where to start! Although we have this mystery of who killed Nando, this really isn't the main focus of the book. We get an in depth look into main character Perdita’s life and what leads her to the decisions she makes. She is unhappy with her marriage, is exhausted by the realities of motherhood, has a deep set longing for freedom, and is determined to follow her desire despite the consequences that may arise from that. Perdita is without a doubt one of my favourite characters I’ve ever encountered in a book. She is an incredibly complicated character, intelligent, frustrated, so very self aware and yet so very flawed. She is absolutely hilarious and her internal dialogue feels so familiar and real. Several times I had to take photos of specific lines or paragraphs to show my friend followed by “that’s so us” or “I feel like this” which just shows how very relatable she is. Rather than creating a predictably likeable heroine, we get a woman who makes mistakes, acts selfishly, and constantly questions herself, clearly dissatisfied with this carefully constructed life that she is leading.
The affair between Nando and Perdita is passionate, reckless, and often uncomfortable to witness because both you and they understand from the beginning that it is doomed, yet they pursue it anyway. The author has captured the intoxicating nature of obsession with remarkable honesty, showing how desire can cloud judgment and reshape a person's understanding of themselves. Their romance is never made out to be something beautiful, instead it’s presented as exhilarating but completely destructive, and this is just reflected further by Perdita’s increasingly erratic and selfish behaviour.
Another aspect I loved was the novel's treatment of motherhood and marriage. Perdita's frustrations with domestic life, the unequal burdens of parenting, and her struggle to reconcile personal freedom with family responsibility are explored with sharp insight and biting humour. The book raises difficult questions about what society expects from women and what happens when those expectations become suffocating.
Neyenesch's writing is absolutely phenomenal. It is witty, conversational, and laugh out loud hilarious, even when dealing with darker subject matter. The novel balances the humour with heartbreak beautifully, moving effortlessly between moments of absurdity, tenderness, and suspense. The whole time I was reading this, it felt like I was in conversation with a friend, them telling me about their affair with the same honesty and “I’m funny to hide the trauma” kind of attitude that so many of us fall back on to deal with awful situations.
The mystery surrounding Nando’s death does add this thriller layer to the book, and all the way through you do question who is involved and how. Everyone is a suspect and it really could have been anyone right up until it is revealed who did it and why. However, this really isn't a thriller in the traditional sense, and you actually find yourself less invested in what happened to him than you are in this character driven tale of lust, obsession and revenge.
Overall this is one of my favourite books of the year and I will be recommending it to everyone I know!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Perdita Jungfrau is the kind of woman who absolutely did not plan to blow up her entire life over a man who literally fell off a roof… and yet here we are. Married. Pregnant. Two kids deep. Husband emotionally clocked out like he’s on a permanent silent retreat. And then in struts Nando, the neighbor’s anarcho-Marxist roofer, fifteen years younger, bleeding from the face and somehow still charismatic. Of course she falls in love. Honestly, if a hot revolutionary with a hammer looked at me like I was the only person in San Diego, I too would ruin my life.
A Little Bit Bad opens with the murder. Nando is dead. Shot. Which means the entire book has this humming undercurrent of dread because we already know this chaotic situationship ends in a body bag. And instead of a neat whodunit with a corkboard and red string, we get something way messier. We bounce between the fever dream of their affair and the aftermath, where Perdita’s husband is trying to figure out who he married and Perdita is trying to figure out… well… herself.
And here’s the thing. Perdita is not always likable. She is selfish. She is obsessive. She is spiraling while insisting she’s totally fine. But she is fascinating. The book lives inside her head and that head is loud. She’s juggling guilt over the affair, panic about being a bad mother, trauma from a chaotic childhood, and the slow devastation of watching her baby brother sink into opioid addiction. It’s domestic drama meets existential crisis meets “why is there a mysterious woman sitting in a car outside my house every day.” Casual.
The dual timeline structure is either going to thrill you or test your patience depending on your tolerance for emotional edging. Just when you think you’re about to get clarity about the murder, we’re back in the sweaty glow of rooftop flirtation. Just when the romance feels intoxicating, we’re slammed back into the present with grief and suspicion. Around the last quarter, though? Oh. The shift. Suddenly the pieces click and you realize you maybe shouldn’t have trusted everything you were being fed. I love when a book makes me side-eye myself.
Nando, for his part, is written with this magnetic, slightly unhinged charm. He’s ideological and impulsive and very young in that intoxicating way where everything feels like it could be revolution or disaster. Sometimes both. Their connection feels reckless and real and occasionally a little try-hard in that “look how edgy we are” way, but it works because Perdita wants to feel alive. And he makes her feel incandescent.
What I appreciated most is that this isn’t really about the murder. It’s about identity rot. It’s about being a woman who did everything “right” and still feels like she’s suffocating. It’s about desire colliding with responsibility. It’s about how mental health can blur your own narrative until you’re not sure which version of yourself is telling the story. That’s where the book gets sharp. That’s where it stings.
Did it drag in places? Yes. There are stretches where you can feel the pacing wobble and you’re like, are we circling the runway or landing this plane. But when it lands, it lands with purpose. I didn’t always like the ride, but I respected the audacity of it.
By the end, I felt equal parts unsettled and impressed. It’s not a clean thriller. It’s a messy, morally gray character study wrapped around a murder. It’s suburban dissatisfaction with teeth. It’s a woman trying to decide if she’s the villain of her own life or just someone who wanted more.
For me, it’s a solid 3.5 stars. Compelling, chaotic, occasionally frustrating, but undeniably memorable.
Whodunit Award: For Making Me Question Whether the Real Crime Was the Murder or That Husband’s Emotional Availability
Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC. Nothing says “have a relaxing week” like handing me a morally messy housewife, a hot anarchist roofer, and a murder. I had the best time spiraling.
A Little Bit Bad opens with the murder. Nando is dead. Shot. Which means the entire book has this humming undercurrent of dread because we already know this chaotic situationship ends in a body bag. And instead of a neat whodunit with a corkboard and red string, we get something way messier. We bounce between the fever dream of their affair and the aftermath, where Perdita’s husband is trying to figure out who he married and Perdita is trying to figure out… well… herself.
And here’s the thing. Perdita is not always likable. She is selfish. She is obsessive. She is spiraling while insisting she’s totally fine. But she is fascinating. The book lives inside her head and that head is loud. She’s juggling guilt over the affair, panic about being a bad mother, trauma from a chaotic childhood, and the slow devastation of watching her baby brother sink into opioid addiction. It’s domestic drama meets existential crisis meets “why is there a mysterious woman sitting in a car outside my house every day.” Casual.
The dual timeline structure is either going to thrill you or test your patience depending on your tolerance for emotional edging. Just when you think you’re about to get clarity about the murder, we’re back in the sweaty glow of rooftop flirtation. Just when the romance feels intoxicating, we’re slammed back into the present with grief and suspicion. Around the last quarter, though? Oh. The shift. Suddenly the pieces click and you realize you maybe shouldn’t have trusted everything you were being fed. I love when a book makes me side-eye myself.
Nando, for his part, is written with this magnetic, slightly unhinged charm. He’s ideological and impulsive and very young in that intoxicating way where everything feels like it could be revolution or disaster. Sometimes both. Their connection feels reckless and real and occasionally a little try-hard in that “look how edgy we are” way, but it works because Perdita wants to feel alive. And he makes her feel incandescent.
What I appreciated most is that this isn’t really about the murder. It’s about identity rot. It’s about being a woman who did everything “right” and still feels like she’s suffocating. It’s about desire colliding with responsibility. It’s about how mental health can blur your own narrative until you’re not sure which version of yourself is telling the story. That’s where the book gets sharp. That’s where it stings.
Did it drag in places? Yes. There are stretches where you can feel the pacing wobble and you’re like, are we circling the runway or landing this plane. But when it lands, it lands with purpose. I didn’t always like the ride, but I respected the audacity of it.
By the end, I felt equal parts unsettled and impressed. It’s not a clean thriller. It’s a messy, morally gray character study wrapped around a murder. It’s suburban dissatisfaction with teeth. It’s a woman trying to decide if she’s the villain of her own life or just someone who wanted more.
For me, it’s a solid 3.5 stars. Compelling, chaotic, occasionally frustrating, but undeniably memorable.
Whodunit Award: For Making Me Question Whether the Real Crime Was the Murder or That Husband’s Emotional Availability
Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC. Nothing says “have a relaxing week” like handing me a morally messy housewife, a hot anarchist roofer, and a murder. I had the best time spiraling.
August 3, 2026
Have you heard the expression, it’s ok to have spring fever, but don’t fall into bed? This is advice the book’s main character, Perdita, needs to hear and heed. Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t. Fortunately for the reader, a great tale ensues because of these failures.
Beyond having a woman about to take the plunge on an affair, this book also gives us a mystery to solve, the murder of a twenty-five-year-old man named Nando.
Of course, the two characters will connect, literally and figuratively, but before getting to that, let me talk about Perdita, a young wife and mom with whom I could identify.
As we first meet Perdita, she is in her late thirties. She is married to Theo and together they have a toddler son, Atticus. The book takes place over three years, from 2007 to 2010. In this time, Perdita becomes pregnant again. She considers an abortion because Theo is averse to “babysitting” his offspring and appalled at the notion of changing a diaper. Additionally, he doesn’t talk to her very much.
Perdita is a social worker, so she is often very clear in understanding her situation. She says many astute things about Theo and their relationship:
• “Sometimes life can be a little silly and obvious in its metaphors…I think of the cassette tape my husband played in his car the summer we met, Air’s Moon Safari, a French dream-pop album that is almost entirely instrumental. If only I had been paying attention, I could have understood Theo’s message: I have no words to give you, I can give you music, but not words.”
• “[It’s] hard to quantify these things, but my professional guess is that Theo experiences about ten to fifteen percent of the total empathy available to humans. So…there’s hope? I think [I] need to stop appealing to his feelings. They’re there for emergencies, apparently. But they’re never going to make him care about what [I] want.”
• “It must be confusing, being denied feelings as a child and then later being expected to care about other people’s feelings. His whole life he was told that stuff was weak and gay.”
Clearly, Theo is not a bad guy. He’s just a guy.
It is at this point – with a sleep deprived, pregnant, and lonely Perdita – that a younger man literally falls into her life. Of course, it’s Nando. He is a roofer working on the next-door neighbor’s house. When he falls off his ladder, Perdita comes to his rescue. Even in his broken and battered state, when the 911 operator tells her to keep talking to him until the ambulance arrives, the two commune easily.
In chapters that bounce back and forth between their meeting and his death, Perdita tells us the entire story of those years including the birth of her second child, Honor, which certainly ups the ante on her exhaustion and possibly adds postpartum depression to the mix.
Beyond learning all of Theo’s bad points and Nando’s good ones, we also learn that Perdita is a true crime aficionado, so you better believe she will be looking into Nando’s murder.
As she tells us: “In all the years I’ve studied true crime, trying to anticipate the ways I could get got, I never thought about it happening to anyone I cared about. Until now, lying in bed at 4:00 a.m. reading about Nando’s murder in The Union-Tribune. Someone I cared about, a man whose presence was like five different drugs lighting up my brain, was shot in the street yesterday morning while walking to his car.”
One more quote and then this review is complete. Here is the very first line of the book’s prologue: “On America’s Worst Murders Ever, my favorite true crime show, you always find out who did it in the end.”
As readers will see, this is a promise the author keeps.
Beyond having a woman about to take the plunge on an affair, this book also gives us a mystery to solve, the murder of a twenty-five-year-old man named Nando.
Of course, the two characters will connect, literally and figuratively, but before getting to that, let me talk about Perdita, a young wife and mom with whom I could identify.
As we first meet Perdita, she is in her late thirties. She is married to Theo and together they have a toddler son, Atticus. The book takes place over three years, from 2007 to 2010. In this time, Perdita becomes pregnant again. She considers an abortion because Theo is averse to “babysitting” his offspring and appalled at the notion of changing a diaper. Additionally, he doesn’t talk to her very much.
Perdita is a social worker, so she is often very clear in understanding her situation. She says many astute things about Theo and their relationship:
• “Sometimes life can be a little silly and obvious in its metaphors…I think of the cassette tape my husband played in his car the summer we met, Air’s Moon Safari, a French dream-pop album that is almost entirely instrumental. If only I had been paying attention, I could have understood Theo’s message: I have no words to give you, I can give you music, but not words.”
• “[It’s] hard to quantify these things, but my professional guess is that Theo experiences about ten to fifteen percent of the total empathy available to humans. So…there’s hope? I think [I] need to stop appealing to his feelings. They’re there for emergencies, apparently. But they’re never going to make him care about what [I] want.”
• “It must be confusing, being denied feelings as a child and then later being expected to care about other people’s feelings. His whole life he was told that stuff was weak and gay.”
Clearly, Theo is not a bad guy. He’s just a guy.
It is at this point – with a sleep deprived, pregnant, and lonely Perdita – that a younger man literally falls into her life. Of course, it’s Nando. He is a roofer working on the next-door neighbor’s house. When he falls off his ladder, Perdita comes to his rescue. Even in his broken and battered state, when the 911 operator tells her to keep talking to him until the ambulance arrives, the two commune easily.
In chapters that bounce back and forth between their meeting and his death, Perdita tells us the entire story of those years including the birth of her second child, Honor, which certainly ups the ante on her exhaustion and possibly adds postpartum depression to the mix.
Beyond learning all of Theo’s bad points and Nando’s good ones, we also learn that Perdita is a true crime aficionado, so you better believe she will be looking into Nando’s murder.
As she tells us: “In all the years I’ve studied true crime, trying to anticipate the ways I could get got, I never thought about it happening to anyone I cared about. Until now, lying in bed at 4:00 a.m. reading about Nando’s murder in The Union-Tribune. Someone I cared about, a man whose presence was like five different drugs lighting up my brain, was shot in the street yesterday morning while walking to his car.”
One more quote and then this review is complete. Here is the very first line of the book’s prologue: “On America’s Worst Murders Ever, my favorite true crime show, you always find out who did it in the end.”
As readers will see, this is a promise the author keeps.
July 8, 2026
A Little Bit Bad is a near-perfect combination of litfic-y wit and slow-building crime thriller, kind of like if Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was set in sunny San Diego, instead of snowed-over Poland. The novel moves between two tenses: the past, chronically the affair between SoCal housewife Perdita and her roofer, Nando; and the present, where Perdita wakes up to his murder in the news. Although the time they spend together was a tense, desperate (and often on her part, anxious) whirlwind, Perdie has no choice but to move on with her life. She frets over being a good mom to her kids, tries to not hate her clueless, frustrating husband, and keeps in touch with her sweet but troubled baby brother who's always in and out of rehab. If only her dead lover's girlfriend would stop stalking her, as the memories of that affair linger on the periphery of her daily life.
Perdita's inner monologue was hilarious, and I especially loved the ways she pointed out all of San Diego's idiosyncrasies. Cassandra Neyenesch did an excellent job of portraying the area, and I appreciated how she pulled the nature hidden in San Diego's canyons into the story. The late 2000s time period was very subtle, but its influence on the tone of the story and some character's behaviors were tangible enough to make me appreciate that choice. It especially paired well with the themes of class and gender in suburbia, which really showed the true crime inspirations behind this story.
At times I found the choice of a dual timeline a little jarring, the cliffhangers at the end of some chapters felt more annoying than attention-grabbing. I wish the ending had more oomfph. What makes this novel a fun read (at least for me) was the way Perdie's mind spirals and swerves, her erratic behavior delightfully entertaining. But ultimately, as much I appreciated the dark comedy and the thrill of both her affair and the murder that follows it, I felt that the very end failed to really tie together the themes set up in a gratifying way. It's, some might say, A Little Bit Satisfying.
However, I did enjoy reading this book very deeply, and it got me out of a summer reading slump. I loved following Perdita's chaotic train of thought, even if the final destination couldn't bring everything home.
Perdita's inner monologue was hilarious, and I especially loved the ways she pointed out all of San Diego's idiosyncrasies. Cassandra Neyenesch did an excellent job of portraying the area, and I appreciated how she pulled the nature hidden in San Diego's canyons into the story. The late 2000s time period was very subtle, but its influence on the tone of the story and some character's behaviors were tangible enough to make me appreciate that choice. It especially paired well with the themes of class and gender in suburbia, which really showed the true crime inspirations behind this story.
At times I found the choice of a dual timeline a little jarring, the cliffhangers at the end of some chapters felt more annoying than attention-grabbing. I wish the ending had more oomfph. What makes this novel a fun read (at least for me) was the way Perdie's mind spirals and swerves, her erratic behavior delightfully entertaining. But ultimately, as much I appreciated the dark comedy and the thrill of both her affair and the murder that follows it, I felt that the very end failed to really tie together the themes set up in a gratifying way. It's, some might say, A Little Bit Satisfying.
However, I did enjoy reading this book very deeply, and it got me out of a summer reading slump. I loved following Perdita's chaotic train of thought, even if the final destination couldn't bring everything home.
Review of advance copy received from Author
A genre-bending murder mystery meets obsessive love story, rife with dark humour and blistering social commentary.
Cassandra Neyenesch’s debut novel 'A Little Bit Bad' is one of those delicious books that reveals the things we’re not supposed to say out loud but relish to read in private. Billed as a 'Big Swiss' meets 'All Fours', 'A Little Bit Bad' has joined the ranks of recent novels about relatable, albeit unhinged and messy women. It does seem that ‘unhinged and messy women’ is officially a genre now and I, for one, am loving these raucous lady romps that have materialised from the dust of Thelma and Louise’s car crash. This recent literary trend is so exciting that, if I wasn’t so fickle and indecisive, I’d get a tattoo proclaiming ‘unhinged’ and ‘messy’ across my ass cheeks for when I want to moon the institution of patriarchy. Which if I am being honest, is frequently.
Listen, forget spicey hockey novels this is the mommy porn the world needs right now. In fact, A Little Bit Bad speaks to the plight of a large spectrum of women, not just mothers but all women dating, in relationships or even having casual sex with men in these fraught times. Women who are caught in the daily wash cycle of regressive legislature and the rolling back of rights, the latest mantrums in the manosphere, and basically ping-ponging within the dichotomy of not being enough of one thing or too much of another. So, for those evolved men out there who want to know what’s really going on in the heads of women, well here’s your manual, put A Little Bit Bad on the ‘Women 1.01’ syllabus.
In essence, Perdita is highly relatable. Most women would recognise at least parts of themselves in her thoughts, her struggles, her chaos, even her “self-inflicted” crisis’. She is an encapsulation of the current status quo, a character that represents the intersection where women’s longstanding frustrations collide violently with their expanding self-awareness and latent yearnings. Neyenesch brilliantly observes and articulates the casual misogyny, subtle and overt domestic inequalities, hypocrisies and gaslighting that have collectively built a bonfire of contempt and fury for many women. Perdita just brought some gasoline and a match. Someone had to do it.
Veering into the MILF market, A Little Bit Bad offers new talking points around women’s self-empowerment and sexuality post-forty, particularly through relationships with significantly younger ...
For the rest of the review go to https://substack.com/@goodshelftalk
Many thanks to Cassandra Neyenesch for the advanced copy
Cassandra Neyenesch’s debut novel 'A Little Bit Bad' is one of those delicious books that reveals the things we’re not supposed to say out loud but relish to read in private. Billed as a 'Big Swiss' meets 'All Fours', 'A Little Bit Bad' has joined the ranks of recent novels about relatable, albeit unhinged and messy women. It does seem that ‘unhinged and messy women’ is officially a genre now and I, for one, am loving these raucous lady romps that have materialised from the dust of Thelma and Louise’s car crash. This recent literary trend is so exciting that, if I wasn’t so fickle and indecisive, I’d get a tattoo proclaiming ‘unhinged’ and ‘messy’ across my ass cheeks for when I want to moon the institution of patriarchy. Which if I am being honest, is frequently.
Listen, forget spicey hockey novels this is the mommy porn the world needs right now. In fact, A Little Bit Bad speaks to the plight of a large spectrum of women, not just mothers but all women dating, in relationships or even having casual sex with men in these fraught times. Women who are caught in the daily wash cycle of regressive legislature and the rolling back of rights, the latest mantrums in the manosphere, and basically ping-ponging within the dichotomy of not being enough of one thing or too much of another. So, for those evolved men out there who want to know what’s really going on in the heads of women, well here’s your manual, put A Little Bit Bad on the ‘Women 1.01’ syllabus.
In essence, Perdita is highly relatable. Most women would recognise at least parts of themselves in her thoughts, her struggles, her chaos, even her “self-inflicted” crisis’. She is an encapsulation of the current status quo, a character that represents the intersection where women’s longstanding frustrations collide violently with their expanding self-awareness and latent yearnings. Neyenesch brilliantly observes and articulates the casual misogyny, subtle and overt domestic inequalities, hypocrisies and gaslighting that have collectively built a bonfire of contempt and fury for many women. Perdita just brought some gasoline and a match. Someone had to do it.
Veering into the MILF market, A Little Bit Bad offers new talking points around women’s self-empowerment and sexuality post-forty, particularly through relationships with significantly younger ...
For the rest of the review go to https://substack.com/@goodshelftalk
Many thanks to Cassandra Neyenesch for the advanced copy
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