Look What You Made Me Do: A Novel

by John Lanchester

A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.

"Every successful marriage has its own private language." So it is for baby boomer Kate and her beloved architect husband Jack, thirty years into their seemingly idyllic metropolitan North London life. And so it is for spiky millennial screenwriter Phoebe and her charming loafer of a partner, Tony.

But when Phoebe’s steamy television series Cheating becomes the year’s most talked-about show, Kate thinks she sees in it details and intimacies of her marriage that only she and her husband could possibly have known. Who has betrayed whom? Who has stolen whose story—and why?

A black comedy of love, trust, resentment, and entitlement, Look What You Made Me Do is the sharply observed and suspenseful story of two very different women from two very different generations, entangled in a battle only one of them can win.

Genres: Fiction, Ebooks, British Literature, Literature, Contemporary

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2025

About the author

John Lanchester is the author of four novels and three books of non-fiction. He was born in Germany and moved to Hong Kong. He studied in UK. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was awarded the 2008 E.M. Forster Award. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revenge is a dish best served cold....

John Lanchester has written some of the most fascinating novels over the last two decades; Look What You Made Me Do adds to this list of stories that intrigue and explore the human condition in various circumstances.

This new novel begins with a dinner party- very middle class London couples playing one-upmanship with their attitudes towards contemporary life and put-downs. Our lead protagonsists being Kate and Jack. This feels like the territory of Jonathan Coe. But then the story takes a sharp one eighty and what could have been a wry observational novel about 'elite ' lifestyles in London takes on a darker humoured path.

Kate discovers that the 'everyday 'dialogues and personal events of her life with her husband have formed the basis of a new and popular TV show- how can this be ? Is this the ultimate betrayal from her husband of several decades? So how should retribution be delivered to those concerned?

What follows is a deliciously twisted and certainly surprising story. The characters do seem like caricatures in some sense ( the world of media and publishing, book groups, restaurant dining are beautifully lampooned) but it is the ever growing wickedness in the plot that makes this an unforgettable tale.

John Lanchester has written another winner . Cleverly and tautly plotted and an outcome that you will want to talk about. The screen adaptation will have to be developed (like his novel Capital) A top read of 2026!

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

If you want the ultimate story of revenge then you have to read this.

Kate has been happily married to Jack for decades. Her life is all she could wish for but after tragedy strikes she is still recovering when a brand new series arrives on tv. It turns Kate's world on its head and she has to doubt everything she has believed about her life with Jack.

I cannot tell you what a joy it was to yell at this novel - mainly things like "you can't do that" and "that's terrible". The characters of Kate, Phoebe and Sarah are all completely believable even if the action strays into the somewhat fantastical at times.

I'm prepared to forgive it all because the end is so utterly diabolical and wonderfully. I only knocked off half a point because I didnt quite buy the coincidences at times.

Absolutely brilliant. Loved every minute. Highly recommended.

Thankyou very much to Netgalley and Faber & Faber for the digital review copy. Most appreciated.

[em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever and funny, this was a great story. Once it got going, I found myself unable to put it down. Phoebe and Kate’s characters were both deeply flawed and unlikeable, but in a way that kept me reading. I thought Jack’s death was the main plot point, but really it was just the tip of the iceberg!

I did predict one of the twists, but the rest towards the last half of the book took me by surprise. I really enjoyed reading about these two sophisticated and narcissistic women, it’s not often anti protagonist are written well, especially women written by men. The lack of accountability and empathy really compelled me, what an interesting set of characters!! I do wish we had more around certain supporting characters, such as Sarah and Tristan, but still a fantastic read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #LookWhatYouMadeMeDo #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[A.J. Sefton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite the revenge book. Two women seek revenge for their perceived slights and set about creating the ultimate life-changing and humiliating acts possible. But before they figure it all out, there are some misconstrued theories and loss of trust.

The story opens with a party consisting of petty competitive friends who all live in an affluent part of north London. When tragedy strikes it seems as if the wife didn't know her husband at all. The other central character is a successful playwright whose play is shown on television to great acclaim. However, she soon receives criticism as does her placid geography teacher husband. She also has a bitter, selfish and awkward mother to deal with.

It was when I read about the playwright's mother that I realised that this book is a dark satire. The list of her nasty traits is truly over the top and she is an uncomfortable caricature, although not entirely implausible or unrecognisable. There is no one likeable in this story. Everyone is arrogant, selfish, privileged and entitled.

This is a fun read, although I didn't think it was about generationational conflict as the marketing comments suggested - simply two similar women of different ages. What they do have in common is that they are both self-absorbed and narcissistic. There are a few stretches of the imagination in a couple of the events, but that's okay because it was a sparky read, intense and carefully detailed.

A story about resentment, dysfunctional families and psychological control. Just like other John Lanchester books, it is very good.

[Marie-Charlotte Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up Look What You Made Me Do after seeing it featured as my local bookshop’s Book of the Month, and partly because I’d previously read Capital, which I remember enjoying. I also ended up attending a Q&A with John Lanchester, which added an extra layer to the experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It sparked an ongoing internal dialogue about revenge and ultimately reinforced my own feelings on the subject. The writing is sharp and engaging, and while I could often see where the twists were heading, it didn’t detract from the enjoyment—in some ways, it added to the tension.

The characters are particularly well drawn; those who initially seem suspect aren’t always so, and others reveal more troubling sides as the story unfolds. Not everyone is as they first appear, which keeps things interesting throughout. It’s a real page-turner that I ended up devouring, and I especially liked the London setting and recognising familiar landmarks along the way.

[made_for_reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a rather hilarious, thrilling, dark and entertaining page turner of a book.
It follows a story of a woman called Katie who’s life has been turned upside down by the death of her husband, and Phoebe who is a young screenwriter and has written a hit tv show called cheaters.
The two separate stories start to intertwine when Katie starts to see uncanny resemblances with her own life and the tv show.
It tells a really cleverly and well written twisted story on resentment, revenge and you get a real sense of entitlement thrown in there too. You’ll be kept guessing right up to the end and I promise you’ll have a hard time putting this one down. I know I did.

[Amie Mak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first John Lanchester novel and I really enjoyed the way he crafts a slow burn suspenseful story that makes you think deeper.

Kate and Jack have been married for decades, sharing a life built on seemingly absolute familiarity. Kate is left reeling when a character in a new television show about cheating bears an uncanny, unsettling resemblance to Jack. This twist hooks you in and you find yourself cruising through the book to find the answers.

The writing is sharp and I especially loved Kate and her unfiltered viewpoint on grief, friendship and family. The author is masterful at highlighting the dark underbelly of his characters thoughts and musings.

A masterclass in slow-burn tension that lingers in your mind long after you’re done reading.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Faberbooks for the digital ARC!

[Jacki (Julia Flyte) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick read with a great premise. Kate and Jack have been married for 30 years and as people in long term relationships do, they have developed expressions and private jokes that would be meaningless to others. When Jack abruptly dies (very early in the book), Kate is devastated.

Until a hit new TV show comes out and the philandering husband in the series spouts the same expressions and opinions as Jack. How could the young and attractive screenwriter know – unless she’d had an affair with him herself?

We move between Kate’s perspective and that of Phoebe the screenwriter. For a while my sympathies were firmly with Kate…until they weren’t. This has been my month of reading books about unlikeable people and Kate is definitely one of them. But to be fair all the characters are messy and you’re never sure whose perspective is reliable and whose isn’t.

It’s a riveting and very twisty read that keeps you guessing and it’s punctuated with lots of sly observations that frequently made me smile. Plus the plotting is extremely clever. Lots of little throwaway moments that with hindsight you realise were important. Occasionally I wondered “why are we spending time on this”, but there was always a reason.

Is it a feel good read? NO. Is it fast and dark and addictively clever? Most definitely.

[Justin Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's definitely true that this author seems to succeed in not writing the same style of book twice.

Having read both Capital and The Wall previously I had no idea what to expect.

Observing a very nice sprayed edge indie edition, and around 300 pages later I'm glad I took the chance to find out.

This book was ultimately a bit of a revenge thriller, however as I've come to expect it was well written and cleverly executed with some plot twists that I didn't see coming.

I've taken a star off,as at times I found myself trying to work out the relationships between all the characters, which I know was probably the intention but it had the effect of making me feel I was always missing,or had forgotten part of the story which I personally found a little distracting.

Still if you want to be entertained this would be a great option.

I'm already looking forward to seeing what genre this author chooses for their next offering.

[Jo-anne Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate and Jack have a happy middle class life and marriage until the day that Jack dies. Coming from the depths of grief Kate becomes aware of a popular Netflix show and is horrified to find that details of her marriage are portrayed in it. Phoebe is the writer of the show, relishing her success but worried about a follow-up. There is a link between them and it goes back many years but will Phoebe get the last laugh?
How fabulous a read is this? It starts as a portrait of a marriage, the smug middle-aged and middle class, then descends into a lovely description of grief and than blows up. Very cleverly plotted with a lovely twist at the end, I just felt that there was a real victim here and it wasn't either of the two protagonists. It's deliciously dark and very pointed.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compulsive read about three completely unlikeable, mean women and the people who loved them and fell victim to their self absorbed vile actions.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty wanky, a twist too many to be plausible but quite funny at times.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

FanTASTic!

John Lanchester's writing is so sharp, so entertainingly smooth, so compelling, and so dead on that the book was impossible not to fly through.

His sense of character is impeccable and I truly don't even feel that these words were written by someone but that the characters have just been encapsulated within a book.

I don't want to give a single thing away but what I think I love most about the writing (in this and in Capital) is the fact that it is utterly based in character study and yet he blends in genre elements that you aren't necessarily expecting or might seem out of place or thrown in there if it wasn't done so masterfully and well-written.

Completely swept up and swept away.

Worth reading in one sitting despite the wish to stay with it much longer.

[Claire Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of John’s books that I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. The premise sounded great when I first heard about it, but then I was lucky enough to be sent a copy by Faber & Faber. I could not put it down!

What if the year's most talked about TV show was all about your marriage?

This darkly humorous story stems from the marriage between Kate and Jack, a middle class couple going about their lives with friends, dinner parties and inside jokes. Aside from being a bit full of themselves, there isn’t really anything remarkable about the two of them, so you end up thinking why on earth would anyone write a TV show about them?

“Every marriage has its own language” is so true for our two lovebirds. Their speech is full of comments, phrases and jokes that only they know the true meanings behind and I loved this about them.

But when Jack dies suddenly, Kate struggles to come to terms with it and upon returning to her group of friends after months of grief she begins to unravel a side to Jack she didn’t know. *Or so she thinks.*

This is where Phoebe comes into the story. A writer who has just created the next big thing. A TV show called ‘Cheaters’, based entirely on Kate and Jack.

Kate and Phoebe are the two women who drive this story forward. They both know the feeling of having things taken away from them and they both, in their own ways, want revenge. But we’re not talking about school playground revenge here.

In this very clever, dark story, John explores the themes of relationships, revenge and responsibilities, and how some people are happy to point the blame at anyone else instead of taken account for their own actions.

You’ll be amused, shocked, confused and impressed with this one!

[Mr S]

‘Look what you made me do’ is what I call a very easy read. This I don’t mean in disparaging terms, quite the reverse in fact. I find that reading books on mobile phones requires a lot of effort and concentration on my part and so the fact that I tore through this book in less than three days is therefore quite the recommendation.

It is quite a unique narrative in that the two main characters serve equally as both protagonists and antagonists respectively and on this basis It is also quite a difficult novel to review without alluding to its twists and turns but I will attempt to keep my efforts as spoiler free as possible.

We are first introduced to Kate as a woman in her fifties who has been happily married for some decades and by a series of circumstances which I won’t divulge here she discovers that the current biggest hit on television, a drama entitled ‘Cheating’ , is alarming reminiscent of her own life right down to dialogue that both her and her husband have spoken.

In a separate narrative we are also introduced to the screenwriter of ‘Cheating’ Phoebe and her own complicated life.

These two parallel narratives lead inexorably to the two women crossing paths and for me personally I felt this meeting could have done with a lot more dramatic weight.

As a whole I felt this novel was beautifully and sparingly written but the climax would have been better served if on this particular occasion it didn’t subscribe to the less is more school of writing.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s ruminations on grief and narcissistic parenting which speaking as someone who has experienced both I felt bore a ring of real authenticity.

I must confess that traditionally in fiction one is used to having our heroes and villains clearly delineated and this particular variation on a theme left me with quite the conundrum, do we need to be spoon fed where our empathy should lie or does it even need to be there at all ?

One of our heroines or anti-heroines enacts revenge on the other only to see them take their particular revenge in return which seemed to me to be completely out of proportion to the original enactment. In this way the lines between victim and perpetrator become extremely blurred.

There was also a plot twist which with the benefit of the 20/20 vision of hindsight I should have seen coming but I have to say I genuinely didn’t which again is a testament to the authors skilled storytelling.

I can quite easily see this novel being acquired for a lavish tv adaptation and I would definitely look forward to seeing it.

I don’t think the author had any grandiose literary aspirations when writing this novel other than to entertain the reader and to keep them turning the pages. If this is indeed the case then the author has very much achieved their goal.

[Jonathan Pool · Rating 3 out of 5]

Credit to John Lanchester, this is a story as far removed from dour The Wall as its possible to be. I enjoyed the read and as an escape from more serious matters at a time of global strife (an intention of JL’s) it succeeds well.
It’s not very literary, its full of twists and it has to be said, there’s an abundance of coincidence as the book draws to its conclusion.
It’s pretty well impossible to write a review that doesn’t spoil the read. Revenge, infidelity, and ‘centred on professional lives of young, urban women, often with a humorous, light-hearted tone’. That latter description is the pejorative description of ‘chick-lit’ via a google search. As an occasional read there’s nothing wrong with this.

Its very London-centric. Balham, Notting Hill and Wilton’s in Jermyn Street. They are all in there.
There are a number of leading characters, and I thought both Kate and Phoebe were convincing, in different ways.
I’m not so sure about Kate’s twin brother, Tristram, and while I know that parental bonds can often be parental shackles, I did think John Lanchester rather overdid it in his portrayal of a toxic mother/daughter relationship.

Still, this is a book to recommend, and it has very little to do with olives.

17 March Backstory Balham with Denise Wallin (partner in the shop)

• JL set out to write a psychological thriller. It ended up being a black comedy about inter generational conflict. His editor at Faber, Alex Bowler was particularly helpful.

• Ottolenghi. A running gag. (JP-explains the) olive on the book cover. JL used to be a food critic. Ottolenghi’s agent met JL and said that he had thought it was v. funny.

• Its twenty five years since JL first novel. What has changed? First time that the cover price of the book has risen. 40% deflation in real terms. Reviews are less important. (hasn’t read a review since a biographical work on his father and didn’t want comments to stick with him.)

• Wanted to write something where you could stop thinking about the news

• After the success of Capital , asked about possibilities for this one. Very unlikely because of the element of television in this story. Like breaking the fourth wall.

• Money laundering interests JL

• Best book of all time À la recherche du temps perdu

[pastiesandpages - Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise hooked me straight away. Imagine if the latest mega-hit streaming tv show includes intimate details of your marriage that no one else could possibly know 😮.

This mystery thriller element propels this darkly comic drama which is full of revenge and delicious twists, some of which I saw coming but not realising exactly where this was going.
Most of the characters are quite unlikeable which makes the revenge much more fun, but the writing is so skillful that I found myself rooting for different characters throughout the story.

What I can tell you, without giving anything away, is that there are two women at the heart of the plot and we get chapters from their perspectives.

Kate, middle aged & married for thirty years, seems to have the perfect life with her architect husband Jack.

Phoebe is a young screenwriter who has finally hit the big time after writing the most talked about show on TV, Cheating.

Cheating has details that only Kate and Jack could possibly know. Has Jack betrayed Kate?

The stage is set for a showdown between Kate and Phoebe, with their generational & personal differences.

Among the secrets, lies and dastardly plans we get to see how Kate first met Jack in Oxford, Phoebe struggles to cope with her narcissistic mother who would make a great character on TV, and she's not helped by her gay twin brother Tristan who has upset their mother by moving to Australia, or her partner Tony who is clueless with most of life's admin.

'Every marriage has its own private language'. Cheating has just opened up Kate and Jack's for the entertainment of the world.

A fun read. Recommended.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ooooof such a mean book that delights in its nastiness! I was unsure if the dark humourous tone could be sustained throuhgout the novel but it was! Suburbia is hell and hell is other people! Very funny in parts, astute, nasty. I want to give this novel to all those people who whinge about not liking a book because the characters are 'unlikeable' (truly pathetic stance to take )

'every successful marriage has its own private language...a private language is only part of what a long marriage involves. A marriage has a body of mythology and folklore and anecdote and codes; its own world, its own ecology, its own system of beliefs and values. And perhaps more than that, its own closed universe of jokes and references, shorthand and nicknames.'

'I snuck a glance at them. The body language was clear: Jack andMichael were showing off, Tanya and Katrina were the audience. Or at least, they were supposed to be. There are times in company when you look at someone and catch them with their real face, their real expression, showing what they're really feeling and thinking behind the social facade. It doesn't happen often but its always memorable when it does. By pure chance I caught Katrina at one of those moments. Michael and Jack were directing their act towards Tanya and Katrina had what aounted to about five seconds' holiday from observation, when she wasn't expecting to be seen. She didn't have her guard down, not exactly, but her expression was not armored for the world, and her face was legible - and what was written on it, I saw, was a startling weariness, even a contempt. Perhaps I am projecting but what I felt I was seeing was an intergenerational dislike, a mid-thirties person looking at people a quarter of a century older than her and seeing a complacent affluence, an unearned self-confidence and assuredness, born of never having had to do anything difficult, of having cruised through life sitting on the great sofa of baby boomer entitlement and economic good fortune, and believing that every good thing that had happened had come so easily and so naturally that we all thought it our due, a tribute to our talents, rather than a huge piece of lucky timing to which we were oblivious...it was so raw that I felt a jolt of pure dislike both from her and towards her.'

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO by John Lanchester, at least the hard back copy I read, has an olive on the front, pierced by a wooden stake, the kind you find in martinis. And that's a much better cover than the one shown here. That's because it's a new genre, at least in my opinion, I'm calling Martini Murders. That's not giving anything away, because there's not an actual murder in the book, so maybe Martini Mysteries? Either way, it's a very entertaining, fast read that begins as a character study of several couples and then maneuvers its way into a bunch of intellectual twists and turns that are sure to surprise you until 3/4th in, where you figure (almost) everything out; and it ends ethically ambiguously. It's smart, tricky, and illuminating, especially about human nature and the causes of our bad behaviors, and admit it, we're all guilty of bad behavior now and then. I'd give this a 3.5 stars, only because I am unsure about the conclusion (although I love the last line). Read it. It's not out yet, but we got this copy from London.

[Darla B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is lots of fun. Once you get through the quite slow start of the first 20 pages, LWYMMD is unputdownable. It’s the kind of book where you surely don’t personally like any of the characters since they’re so vengeful and spiteful, but you still want to see who will win in this battle of boomer vs millennial. I enjoyed it because Phoebe & Kate are so unafraid to have questionable opinions and hot takes, and you might not agree with them but you would be impressed by how much they’ve gotten away with. The interesting thing about revenge is that it comes at a high cost of emotions, time, and effort… often the real winner is the one who just walks away and moves forward, but this book offers an idea that for the winner maybe the reward is really just seeing it through no matter the cost.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published May 5, 2026.

3 stars

Kate and Jack are a married couple who have lived a comfortable life together. Then a major life event occurs and, suddenly, Kate discovers that the secrets of their marriage are being broadcast on a hot new show on television. What secrets had Jack been hiding from her?

This was a very interesting story in that the reader can maybe almost see what is happening, but not entirely, and that uncertainty is rather delicious. I was entertained and the book was well written, with well developed characters. Recommended.

[Hannah Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We first meet Kate, who has spent decades building a comfortable life in North London with her husband Jack. Their marriage feels settled and familiar, full of shared jokes and phrases that only couples who’ve been together for years really understand. It’s looks solid from the outside, comfortable and perfectly ordinary.

And THEN! A new TV show called Cheating suddenly becomes the water-cooler topic of conversation in every building in the country. Written by a young screenwriter named Phoebe, it centres on a complicated marriage and a scandalous affair… and some of the details start to feel a little too close to home. Once Kate starts noticing those similarities, she can’t stop seeing them.

From this point we get to hear from Phoebe too… we see her trying to figure out how to cope with her sudden success, whilst Kate is trying to work out why parts of her life seem to be appearing on screen. There’s the mystery element of how these stories might connect, but there’s also a sharp social observation running through it and I liked how it balanced those two aspects. There are smart observations on relationships, grief and control hidden within the dark humour and satirical tone.

The pacing was great, helped by inserts of scripts from the show which add a little dimension and tension and made it really feel cinematic. This was also the case with the flashbacks to when Kate and Jack met. They simultaneously bring you closer to Kate and also make you start to question her reliability. As the book goes on you’re never sure who to like, whose side you’re on, or what is actually true… which just kept me turning pages. The characters are all messy in the best possible way!

This was a fun and thought-provoking read, which did genuinely keep me guessing right to the end! Big, fat, juicy recco from me!

[Isabel]

I’m not going to add a rating as I feel it’s unfair to when you only got 60%. This was not a book I could finish. It felt like a waste of my time pushing through. I’ve noticed a tendency of male authors to write women as caricatures. In this book the women are described in various ways such as hysterical, psychotic , manipulative, dramatic (and on and on). Even when they rightly have something to be extremely upset about. The men are just victims of the women’s hysteria and endless goings on. I’m disappointed because I really enjoyed The Wall.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

What starts off as a slice of modern middle class London life quickly swivels into something psychologically darker. John Lanchester's revenge novel is intelligently written with an excellent ear for dialogue, good observations on grief and dysfunctional parenting and along the way, a couple of clever plot twists that I certainly didn't see coming. Lanchester writes women well and my only quibble is that I found myself disliking all of the female characters due to their actions.

My thanks to Faber and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

[Art]

I rather enjoyed reading this book. From the first page, I found funny bits, which I usually consider a real plus. I didn't know what to think of the characters as the author revealed details about them, but I found it an easy and generally entertaining read. I haven't read a satirical book like this in some time, with twists in the story, so I think at least some positive comments. Is it an especially happy tale? Well, no. Anyway, I thought the writing was good.

I'm grateful to have received a free advance reader copy to evaluate. Peace be with you. :-)

[Mattie Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

so there’s this book with a skewered pimento olive as its cover art & im somehow not the author? lanchester’s use of switching pov narratives for kate & phoebe lent so artfully to the wider idea of paraded, intergenerational gameplay - a slight eyebrow raise, signalling ‘your move’ after a deeply calculated turn. kate’s grief, & the subsequent revelations she experiences, inspire a permanent war - one in which she triumphs with an inexorable checkmate against phoebe. It’s sort of admirable & I enjoyed the stakes!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a quick read - Kate and Jack - a long term married couple - all good until Jack suddenly dies. While dealing with her grief Kate discovers that some of their intimate moments have been written into a TV drama and assumes that Jack must have been cheating on her for this information to be out there. We hear the story of Kates love at first sight when they were university students and how she ‘took’ him from his girlfriend Sarah. Not entirely comfortable with the notion that you can steal a person? Overall engaging but not very pleasant.

[Joachim Stoop · Rating 3 out of 5]

De Londense Kate en Jack spraken hun eigen verborgen liefdestaal. Na Jacks onverwachte dood ontdekt Kate dat de populaire Netflix-serie Cheating vol zit met hún privéfluisteringen— en plots overschaduwt een gevoel van verraad haar hele huwelijk. Alle begrip voor wie bij deze synopsis meteen naar de boekhandel spurt! Weliswaar vermakelijk schiet deze wraakroman toch te kort: te weinig spanning voor een thriller, te karikaturaal en gekunsteld voor een literaire evenaring van Lanchesters De muur en Kapitaal.

[Laura Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this - brutal revenge story that looks into women’s worlds and how their choices and behaviors impact those around them for decades. Pretty funny look at inter generational beef which I enjoyed as well as tv drama. Clever and very easy read. Mildly irritating that male author writes such exaggerated stereotypes of women characters, and if it was a female author this wouldn’t annoy me? Tricky that

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really horrid story, impossible to look away or put down until the twisted end. Lanchester incises what we do when we are young with the urgent feeling of self importance that fades as you age, but the burden of responsibility and guilt which replaces it is equally well drawn. Why does he choose female characters for his betrayal and revenge plots, leaving the men as hapless victims in their scheming? That is the weak point in an otherwise entertainingly horrible novel.