Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Margo is a hard-driving young professional woman who wants the perfect job, perfect baby, perfect husband, and most of all, perfect house. She is deliciously devious and unconstrained by such trifles as morals, friendships, and such. She falls in love with the perfect house that is just barely, maybe, in her and her husband Ian’s price range but knows other bidders will be offering more and all in cash. She can’t let such obstacles stop her. I foresaw one part of her scheme back in Chapter 8, but it unfolded on a grander scale than I imagined.
I found it interesting that the author made Margo Japanese-American, like the author herself, and even has a similar first name (“Mar…”). Margo is sensitive about it, eschewing being “the ethnic friend” and also for being mistaken for Chinese. I can’t help wondering if the author is projecting her inner demon onto Margo, giving her free rein to do all those things real people can’t do in civilized society. I’m partial to Japanese language and culture having spent my college year abroad in Japan, but if the author is anything like Margo, I’ll pass on making her acquaintance. I will gladly recommend her book, however. It didn’t disappoint all the way through. It left me with chills and a grin.