Best Offer Wins

Former Washington Post reporter Kashino debuts with a wicked satirical thriller about the cutthroat world of Washington, D.C., area real estate. PR executive Margo Miyake and her husband, EPA lawyer Ian, are on the hunt for a house in a “godforsaken market” where bidding wars leave hopeful homeowners grasping at straws. Determined to leave the couple’s ugly rental apartment and start a family, Margo becomes increasingly unhinged in her pursuit of a house that hasn’t yet hit the market. She stalks the owners, Jack and Curtis, first on the internet, then in real life, sidling up to Jack in a yoga class and launching a charm offensive that backfires in an awkward, ugly dinner scene that ends with the couple’s permanent blacklisting. Margo’s escalating fertility troubles ratchet up her self-imposed pressure to find the perfect home, the relentless pursuit of which strains her marriage and pushes Margo to violence. Kashino’s description of Margo’s economically precarious childhood offers superficial insight into her motivations, but the character’s eventual swerve into monstrosity feels under-motivated. Still, this darkly comedic novel of millennial anxieties will likely strike an uncomfortable chord with readers under 40. Agents: Meredith Miller and Ethan Schlatter, UTA. (Nov.)