Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino: A darkly funny exploration of obsession, envy, and the American Dream

The first thing you need to know about Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino is that it’s about far more than real estate. Yes, the book follows 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake as she becomes dangerously fixated on buying the perfect house in an impossibly competitive Washington, DC housing market—but Kashino turns what could have been a simple story about bidding wars into a biting, darkly funny character study of ambition and envy. The novel releases November 25, 2025.

After losing out on eleven homes, Margo learns about a property that hasn’t yet hit the market—a charming house in the exact neighborhood she’s been dreaming of. It’s got everything she’s ever wanted, right down to the tire swing in the backyard. That tire swing isn’t just decor; it’s a symbol of everything Margo has been chasing since childhood. As a kid, she watched other families—more stable, more put-together, more normal—and believed that owning a home like theirs would finally make her feel whole. Now, as an adult, she’s convinced that the right house will fix her strained marriage, her stalled plans to have a baby, and her crumbling sense of self-worth.

But the more desperate she becomes, the more unhinged her tactics grow. She stalks, she trespasses, she manipulates—yet somehow, Kashino keeps us rooting for her, even as we cringe at every decision. What makes Margo such a fascinating character is that her desires are painfully relatable. Who hasn’t felt the pull of comparison, the pressure to measure up, the illusion that happiness is just one purchase or milestone away?

Still, Margo’s obsession exposes something ugly about the culture she inhabits: a world where appearances mean everything and gratitude means nothing. Her entire life is a competition with people she doesn’t even like, and by the end, it’s clear that the only creature she truly cares about is her neighbor’s dog. Kashino skewers the performative perfectionism of modern suburbia with sharp wit and perfect pacing, crafting a story that’s as entertaining as it is unsettling.

Margo reminds me of Lillian in Kirsten King’s A Good Person—another morally slippery woman whose single-minded pursuit of what she “deserves” leads her down a dark path. There’s a clear trend emerging in fiction right now: women who are unapologetically ruthless, flawed, and fascinating. Kashino’s debut fits neatly into that lineage, and I’m absolutely here for it.

Best Offer Wins is a smart, acerbic take on the myth of the American Dream, delivered through a protagonist you’ll both root for and recoil from. It’s one of those novels that will have you laughing one moment and wincing the next—and maybe questioning your own definition of success along the way.

Would you root for Margo—or run from her? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• How Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino got made (Publisher’s Weekly)
• Marisa Kashino’s entertaining debut thriller exposes the madness of the housing market (The Bookseller)
• Gobble up November’s new mystery, thriller, & true crime books! (Book Riot)

Now available in print and on Kindle!

Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.