A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage: A Novel

A dark crime novel following Lalla Rook, a wife and mother juggling multiple ambitions: ensuring her husband Stephen makes partner, securing a house in Hampstead, and getting her daughter into a prestigious prep school. Lalla's life appears picture-perfect on the surface, but she harbors a deadly secret. When a stranger breaks into her living room, Lalla stabs him seven times—an act she must conceal while hosting her four-year-old's birthday party that afternoon. With an unambitious husband, two demanding children, and a merely adequate house in a nice part of town, Lalla's life still falls short of her vision. She finds herself drawn to the adrenaline of transgression and believes her skills as a multitasking wife and mother will allow her to manage disposing of a body, framing a friend, and maintaining her domestic responsibilities. Complications mount: Stephen seems distracted, her daughter's drowning of the class hamster threatens her academic prospects, and the unexpected intruder raises questions about Lalla's hidden past. With police involvement, avoiding detection becomes another item on her to-do list.