A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage by M.K. Oliver is an impressive debut that hooked me right from the start.

Lalla Rook is the kind of narrator you don’t forget in a hurry — sharp, funny, and unapologetically ruthless. She wants the dream house, the best school for her daughter, and her husband’s career to soar. And if anyone dares to threaten her vision of perfection? Lalla knows exactly how to deal with them.

What stood out for me was the balance between crime and comedy. The satirical humour had me laughing at moments I absolutely shouldn’t have, and the stylish, biting tone kept me hooked from start to finish. It’s bold, outrageous in just the right way, and endlessly entertaining.

A whip-smart, darkly comic debut with bite.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers Australia, Hemlock Press, and M.K. Oliver for the ARC — these thoughts are my honest and authentic review.

This is such a funny and clever read. It is very well written and has some great plot twists.

Lalla has a dead body of a stranger in her lounge room who she has stabbed seven times, and expects guests any minute for her son, four year-old Nathan‘s birthday party. Lalla has a history of doing people down, and has sociopathic tendencies, but it’s been some years now since she has killed anyone.

Her husband, Stephen, is on the unambitious and drippy side. She wants him to be made partner in his banking firm and for them to buy a huge house in Hampstead. She has a six year old, Nelly with similar sociopathic traits to herself who she’s desperate to get in to a posh prep school. She will stop at nothing for this to happen. Her first husband, Hollis who she thought she had killed on a climbing expedition reappears in her life. He had set the man who’s dead in her living room, Mercer to find her. He’s now confined to a wheelchair.

Lalla has a friend called Cait who she easily manipulates at all turns. Cait ends up on remand for the death of her violent ex partner, Owen. Who killed him though?! Lalla finds out Hollis has become rich since the climbing accident and she decides that she wants his money at all costs. She also finds out that Stephen is having an affair with his first love. She hates Stephen’s mum, Madeleine who recently lost her husband. She’s prone to crank calling Madeleine in the early hours, pretending to be the late husband’s mistress and asking her tormenting things like if she can keep the Gite in France! Lalla discovers that Madeleine has set up Stephen and his ex, Georgia to get back together, even buying her a house and paying off her debts.

Lalla ingeniously and savagely outwits those who stand in her ambitious way. Her friend Tor’s husband pays the price, as does Tor, as well as Hollis, and Josh, Stephen’s boss. There’s a superb scene at a male urinal involving the boss who tried to cross Lalla!

The police are looking for Mercer, the dead man in her living room, whom she gets Cait to help her dispose of. She then blackmails Cait about helping her. The police are persistent in pursuing her but Lalla, a villainess to the core, plays the innocent very well as she engages with great flourish and panache in her dastardly deeds.

This is a hectic, wild ride of a read. I really liked Lalla and Nelly as characters. The ending is great.

I highly recommend this great, rollicking read to others.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the brilliant ARC in return for an honest review.

With sincere thanks to the author (M.K. Oliver), NetGalley for the ARC, Hemlock Press, Atria Books, …any one else? Everyone associated with this stunning debut is owed my thanks for allowing me to read it.
I’m the sort of person with books on my shelf like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Strange Sally Diamond, Fundamental, Blood Sugar, Green Dot…and many others. If you see a common theme running through these titles, then A Sociopath’s Guide To A Successful Marriage is for you. Lalla Rook has it all - the successful husband (could be a bit better if he tried harder), the lovely house (there are better suburbs though), two children, an exclusive little friend group, and a dead body in the lounge JUST before her son’s fourth birthday party. Inconvenient, huh? We’ve all been there, when the most annoying things happen at the wrong time, and it’s up to you to put it right. Fortunately our main character is organised to a clinical level, and manages to achieve her goals - eventually. And along the way, (no spoilers) we are treated to a delicious insight into the mind of the out of the ordinary woman (aren’t we all?), and I hope that we’ve not seen the last of Lalla.
It’s a sign of how impressed I was with this book that I contacted the author just to tell him so, which on reflection is a bit of a Lalla Rook thing to do. But I only did it via social media, not irl, so he’s safe.
When this is released - soon - grab your copy. You won’t regret it.

Lalla Rook is a sociopath who will destroy (sometimes literally) anyone who gets in her way. She is very good at committing the most heinous crimes, blaming them on other people and getting away with them. The secret to Lalla’s success is that she is able to convince herself that the stories she comes up with in covering up her crimes are true, and sticking by them causes her no problems at all.

Lalla is the fascinating, mesmerising creation of M K Oliver, a man who has taken the brave step of writing in the first person from a woman’s point of view. Of course, Lalla, having no moral compass, is not your average woman and her innermost thoughts are up for grabs.

Although Lalla is incapable of loving other humans, I was pleased to see she has a degree of fondness for her cat. Being a cat lady myself, I understand this perfectly. This book is great fun in a thieving, conniving, murderous kind of way and I’ve got to say I loved it.

Top marks, Mr Oliver!