A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage: A Novel
Not yet published: Expected Feb 17, 2026
A whip-smart and darkly funny crime novel—perfect for fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Maid—that follows a wife and mother with a deadly secret that she must suppress if she wants to maintain her picture-perfect façade.
Meet Lalla Rook. Lalla has a lot on her plate: She needs to guarantee her husband makes partner, secure her dream house in Hampstead, and get her daughter into a prestigious prep school. And on the afternoon she stabs a stranger seven times after he breaks into her living room, she has a four-year-old’s birthday party to host.
With an unambitious partner, two demanding children, and a barely adequate large house in a nice (if not quite fashionable) part of town, Lalla’s life isn’t quite perfect yet. And she can’t pretend she hasn’t missed the adrenaline rush that comes with transgressing. Besides, as a wife and mother, she’s already an expert multi-tasker. So, disposing of a body, framing a friend, and being the world’s best mother can easily be managed alongside the usual domestic minutiae.
It’s just that her husband Stephen seems distracted, her daughter’s drowning of the class hamster is affecting her academic future, and then there is the unexpected intruder. Who is this man and what does he want from her? Because Lalla has a past she’d rather keep hidden—and the sudden appearance of the police means that avoiding them will be yet another task to cross off her to-do list.
Funny, calculating, hypercompetent, and ambitious, Lalla is your next favorite antiheroine. Just don’t mention it to her mother-in-law.
Meet Lalla Rook. Lalla has a lot on her plate: She needs to guarantee her husband makes partner, secure her dream house in Hampstead, and get her daughter into a prestigious prep school. And on the afternoon she stabs a stranger seven times after he breaks into her living room, she has a four-year-old’s birthday party to host.
With an unambitious partner, two demanding children, and a barely adequate large house in a nice (if not quite fashionable) part of town, Lalla’s life isn’t quite perfect yet. And she can’t pretend she hasn’t missed the adrenaline rush that comes with transgressing. Besides, as a wife and mother, she’s already an expert multi-tasker. So, disposing of a body, framing a friend, and being the world’s best mother can easily be managed alongside the usual domestic minutiae.
It’s just that her husband Stephen seems distracted, her daughter’s drowning of the class hamster is affecting her academic future, and then there is the unexpected intruder. Who is this man and what does he want from her? Because Lalla has a past she’d rather keep hidden—and the sudden appearance of the police means that avoiding them will be yet another task to cross off her to-do list.
Funny, calculating, hypercompetent, and ambitious, Lalla is your next favorite antiheroine. Just don’t mention it to her mother-in-law.
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Community Reviews
Any woman written by a man will forever fall short of MK Oliver's Lala Rook.
A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage is one of the most fascinating books I have had the honor of reading. It is funny, profound, shocking, horrifying, thrilling, and incredibly well researched. Lala, being a sociopath as the title says, is one of the most complex main characters I have experienced a story with. She is cold, calculated, and conniving, yet caring, cultured, and convicted at the same time, though her convictions may vary from the societal norm. This group of moms have created an enthralling story with backstories galore; I would read a series about each mom themselves! Every character is flushed out with twists that you think you see coming from a mile away, but hook you with just a slight change in direction that make you second guess what you've thought the whole time. A great mystery, an exciting story, a problematic main character with just enough humanity that you can't help but relate to, and incredible writing to top it all off. I absolutely loved this book, and hope to see more of Lala's journey in the future, whether it be her sordid past or her supposedly perfect future.
A huge thank you to the publishing company for sending me an ARC of this book!
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