Publisher: Doubleday (Trade Paperback – 2 December 2025)
Series: Standalone/Book One
Length: 275 pages
Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
First-time author Marisa Kashino provides one of the more entertaining and devious debuts of 2025, with the wonderfully twisted and deeply addictive novel Best Offer Wins.
Plot Synopsis:
How far would you go to get the perfect home?
There was a time when Margo thought she knew. But that was before a soul-destroying eighteen months of house-hunting hell.
Now she’s not sure. Her life, her marriage, her family, her career are dangerously out of control and all she needs is a new home to get them all back on track.
So when the ideal house comes up, desperate measures are called for. A little online stalking. Some sneaky surveillance of the property in question. Befriending the owner. All reasonable enough, right?
But soon it’s clear that nothing is off limits, because when your best offer might not win, then you just need to do what it takes…
Best Offer Wins was an outstanding and captivating debut novel that dives into a very relatable topic in the most insane way possible. Perfectly encapsulating the dark side of desire and desperation, Best Offer Wins was an impressive first outing from Kashino, who crafted an excellent thriller narrative that is both twisted and hilarious in equal measure.
I loved the crazy crime fiction story that Kashino envisioned for Best Offer Wins, which keeps pushing its delightfully deranged protagonist over the edge and dragging the reader along. The book starts off quick and fast with a great introduction to main character Margo, and you are soon drawn into her desperate desire to break into Washington D. C.’s housing market. Finding the perfect house, Margo attempts to ingratiate herself with its current owners, only to face backlash and humiliation when her scheme is revealed. Still desperate to obtain the house, Margo takes her obsession to the new level and soon embarks on a campaign to find dirt on the current owners and force them to sell to her.
Kashino paints a fantastic picture of the protagonist’s overwhelming obsession at this point of the book, as her need to have the house and the perfect life it represents pushes her to take greater risks to get what she wants. You honestly don’t know just how far Margo will go, as she manipulates, lies and even resorts to blackmail to get what she wants. Things continue to further devolve as, after finding out some damaging truths, she decides to go all in to get her way, which has devastating results for everyone around her. I loved how this final third of Best Offer Wins comes together in a way which is so fantastically over-the-top and crazy. While I did see the shape of Best Offer Wins’ big twist in advance, getting there is so damn fun, as is the full extent of the protagonist’s plot. I really loved how well Kashino wrapped her compelling book up, especially as she leaves the book on an excellent dark note, and readers will come away very satisfied and entertained by the entire outrageous narrative.
I have to say that I was really impressed with Kashino’s writing ability in Best Offer Wins, considering that this was her very first book. The author debuted a crisp and engaging style in this novel, expertly utilising the first-person perspective of her slowly deteriorating protagonist to fully tell her tale. The author cleverly makes obsession and desperation the central themes for Best Offer Wins, which works as they are so relatable to the reader through the housing market aspect of the novel. I’m sure I’m not the only reader that struggled with house hunting in recent years, and while I personally never resorted to murder or blackmail (I can’t speak for my wife/editor though), the feelings of despair and loss that accompanied missing out on a house your heart is set on were very understandable. Utilising the emotions behind this real-world issue in the plot and then turning it into a fast-paced and relentlessly entertaining novel that keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat thanks to perfectly escalating series of events really showcased Kashino’s excellent writing talent, and the resulting narrative was something very special. I can think of a better way to highlight just how well written this book is than to reveal that I read it in one solid reading session, as there was honestly not a single moment when I wanted to put Best Offer Wins down.
I can’t move away from discussing how good Best Offer Wins was without mentioning the main character, Margo, who was simultaneously one of the most entertaining and most despicable protagonists of 2025. Starting off as a seemingly normal figure whose early unusual quirks and behaviours can be explained away by her depression over the housing market, you soon begin to realise that Margo really isn’t a good person. Not only does she quickly start pushing the boundaries of social norms when it comes to getting her dream house, but thanks to her narration of events you realise how little she thinks of the people around her. Her casual self-discussion about how she manipulates her husband and the clear distain she has for the other people in her life is very off-putting, and even some intriguing insights into her troubled childhood that explain her obsessions really don’t raise too much sympathy for the reader. Despite this, there is never a single moment where you consider turning away from Margo’s story, mainly because of just how entertaining she is, and due to how far she is willing to take things, uncaring of the impact it has on those around her. Margo’s story is essentially a slow-motion trainwreck, and you really can’t turn away as she goes further and further to get the house she wants. However, as you near the end of the book you begin to realise just how calculating and targeted the protagonist truly is, as Margo soon gets everything she wants in a particularly diabolic manner. I had such a brilliant time following Margo in this novel, and Kashino did an amazing job writing an outstanding story around this complex and twisted protagonist.
Overall, I felt that Best Offer Wins was a particularly incredible debut thriller from Marisa Kashino, who delivered something particularly special here. Combining a twisted narrative with a topic a lot of people are going to have strong feelings about; Best Offer Wins was a highly entertaining and powerful read from start to finish. Compelling, clever, and very deranged, Best Offer Wins hooked me so damn fast, and I cannot recommend this novel enough.
The Unseen Library 