Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
Best Offer Wins is journalist Marisa Kashino’s debut novel, published by Doubleday, an imprint of Transworld. This book is a departure from her normal work, writing long-form features for The Washington Post and Washingtonian magazine.
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino summary
Margo is on a mission to find the perfect family home. Currently cramped into a small apartment with her husband Ian, she needs the perfect home before filling it with perfect children. After being outbid 11 times and upping their offers with no luck, she’s at her wits’ end.
Getting a tip that a gorgeous home is about to go on the market, she insists Ian drives her there so she can scope it out. After almost being caught nosing in the garden, she ends up in a conversation with the owner. Pretending she was lost while running, she learns a few facts that help increase the chances of ‘bumping into him’ again in the future. Before long, she and Ian are invited to dinner, and she takes the chance to show her hand and admits they’re interested in the house.
The admission goes horribly wrong, and the homeowners, unsurprisingly, feel like they’ve been lied to and manipulated. However, Margo is not ready to let her perfect home go to anyone else. As her personal and professional life both start to suffer, she hyperfocuses on making that house hers.
Caught up in creating the home she never had as a child, she goes from passionate to obsessive, then truly dangerous.
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino quotes
“And there’s nothing the media loves more than a beautiful young white woman who’s met a violent end.”
“If I’d learned anything from my parents’ fucked-up marriage, it was that making the other person think they’re in control when they’re really not is often the easiest way to win a fight.”
“A surge of hope, that familiar poison, makes my heart stutter.”
“We will own a lawn mower here for the first time in our lives—an essential bauble on the charm bracelet of Successful Adulthood.”
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino review
Best Offer Wins starts as a truly relatable tale about the frustrations of the housing market. That’s going to hit anyone who has attempted to rent a home, let alone buy one. Somehow, you need to be available at any given moment to speak with state agents and attend viewings the same day, all while working full-time and being prepared to offer more than the asking price. Thanks to that, you immediately feel for Margot and the situation she’s in. On top of that, her husband comes across as a wet blanket. So while she may be going a bit far, you can almost see why.
To help you understand Margo’s motivations, the novel is peppered with flashbacks to her childhood. Neglect and cruelty in her youth have left her with an overwhelming need for a secure home before she can settle down. She’s under a huge amount of pressure to provide, but a pressure she’s put on herself.
Marisa Kashino’s writing carries you along with Margot effortlessly. You skip from little drama, to bigger drama, to huge drama and before you know it, you’ve devoured a hundred pages. It really does draw you in and increases tension at a perfect pace to keep you hooked. I’ve made a conscious decision not to add any specific spoilers in this review because I enjoyed the way it evolves so much; I’d love for you to have that experience too.
Is Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino worth reading?
Best Offer Wins is absolutely worth reading. It’s whip-smart, bleak but fun and truly absorbing. While Margot is an unhinged character, there’s something strangely endearing about her. (Hopefully other people think the same, or that’s possibly a terrifying insight into my own psyche.)
If you’re looking for an unusual book club read, this would be perfect, as there is a lot to discuss. This includes themes such as; obsession, the meaning of home, infidelity, stalking, childhood trauma and crime. And while this makes it sound quite dark, Marisa Kashino tell this story with as much humour as heart.
I can easily see Best Offer Wins being one of my favourite books of 2026.
Listen to the audiobook excerpt below to get a hint at whether you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Best Offer Wins audiobook excerpt
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