A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver Review

A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage

M.K. Oliver

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It took me a while to get into this book, I can’t lie. I think perhaps the marketing was misleading, or I read too far into the comparisons to the Molly the Maid books, where the main character is neurodivergent. Unlike that, in this book, the main character

Lalla Rock is a straight up sociopath—which is in the title of the book, so again, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Once I readjusted to what the book actually is, I enjoyed the narration and the humor.

It’s not everyone cup of tea, but I love  a heroine that just exudes nonchalance in the face of clear crisis. The tone of the narrator in this book reminded me of the book The September House— while a totally different premise, both woman simply don’t understand what all the fuss is about. In the September House, it’s the house’s obvious haunting, in this book, it’s murder. Lalla can be disposing of a body while only really thinking or caring about her step counts for the day, or whether her husband appreciates her enough. Her daughter trying to drown a hamster at school? What’s the issue, Lalla wonders. Lalla, while a sociopath, is admittedly very funny and Oliver writes this book so well in that way.

Lalla’s last starts to catch up with her and turns out she has a lot of skeletons in her closet. They aren’t totally shocking but it does add to Lalla’s general apathy for all other humans.

Thank you to Atria books and MK Oliver for the eARC on NetGalley. This book is out now!