Staff Pick
Nietzsche warned of the abyss, but modern philosophers have Instagram to contend with — now that social media has permeated our culture, coveting thy neighbor's carefully curated life is a given. Any imperfections are filtered into oblivion and we tell ourselves that pictures don't tell the whole story, but what would we see if we got a closer glimpse into the lives we covet? The unnamed, but unforgettable narrator of this book is no stranger to this corrosive envy: her life was never perfect, but it was bearable until SHE moved in. Beautiful, famous, and wealthy, her new neighbor is a beloved actress whose apparent happiness casts a pall on our narrator's newly solitary existence. As she watches her, her obsession grows and her mind and her life unravel in tandem. Vitriolic and shudderingly relatable, Looker is the perfect cautionary tale for those who have had enough of the #blessed ones. Recommended By Lauren P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A dazzling, razor-sharp debut novel about a woman whose obsession with the beautiful actress on her block drives her to the edge. In this superb new psychological thriller, an unraveling woman becomes fixated on her neighbor--the beautiful, successful actress. Trapped in a rundown apartment and dead-end job, the unnamed narrator is unhappily childless and recently separated. She can't help noticing with wry irony that the actress, meanwhile, has her face on the side of every bus, a gleaming brownstone, a handsome husband, and three beautiful children, including a baby. Though they live just a few doors apart, the two women are separated by a chasm of professional success and personal fulfillment.
Obsessed with her collapsed marriage, her relationship-ending infertility, the daily injustices she suffers at the hands of her expensive and exhausting city, and, most of all, with her movie-star neighbor, the narrator initially seems bitter but benign. Yet, as late summer turns to fall, she becomes increasingly unhinged--and, when an interaction with the actress at the annual block party takes a disastrous turn, what began as an innocent preoccupation spirals quickly, and lethally, into a dark and irretrievable madness.
Witty, playful, and searingly sharp, Looker is an enormously entertaining debut that is part tightly coiled Hitchcockian thriller and part sendup of those living their best lives in the post-gentrified, Instagram-ready city. Driven by a fresh, astonishing, and fearlessly original voice, this slender novel packs a powerful punch.
Synopsis
*Vogue's "Most Anticipated Books of 2019" *Entertainment Weekly's "One of January's Hottest Reads" *Literary Hub's "Most Anticipated Books of 2019" *Southern Living's "Best New Books Coming Out Winter 2019" A dazzling, razor-sharp debut novel about a woman whose obsession with the beautiful actress on her block drives her to the edge.
I've never crossed their little fenced-in garden, of course. I stand on the sidewalk in front of the fern-and-ivy-filled planter that hangs from the fence--placed there as a sort of screen, I'm sure--and have a direct line of view into the kitchen at night. I'm grateful they've never thought to install blinds. That's how confident they are. No one would dare stand in front of our house and watch us, they think. And they're probably right: except for me.
In this taut and thrilling debut, an unraveling woman, unhappily childless and recently separated, becomes fixated on her neighbor--the actress. The unnamed narrator can't help noticing with wry irony that, though she and the actress live just a few doors apart, a chasm of professional success and personal fulfillment lies between them. The actress, a celebrity with her face on the side of every bus, shares a gleaming brownstone with her handsome husband and their three adorable children, while the narrator, working in a dead-end job, lives in a run-down, three-story walk-up with her ex-husband's cat.
When an interaction with the actress at the annual block party takes a disastrous turn, what began as an innocent preoccupation spirals quickly, and lethally, into a frightening and irretrievable madness. Searing and darkly witty, Looker is enormously entertaining--a psychologically suspenseful and fearlessly original portrait of the perils of envy.
Synopsis
*Featured on Best of Lists in Vogue, People, Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, Southern Living, and more* In this "wicked slow burn" (Entertainment Weekly) of psychological suspense from the author of How Can I Help You, a woman becomes fixated on her neighbor--the actress.
Though the two women live just a few doors apart, a chasm lies between them. The actress, a celebrity with a charmed career, shares a gleaming brownstone with her handsome husband and three adorable children, while the recently separated narrator, unhappily childless and stuck in a dead-end job, lives in a run-down, three-story walk-up with her ex-husband's cat.
As her fascination with her famous neighbor grows, the narrator's hold on reality begins to slip. Before long, she's collecting cast-off items from the actress's stoop and fantasizing about sleeping with the actress's husband. After a disastrous interaction with the actress at the annual block party, what began as an innocent preoccupation turns into a stunning--and irrevocable--unraveling.
A riveting portrait of obsession, Looker is "a sugarcoated poison pill of psychological terror" (The Wall Street Journal) and an immersive and darkly entertaining read--"by the end you'll be gasping" (People).