The Top Job

Marisa Kashino was a journalist for 17 years, most recently at The Washington Post. She spent the bulk of her career at Washingtonian magazine, writing long-form features and overseeing the real estate and home design coverage. She grew up near Seattle, graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in journalism and political science. She lives in the DC area with her husband, two dogs, and one cat. Best Offer Wins is her first novel.

You’d kill for it. . . 
 
The chair has been left empty – an unexpected, unsolved tragedy – and The Potomac is looking for a new editor-in-chief. 
 
Celine knows she’s earned this. When the job is hers, she’ll be ready to speak truth to power and refocus the newsroom on hard-hitting journalism. 
 
McCall has put in the work. Decades of paying her dues, smiling through gritted teeth and suffering as a woman in a sexist field. Finally, it’s her turn. 
 
Jay gets what he wants. Whether at work, with women . . . or with women at work. And while his debts and bad choices may be catching up to him, there’s no way the job’s not his, right? 
 
When the magazine's billionaire owner Bobby Rockport invites all three candidates to his Aspen estate for a retreat, tensions are sky-high, and everyone has something to hide. It’s anyone’s guess who will make it out with the coveted top role . . . that is, if they make it out at all. 
 
 
From the reviews for BEST OFFER WINS‘You have no idea where this story is going’ TAYLOR JENKINS REID 
‘A clever, twisted thriller. I couldn’t stop reading!’ FREIDA McFADDEN 
‘Unputdownable’ ALEX MICHAELIDES 
‘A cross between Gone Girl and Selling Sunset’ ELIZABETH DAY

You’d kill for it. . . 
 
The chair has been left empty – an unexpected, unsolved tragedy – and The Potomac is looking for a new editor-in-chief. 
 
Celine knows she’s earned this. When the job is hers, she’ll be ready to speak truth to power and refocus the newsroom on hard-hitting journalism. 
 
McCall has put in the work. Decades of paying her dues, smiling through gritted teeth and suffering as a woman in a sexist field. Finally, it’s her turn. 
 
Jay gets what he wants. Whether at work, with women . . . or with women at work. And while his debts and bad choices may be catching up to him, there’s no way the job’s not his, right? 
 
When the magazine's billionaire owner Bobby Rockport invites all three candidates to his Aspen estate for a retreat, tensions are sky-high, and everyone has something to hide. It’s anyone’s guess who will make it out with the coveted top role . . . that is, if they make it out at all. 
 
 
From the reviews for BEST OFFER WINS‘You have no idea where this story is going’ TAYLOR JENKINS REID 
‘A clever, twisted thriller. I couldn’t stop reading!’ FREIDA McFADDEN 
‘Unputdownable’ ALEX MICHAELIDES 
‘A cross between Gone Girl and Selling Sunset’ ELIZABETH DAY

You’d kill for it. . . 
 
The chair has been left empty – an unexpected, unsolved tragedy – and The Potomac is looking for a new editor-in-chief. 
 
Celine knows she’s earned this. When the job is hers, she’ll be ready to speak truth to power and refocus the newsroom on hard-hitting journalism. 
 
McCall has put in the work. Decades of paying her dues, smiling through gritted teeth and suffering as a woman in a sexist field. Finally, it’s her turn. 
 
Jay gets what he wants. Whether at work, with women . . . or with women at work. And while his debts and bad choices may be catching up to him, there’s no way the job’s not his, right? 
 
When the magazine's billionaire owner Bobby Rockport invites all three candidates to his Aspen estate for a final test, tensions are sky-high, and everyone has something to hide. It’s anyone’s guess who will make it out with the coveted top role . . . that is, if they make it out at all. 
 
 
From the reviews for BEST OFFER WINS‘You have no idea where this story is going’ TAYLOR JENKINS REID 
‘A clever, twisted thriller. I couldn’t stop reading!’ FREIDA McFADDEN 
‘Unputdownable’ ALEX MICHAELIDES 
‘A cross between Gone Girl and Selling Sunset’ ELIZABETH DAY

Marisa Kashino

Best Offer Wins is a clever, twisted, and hilarious thriller. I finished it in a day because I couldn't stop reading!

Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid

Dark, funny and inventive, this is an ingeniously entertaining take on millennial anxieties.

A twisty rollercoaster that kept me hooked from the start – the TV rights have already been snapped up. I couldn't help rooting for Margo, no matter what she did. Fantastic.

A deeply believable character with a heartbreaking family past, Margo’s lies and plans spin darkly and hilariously out of control, but by god, you’ll be rooting for her.

It starts out feeling pretty light and fun, but I promise you, you have no idea where this story is going.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, recommended for her Must-Read Book of the Year in TIME Magazine

Not since Gone Girl have I been so gripped by a narrative voice. This is a tale of blackest comedy, spiralling obsession and ultimate horror. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and appalling, Marisa Kashino asks how far you would go to secure your dream house, then goes several steps further than you would ever dare. Compulsive and unputdownable. Highly recommended.

Alex Michaelides, #1 bestselling author of The Silent Patient

A cross between Gone Girl and Selling Sunset

Elizabeth Day, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author

What an absolutely insane, sometimes obscene and ludicrously entertaining and original novel. I felt every emotion available while reading Best Offer Wins: horrified, scared, excited, obsessed, humoured, delighted, concerned and of course, entirely gripped. You know it’s a great book when you’re rooting for someone who should not be supported for their rights or their wrongs. Marisa Kashino is a genius and I cannot wait to – inevitably – read this book all over again.

Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us

Best Offer Wins is a page-turning blend of cringey and compulsive that had my jaw dropping on nearly every other page. Kashino cloaks her examination of gender, class, and race expectations in a twisty domestic thriller that had me guessing until the final pages.

Darkly satirical and wildly entertaining, Best Offer Wins is a riveting thriller from the first page to the last. Who knew that buying a house could be so fun and twisted?

Amy Tintera, New York Times bestselling author of Listen for the Lie

Best Offer Wins takes the thrill of the house hunt and ratchets it up to diabolical levels. Dark, hilarious, and totally gripping, with a jaw-dropping twist that closes the deal.

Ryan Serhant, CEO and star real estate broker, author of Sell It Like Serhant, producer and star of Netflix’s Owning Manhattan

Irresistible, elegantly written, and timely as hell, Best Offer Wins puts a sinister spin on today’s cutthroat real estate market. We may not want to root for Margo on her rage-fuelled quest, full of dark twists, for her “dream home,” but her voice is too alluring to refuse.

Thank God this book exists - it's a slick, mischievous thriller about the longing to find home and beauty in an impossible economy. Kashino crafts her story so immaculately, as the protagonist's deeds become darker, dirtier and more twisted, you simply root for her even harder.

[A] gripping, witty debut thriller

A darkly funny thriller whose protagonist grows more unhinged as the novel progresses. You’ll find yourself whispering OMG through every diabolical scene.

A wicked satirical thriller about the cutthroat world of Washington, D.C., area real estate... this darkly comedic novel of millennial anxieties will likely strike an uncomfortable chord.

A sharp, emotionally charged take on the real-estate rat race, blending millennial anxieties with biting humour... hilariously chaotic and surprisingly resonant.

A biting debut novel that might seem unbelievable but is utterly, gasp-inducingly, guffaw-out-loud fun.

Behind the closed doors of the perfect dream home, Kashino paints a gimlet-eyed portrait of the allure of status and the greed for material wealth that turns at least one woman into a predatory monster. Deliciously dark and twistedly funny.

A deliciously dark take on the uber-competitive world of home-buying

[An] unhinged tale that will have you laughing, gasping, and locking your doors.

Home-buying as guerrilla warfare: That’s the premise of this darkly comic debut… Just picture Amy Dunne of Gone Girl as a client on House Hunters.

For the obsessed protagonist of Marisa Kashino’s darkly comic debut novel, Best Offer Wins, real estate is blood sport.

Sharp on class , ambition and desperation, it convinces on how quickly good intentions can curdle.

An outrageous, unhinged, laugh-out-loud page-turner

This darkly compelling story builds to a shocking ending, revealing how far ambition and desire can push someone.

Smart, fresh and wickedly entertaining

Sharp, tense, and wickedly funny, the novel skewers class anxiety, entitlement, and the lengths we’ll go to for the life we think we deserve.

All those fantasies about behaving badly to get ahead are realised in this jaw- dropper - and then some… Brilliantly bonkers.

Property market driving you crazy? Victimised by your vendor and gaslit by your estate agent? Novelists feel your pain, because property thrillers and comedies are a hot trend in fiction. This month there’s a buzz about Best Offer Wins

A darkly funny tale of housing-market madness

A compelling look at status anxiety and ambition.

Having inveigled an invitation to dinner, she asks to look round the house in a scene that’s deliciously embarrassing to read. Thus far Margo has appeared merely insensitive but when her offer to buy the house “off the books” is rebuffed she becomes obsessed. Stalking, blackmail and a double murder follow in this unusual novel.

Darkly funny, brilliantly unhinged

This darkly compelling story builds to a shocking, unpredictable ending, revealing how far ambition and desire can push someone

Unputdownable. I love an unhinged, flawed anti-heroine who'll stop at nothing to get what she wants… It's pacey and fresh; the best kind of cringe-LOL read.

A classic of the frightmove genre… Stressful, ingenious and very funny

‘I promise you, you have no idea where this story is going’ Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Must-Read Book of the Year in TIME Magazine 
 
‘A clever, twisted thriller. I couldn’t stop reading!’ FREIDA McFADDEN 
 
‘Unputdownable’ ALEX MICHAELIDES 
 
‘A cross between Gone Girl and Selling Sunset’ ELIZABETH DAY 
 
 
Margo’s marriage, family and career are dangerously out of control. 
 
All she needs is a fresh start in a new house to get her dream life back on track. 
 
When the ideal home comes up, desperate measures are called for. A little stalking. Some trespassing. Befriending the owner. All reasonable enough, right? 
 
But when your best offer might not win, then you just need to do what it takes… 
 
 
‘You’ll find yourself whispering OMG through every diabolical scene’ REAL SIMPLE 
 
‘Will have you laughing, gasping, and locking your doors’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 
 
‘All those fantasies about behaving badly to get ahead are realized in this jaw-dropper – and then some’ HEAT 
 
‘Deliciously dark’ ELLE 
 
‘Smart, fresh and wickedly entertaining’ PRIMA 
 
‘A twisty rollercoaster’ DAILY MAIL 
 
Readers LOVE Best Offer Wins 
‘The kind of popcorn thriller that’s impossible not to binge’ 
‘Hit every single one of my reading needs’ 
‘OMG I could not put this down’ 
‘I’m obsessed’ 
‘Twists and turns galore in this book, a right page turner’ 
‘Real Housewives drama mixed with Freida McFadden-level twists’

Marisa Kashino

Books by Marisa Kashino

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