Novel set in 1720s SCOTLAND
A dark and humorous novel set in LONDON
7th April 2026
Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester, a dark and humorous novel set in LONDON
Kate and Jack are married and living in a smart house in London. They have humour in their relationship, they enjoy each other’s company and generally, life bowls along quite well for them. There are flashbacks to how they met and to pivotal events that have formed them as individuals and as a couple. And then life takes a downward turn on several fronts.
Kate discovers a TV show called ‘Cheating’ which is unbelievably modelled on her relationship with Jack. There are cute terms, intimacies and mannerisms that are specific to their couple relationship. She immediately assumes that affairs have blighted their hitherto comfortable life, which then challenges everything she thought she knew about her husband.
Running concurrently is Phoebe’s story. She is with Tony, an unassuming and caring man and, it transpires, she is the woman behind ‘Cheating’, which is proving at the moment to be a hugely successful series. She has a twin in Australia and she has a mother who is utterly hell bent on undermining those around her, a narcissist and all round unpleasant person. Phoebe does her best to assuage and cajole but she is a lost cause.
The story of course melds the two women’s lives in an entertaining way.
I love John Lanchester’s writing and storytelling and he is a regular go-to author-of-choice for me. His characters are well-rounded, he has terrific observational skills that translate so well into words and situations, and he often slides in cultural and political themes. If I was being pernickity with this story, the two narratives featuring the two women were great but you could see he needed to tie them together. The background hum of the TV series ‘Cheating‘ felt more like a device – a skeleton on which to hang the well developed and clearly penned women’s accounts – than a truly integral part of the story. Nevertheless, I recommend this novel for entertainment value, great observational skills and for excellent writing.
There is a nice, personal sense of the city in the novel.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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