Adults can behave badly, too.
It's the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can’t get for herself…well, that’s what her mother is for.
Because Charleigh Andersen―blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning―remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she’d so desperately thirsted for.
So when a prairie-kissed family moves to town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh’s entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble.
Who will be left standing when the dust settles?
A ruthless suspense thriller filled with twisted thrills and jaw-dropping secrets, All the Little Houses is a must-read for thriller fans―and a gripping exploration of what it means to be a wife, mother, and woman in a world of ruthless ambition.
All The Little Houses by May Cobb was published on 20 January 2026 by Sourcebooks Landmark. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour.
This is my first read from this author and it is a darkly irresistible slice of domestic noir. From the opening pages, the author builds an atmosphere that thrums with tension, there are sun-baked streets, smiling neighbours, and underneath it all, tightly coiled secrets waiting to be exposed. It’s exactly the kind of structure that I adore: ordinary lives with little cracks that get bigger, little by little, until everything threatens to collapse.
Everything seems so safe and calm, at first. These pretty houses, manicured lawns, and seemingly perfect friendships are beautiful from a distance, but up close you feel everything seething underneath. The characters are wonderfully layered; flawed, impulsive, desperate, and so very human. This author really has a talent for writing women whose choices make you want to reach into the book and shake them, while also whispering, I understand why you did that.
The pacing is so good. Each chapter is like looking into another room of one of those little houses, some are cosy, some are claustrophobic and they are all hiding something. The slow simmer of suspicion, the shifts in loyalty, the creeping dread… it’s all woven so cleverly that by the time the reveals begin to land, you’re already holding your breath.
And the twists, oh, the twists! The author doesn’t go for shock for shock’s sake; instead, she turns the plot like a key in a lock, slowly, deliberately, until suddenly the door swings open and you’re staring at something far more unsettling than you expected.
Atmospheric, sharp, and wonderfully addictive, All The Little Houses is a fabulous novel of psychological suspense. It’s the sort of book you intend to dip into for a chapter or two and then find yourself devouring in an afternoon, utterly hooked.
Highly recommended for readers who love their thrillers with emotional depth, sun-drenched menace, and a narrative voice that refuses to let you look away.
May Cobb is the bestselling author of The Hunting Wives, The Hollywood Assistant, My
Summer Darlings, and more.
Her thriller, The Hunting Wives, is now a Netflix series starring Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman, and her books have received attention from Book of The Month, The Today Show, and O, The Oprah Magazine.
She has an M.A. from San Francisco State University and her essays and interviews have appeared in The Washington Post and Good Housekeeping.
She currently lives in Austin with her family, where she has a love/hate relationship with the Texas summer heat.
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