REALLY MEAN GIRLS: ALANA MEIKE'S REVIEW OF MAY COBB'S ALL THE LITTLE HOUSES

I like to read every kind of mystery, from hard-boiled noir all the way to cozies involving baking and cats (preferably both!). But what I most love to read is books where people who are outwardly fine citizens of the most upstanding kind who are actually truly horrible people. And as fans of The Hunting Wives know (either the book or the Netflix series, pick your poison), no one does that whole wealthy, pious adults acting like absolute heathens better than May Cobb.

The authenticity in May’s books is shaped by her lived experience, and nowhere is that more evident than her novels’ East Texas setting. May grew up in the piney woods and knows all too well that the crushing heat and humidity can make people act differently. She does a great job of weaving in the setting’s oppressive influence on her characters.

Another influence on “All the Little Houses” is a series May read as a kid, one involving a particular kind of house— “Little House on the Prairie.” So, the briefest description possible of this book is “What if the characters from LHP moved to East Texas and did really bad things?” This isn’t one of those modern re-tellings though—the influence is subtle and perfectly executed.

Our “mean girl” heroine isn’t Nellie Cuthbert, it’s Nellie Anderson. Despite being the pampered scion of the wealthiest family in town, Nellie is a deeply troubled young woman who acts out in the unhealthiest ways. And act out she does, when the wholesome Swift family moves to town—handsome father Evan with his trad wife Abigail and their three daughters Julia, Jane and baby Mollie. While Nellie views the Swift family beneath her, she quickly learns that her peers don’t share her opinion, which leads her to become wildly jealous of Jane. Things escalate when Nellie’s mother Charleigh becomes involved. Charleigh learned early on that when Nellie doesn’t get what she wants, terrible things happen, and she has carefully managed Nellie’s life so that her daughter always gets what she wants. Soon the one thing mother and daughter have in common is a shared desire for Jane and the Swift family to be gone.

In the midst of the drama, a terrible accident happens and a young woman is nearly killed. When the victim recovers and suggests it might not really have been an accident, suspicion soon falls on a number of people--and that’s when things become really unhinged. (This is the point where you won’t be able to stop until the very end, so if it’s bedtime just face the fact, you’ll be up till you finish. You were warned…)

I’m hoping that the mastermind who set up The Hunting Wives Netflix deal is busily negotiating because I really want to see this one on the screen!