Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester

I can’t believe I’m still reviewing books from before #20BOS26 began – but I am – there are three more to come still after this one!

I was always going to want to read John Lanchester’s latest book after reading Susan’s mentioning of it. I have been wanting to read his 2012 novel Capital for ages too, but that one’s 592 page length is a bit daunting – although the BBC’s super TV adaptation (now on Netflix) made me want to read it all the more. LWYMMD is an easily manageable 288 pages, and a page-turner too.

Whereas Capital is a humorous domestic commentary with a mystery built-in about generationally and racially mixed group of families living in a street in South London, LWYMMD moves north of the river and ups the dark comedy to a deliciously sharp level.

As it begins, middle-aged middle-class couple, Kate and Jack, are getting ready to go out for a dinner party. They’ve been married for thirty years and know each other so well. As usual, Jack is commentating on things that get his back up. In the first few pages, through Jack, Lanchester skewers: men who trust travel apps over experience – the short journey to their friends is one they’ve done many times before but Jack is an enthusiastic adopter of smart tech; those who buy cookbooks by Yottam Ottolenghi and sprinkle pomegranate seeds on everything, ‘Za’tar – nobody knows what it is. Is it a leaf? Is it a terrorist movement?’; and Audi drivers…

‘I wish we didn’t have an Audi,’ Jack said, as we got into the Audi. ‘I was cut up twice on the way to work yesterday and it was Audis both times. I thought Mercedes were for dentists, BMWs were for wankers and Audis were for the people who didn’t want to be perceived as wankers. But it turns out that the people who most mind about being perceived as wankers are actually wankers, so now all the wankers are in Audis.’
‘But you often cut people up. You’re notably a rather aggressive driver. Not a boy racer but you’re not Gandhi either.’
‘I’m appropriately confident and assertive about my rights on the road. That’s different. I don’t defer. I drive like a Londoner.’
‘Which for a lot of our fellow countrymen is a synonym for wanker.’
Her let that pass.

That made me fall about laughing. I know an Audi driver, who moved to a BMW. Nuff said!

At the dinner party, Al, one of the host’s neighbours, mentions a client’s TV show that has fun with ‘personal branding’. a topic of discussion around the table. ‘It’s basically adultery in Hampstead, only it’s not Hampstead.’ Later, something happens at the end of the first chapter, which I can’t discuss – I don’t want to spoil things for you.

Kate’s book group are all urging her to look at that hit TV show, which is called Cheating, written by a young writer called Phoebe, (a nod to Phoebe ‘Fleabag’ Waller-Bridge perhaps?). Kate watches it, becoming increasingly horrified as the middle-aged couple within come out with lines that could be picked straight from her and Jack’s conversations. The man in it even says to his wife ‘Want your body, disco-doll,’ which was a specific term of endearment Jack used for Kate! OMG! What’s going on? Was Jack having an affair with Phoebe? Kate is finding it scarily close to home and resolves to find its source.

From hereon in it gets very dark and twisty – there is one chapter featuring both Kate and Phoebe where we get a whole succession of WTF twist upon twist upon twists! I can’t possibly say more, but the resolution will surprise you. Lanchester has certainly upped the satire in this novel. The intergenerational tension between Kate and Phoebe’s generations gives great opportunities for misunderstandings to spice things up. The affluent middle-classes are lampooned mercilessly, but Phoebe will soon find the world is against her as her show falls in the ratings and things happen…

I loved this novel and, like Capital, it would make brilliant TV. I must explore his varied back catalogue further.

Source: Own copy. Faber hardback, 2026, 288 pages. BUY at Amazon UK or Waterstones via my affiliate link