A Small Affair

October 15, 2022
Vera is a ruthlessly ambitious woman making her way in the fashion world. When she finds herself on a date with Tom, handsome, wealthy, and, as he tells her, a soon-to-be divorc�, Vera believes this is just another moment when fate gifts her what she deserves. When Tom dies soon afterwards, along with his very-much-still-married wife, Odilie, Vera's charmed life is stripped away, and she is publicly shamed as the impetus for a seeming murder-suicide that is ripe for tabloid fodder. While Vera struggles in her new role as an outcast, she learns more about Tom and Odilie and realizes that crossing their path was more than a chance occurrence. The draw of this story is the immersion in a culture that is completely superficial, with all the trappings that come with watching the self-obsessed have their comeuppance. There are more than a few twists in the dance between Vera, Tom, and Odilie, and as the reader watches them descend into a fate that destroys their perfect lives, one realizes that everyone gets their just deserts.

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October 31, 2022
At the start of this uneven domestic thriller from Collins (Nanny Dearest), 27-year-old Vera MacDonald, the cutthroat director of sales for a Manhattan fashion company, matches with 37-year-old Tom Newburn, who’s separated from his wife and runs a logistics tech start-up, on a dating app. After their third date, Vera breaks up with Tom. A few days later, Tom and his wife, Odilie, are found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in an apparent murder-suicide; a note from Tom states that Vera’s rejection left him no choice. Fired from her job and ostracized by the press, Vera moves to her mother’s house in the Hudson Valley. A year later, Odilie’s family invites Vera to her memorial service, which prompts Vera to try to regain her life and unravel the truth behind the deaths. Collins neatly doles out secrets as flashbacks chart the downfall of Tom and Odilie’s marriage, but readers will struggle to root for characters who are hard to like, and the slow-moving plot builds to a rushed and unconvincing ending. Hopefully, Collins will do better next time. Agent: Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.

Starred review from December 1, 2022

Collins follows up her white-knuckle debut Nanny Dearest with a modern-day cautionary tale of online dating. Vera MacDonald is an ambitious and independent entrepreneur in New York City who owns her beauty and sexuality confidently. But when a brief affair with a man she meets on an exclusive dating app ends in his suicide and the murder of his pregnant wife, Vera's carefully constructed world collapses around her. A year later, she attends a memorial service for the man's wife, which introduces her to the woman's family and friends. In a redemptive quest to clear her name, Vera unlocks the shocking truths behind her "small affair" and the powerful clique of tech millionaires who need to keep some very dirty secrets. Collins gets under the skin of her characters like no other psychological thriller writer today, seamlessly inhabiting several different viewpoints at once. The result is an addictive reading experience that frays at readers' nerves while delivering an ironic take on the world of social media influence and its one-dimensional, shallow depictions of image, power, and seduction. VERDICT Collins avoids the sophomore slump with her second novel, a big win that positions her as an up-and-coming author with more tech-savvy stories to tell.--Peggy Kurkowski

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