A propulsive and wickedly entertaining debut thriller for fans of Laura Dave and Ashley Elston that explores the dark underside of the American dream, about a couple whose financial problems are seemingly answered when they begin receiving growing sums of money from an unknown source… a windfall that will carry an unthinkable price.

Mack and Hailey Evans have worked hard to achieve their upper-middle-class life: promising careers, two beautiful children, and a brand-new house in the exclusive lakefront village of Bratenahl, Ohio. Not that everything’s perfect—aging parents, problems at work, and even the upkeep on that gorgeous house have been causing these two increasing amounts of worry.

When a small check appears in the mailbox from a mysterious company named Sunshine Enterprises, Mack assumes it’s from his wealthy, estranged father, trying to buy his way back into their lives. Though he’d rather rip it up, Mack deposits the needed funds. To his surprise the checks keep coming—each for a larger amount larger than the last. When Hailey finds out what’s going on, she has her own suspicions about the provenance of the payments. Despite growing uncertainty over the identity of their benefactor Mack and Hailey keep taking the money. After all, there are bills to pay.

It is a choice with dark repercussions, as the couple soon learn the hard way that nothing in life is free. Suddenly, the Evans find themselves in a harrowing arrangement with someone who will stop at nothing to get a return on their investment.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

This is one of those books that left me with mixed feelings, and not necessarily in an entirely bad way. My reaction to it was genuinely all over the place. Ultimately, I liked it. I was engaged, I kept reading, and I cared enough to be annoyed when parts of it didn’t fully work for me. That usually means a book did something right.

The premise is immediately compelling. Mack and Hailey Evans appear to have achieved the American dream. Solid careers, two kids, a beautiful new home in an exclusive Ohio lakefront community. But beneath the surface, things are fraying. Aging parents, job stress, mounting expenses, and the constant pressure to maintain the life they’ve built are starting to close in. When a mysterious check arrives in the mail from a company called Sunshine Enterprises, it feels like a lifeline.

At first, the money seems almost harmless. Then the checks keep coming. And they keep getting bigger. But then the mysterious benefactor wants something in return, and it’s not just a little something.

What worked for me right away was the messiness of the characters. Mack and Hailey are not especially likable people, but they’re deeply human. They rationalize. They avoid hard conversations. They make decisions they know are questionable and then justify them because they’re rich white people who think they can get away with it. I loved hating them a little, and I loved watching them spiral. This is very much a domestic thriller that thrives on flawed people making increasingly bad choices.

The tension builds steadily as the couple continues to accept the money despite growing unease about where it’s coming from and what might be expected in return. Schott does a good job capturing that slow creep of dread, the feeling that something is wrong but not wrong enough yet to force action. The title feels especially fitting in that sense. Everything escalates very slowly, until suddenly it doesn’t.

The book alternates between Mack and Hailey’s perspectives, which I appreciated. Seeing the same situation filtered through their different fears and motivations adds depth, and it highlights how disconnected they’ve become from each other. Interspersed throughout are short chapters from the perspective of the mysterious benefactor, which add an extra layer of unease. Those glimpses helped fill in the picture and kept me guessing about what was really going on.

And this is where my biggest issue comes in.

I never would have guessed who was behind everything, which I genuinely liked. My overanalytical brain was trying very hard to solve the mystery, and I absolutely didn’t see it coming. The problem, for me, wasn’t the “who.” It was the “why.” When the motive was finally revealed, it just didn’t feel strong enough to justify the level of manipulation, control, and effort involved. I kept thinking, really? All of this for that? The reasoning behind the benefactor’s actions felt thin compared to the elaborate setup and the damage caused. It pulled me out of the story at the exact moment when I wanted to feel the most impact. I don’t need villains to be sympathetic, but I do need their motivations to feel proportionate, and that’s where the book stumbled for me.

Still, I can’t deny that I was entertained. The pacing is solid, the plot is devious, and the moral questions around money, entitlement, and desperation are well explored. There’s something deeply unsettling about how easy it is to justify bad choices when they arrive wrapped in the right amount of money.

While not a perfect book, this is a compelling debut with sharp observations about marriage, money, and the cost of keeping up appearances. If you like domestic thrillers with deeply flawed characters, shifting perspectives, and a slow-building sense of doom, this one is worth checking out. Just be prepared to have some feelings about the ending.