All the Little Houses
- Judith D Collins
- Jan 20
- 8 min read
By: May Cobb
Narrators: Malin Akerman, Allyson Ryan, Alexandra Hunter, James Fouhey
ISBN: 9781464245794
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 01/20/2026
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
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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. 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?
From the author of The Hunting Wives comes a deliciously wicked new thriller about mean girls, mean moms, and the delicious secrets inside all the little houses.
About the Author
May Cobb is the award-winning author of The Hollywood Assistant, The Hunting Wives, My Summer Darlings, A Likeable Woman, and Big Woods. Her books have received attention from Book of The Month, The Today Show, and O, The Oprah Magazine, and The Hunting Wives is currently being made into a series for STARZ. She has an M.A. from San Francisco State University and her essays and interviews have appeared in The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Texas Highways, and more. She lives in Austin with her family.
My Review
May Cobb's ALL THE LITTLE HOUSE (her best yet) is a wickedly delicious murder mystery thriller about a wealthy, image-obsessed mother and daughter whose social standing in 1980s Longview, Texas, is threatened by the arrival of a new, seemingly wholesome family, leading to a dramatic clash that results in murder.
About...
1980s Texas setting:
The story takes place in the mid-1980s in the town of Longview, Texas, with a sultry and intense atmosphere.
The Andersons:
Charleigh, a cunning and ambitious woman who clawed her way to the top, and her daughter, Nellie, a beautiful but spoiled girl who has always had things her way. The Anderson family is at the top of the social hierarchy. Charleigh, having grown up poor, is ruthless in maintaining their elite status.
The Swifts:
A new family, the Swifts, moves to town. They are a "prairie-kissed family" with a traditional, wholesome, "trad wife" vibe that immediately fascinates the townspeople. (think Little House on the Prairie) They embody the traditional, "wholesome" ideal that threatens the Andersons' social power. What are they hiding?
Escalating tension:
The arrival of the Swifts triggers a power struggle between the two families. The conflict begins when Charleigh and Nellie are annoyed by the attention the Swifts receive and see them as a threat to their own hard-fought social existence. Their toxic relationship and mutual desire to eliminate the perceived threat drive the story forward.
Secrets and deceit:
The narrative is told from multiple perspectives, revealing different layers of secrets, deceit, and the darker side of suburban life.
Suspenseful climax:
The plot leads to a shocking event, beginning with a body in the lake and culminating in a stunning reveal of the killer's identity.
My thoughts...
WOW! ALL THE LITTLE HOUSES is undoubtedly my favorite of May Cobb's works. From the very first page, the narrative reels you in, enveloping you in a world that feels as vivid as a cinematic experience, unfolding gracefully before your eyes.
This novel is explosive, devious, and intricately twisty. The "houses" within Cobb's story serve as profound symbols, representing the carefully crafted façades of the characters and the oppressive social hierarchy of the town. These façades conceal a web of secrets, lies, and a hidden world filled with misbehavior that teeters just beneath the surface of everyday life.
The atmospheric setting of 1980s East Texas is essential to the novel. It paints a rich tapestry of materialism, social aspiration, and a distinctive "Texas chic" culture that profoundly shapes Charleigh's character and informs the book's themes of social class and appearance, capturing the essence of a community driven by wealth, creating a palpable sense of place.
During this decade, Texas flourished with wealth born from the oil boom, fostering a culture of opulence and stark social stratification. This dramatic divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in East Texas serves as the backdrop to Charleigh's upbringing on the "poor side." Her formative experiences as an outcast and her longing for acceptance instill in her a fierce determination to ascend the social ladder, fueling an unyielding resolve to leave her past behind.
ALL THE LITTLE HOUSES is a gripping, high-stakes thriller that plunges into the complex and often brutal social politics of a small town. It explores themes of jealousy, obsession, and the extreme lengths to which mothers will go to safeguard their daughters' status and well-being.
Narrated from multiple perspectives, the story gradually unveils the captivating secrets and simmering drama that lurk beneath the polished exteriors of both families and their seemingly idyllic suburban lives in Longview. As the characters delve deeper into their moral failings, the tension escalates, creating a thrilling narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The various storylines and secrets come to a head through a series of shocking events. The book's opening hooks you immediately as we are introduced to a body floating in the lake, indicating a deadly outcome to the building rivalry.
The novel explores a ruthless dissection of ambition, power, and legacy, particularly through Charleigh's drive to maintain her status. Cobb expertly delves into the intensity and precariousness of female relationships, rivalries, and obsessions.
Themes:
~Social Class and Insecurity
~Toxic Mother-Daughter Relationships
~Female Rivalry and Obsession
~Deceptive Facades
~Moral Ambiguity
~Nostalgia 80's and Small-Town Pressure
Full of tantalizing secrets, scandal, and hidden within the "little houses" of the community, and the drama that unfolds as they are revealed. The various lies, betrayals, and schemes collide, culminating in a violent conclusion and a "stunning reveal" of who the murderer is, providing a conclusion to the dramatic and scandalous events that unfolded.
The Title Significance:
The "houses" symbolize the characters' carefully constructed façades and the town's social hierarchy, which hide secrets, lies, and a world of misbehavior. The phrase "all the little houses" evokes a sense of quaint, perfect suburban life, reminiscent of the traditional "Little House on the Prairie" ideal. However, the novel quickly reveals that behind these doors lie dark secrets, moral ambiguity, and scandal, more akin to Desperate Housewives and Dallas (on steroids).
The setting draws on the "oil money-rich" culture of 1980s Longview, Texas, which amplifies the pressure on characters to maintain a perfect facade.
A "Twisted Wink" to Tradition: The setting is a subversion of the wholesome pioneer imagery from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods. While the classic story depicts the woods as a site of self-sufficiency and family bonding, Cobb uses them as a backdrop for dark secrets and moral decay
The title suggests that every house, regardless of how big or "little" (in social standing or actual size), has its own set of problems and hidden drama. The novel explores the idea that no one is truly as perfect or "wholesome" as they seem on the outside.
Top Books of 2026!
Recs...
Readers who enjoyed May Cobb's "All the Little Houses" will appreciate domestic thrillers and suspense novels that focus on wealthy communities, dark secrets, and intense female rivalries.
May Cobb's other Texas books:
~The Hunting Wives
~My Summer Darlings
~A Likeable Woman
Other Domestic Thrillers with Social Climbing and Secrets:
~The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski
~The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller
~The Perfect Hosts by Heather Gudenkauf
~The Block Party by Jamie Day
~One of Us Is Dead by Jeneva Rose
Special thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for graciously sharing a digital and paperback copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
I look forward to listening to the audiobook narrated by Allyson Ryan, Alexandra Hunter, and James Fouhey.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars +
Pub Date: Jan 20, 2026
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Praise
"A striving Texas mother gets mixed up in violent business in this juicy thriller...[an] intricate tale of secrets and lies."
― Publishers Weekly
"It’s East Texas in the 1980s, and the only ones misbehaving more than the teenagers are the adults...Every character inhabits a moral gray area, stuck and struggling with secret desires, resentments, and plans. Cobb may claim Little House on the Prairie as an inspiration―but this is more Desperate Housewives."
― Kirkus Reviews
"The novel begins with a body floating in the lake and ends with a stunning reveal of who has killed whom after a series of shocking events...Readers will be glued to the page, gawking at the messes Cobb’s characters make."
― Library Journal
"All the Little Houses is May Cobb’s most explosive book yet. And trust me, that’s saying a lot." ― Jeneva Rose, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Nobody does explosive and twisted like May Cobb does it. She's in a league of her own."
― Lisa Jewell, #1 NYTimes Bestselling Author of Don’t Let Him In
"Get ready for next year's obsession: All the Little Houses is a dynamic, multilayered powerhouse of a book from an author who writes the inner lives of complicated women with uncanny depth. May Cobb perfectly captures the intensity and precariousness of female relationships, rivalry, jealousy, and obsession, set against the sultry backdrop of an 1980s Texas summer. Timely, twisty, and utterly explosive."
― Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, USA Today bestselling author of Till Death Do Us Part and The Girls Are All So Nice Here
"A spicy cocktail of mean girls, bad boys, and secrets bigger than the prairie sky. It goes down easy but packs a punch."
― Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The House Across the Lake
"Addictive and wildly satisfying."
― Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 International bestselling author
"May Cobb does it again―All the Little Houses is a deliciously sharp and unflinching dissection of ambition, legacy, and the brutal politics of small-town status. Set against the sweltering backdrop of 1980s East Texas, Cobb weaves a tale as seductive as it is sinister. With the formidable Charleigh Andersen at its center―a woman who built her kingdom from scratch and will burn it all down before she gives it up―this novel grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. If you love your thrillers laced with danger and dripping in secrets, this one’s for you."
― Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghostwriter
"Crisp and delicious and devious as a strong cocktail, vivid and atmospheric and steamy as a hot summer day. Reading May Cobb is like happy hour with your most fun frenemy dishing out the juiciest gossip you’ve ever heard in your life, and All the Little Houses is her best novel yet."
― Rachel Harrison, USA Today bestselling author of Play Nice and So Thirsty
"Deliciously twisted! May Cobb does it again! All the Little Houses goes down as easy as a cold margarita on a scorching summer day. I devoured it!"
― Elle Cosimano, New York Times bestselling author of Finlay Donovan is Killing It
"Big money, big hair, and even bigger secrets will keep the pages flying in All the Little Houses, with May Cobb’s signature rich bitch characters that shock and enthrall. All the Little Houses is locked and loaded for fans of The Hunting Wives!"
― Vanessa Lillie, bestselling author of Blood Sisters
