Best Offer Wins

Ian is Margo’s husband. A “risk-averse” government lawyer, Margo initially highlights his calm, even temperament and his supportive approach to marriage. While Margo is emotional, driven, and ambitious both in her career and during their housing search, Ian remains measured and circumspect. He is a dependable husband, friend, and co-worker and is, unlike Margo, the product of a stable, two-parent home. Ian has a strong work ethic and values his job, but he prioritizes personal ethics and big-picture goals over financial success. He quits a high-paying legal position to become an environmental lawyer, a decision that rankles Margo and propels her toward her own career switch: She gives up journalism for the more lucrative world of PR when Ian’s salary decreases drastically.

Although Ian is initially presented as more ethical and reliable, his behavior as the novel progresses complicates a straightforward reading of his character. Like Margo, Ian is much more comfortable with betrayal than he might seem to the casual observer. Margo, wrapped up as she is in her own increasingly outlandish scheme to land an accepted offer on the house, assumes that Ian’s response to their disagreements about the house search will be, as it has been in the past, a sincere apology. Instead, Ian begins an affair that ultimately results in the death of his girlfriend and the breakdown of his marriage to Margo.

Ian’s character is part of the novel’s broader interrogation of the idea of the “perfect” family, as even during the period of (relative) calm in their marriage, he betrays Margo. Ian is not as strong-willed as his wife, and Margo is eventually able to manipulate him into remaining with her and moving into the house, but as the novel ends he seems poised to begin yet another affair.

Curtis is a Georgetown economics professor “who looks a little like Stanley Tucci” (17). He is characterized in part by his privilege. Margo judges him for his wealthy background and because his “parents run a hedge fund” (17). Margo gravitates toward people who are, like her, self-made, and Curtis’s inherited wealth marks him in her eyes as distasteful. Margo’s distaste for Curtis is also rooted in his personality. Curtis is arrogant, assertive, and “an ego maniac who loves the sound of his own voice” (125). He has a reputation for being a difficult professor and colleague at Georgetown, and Margo is not surprised to find that he plagiarized a portion of his book from a student or that his father helped cover up the debacle.

Curtis is fiercely protective of his family and becomes aggressive with Margo when he learns that she deceived Jack into believing that their friendship was genuine. Although Margo respects Jack’s commitment to his family, she does not think that Curtis merits the same respect because she is so put off by his affluence and his intractable personality. Although Curtis is initially worried by Margo’s attempt at blackmail, he demonstrates his bravado and cunning when he refuses to comply with Margo’s demands unless she shows him proof. Although Margo herself complicates the idea of a protagonist because much of her behavior is deeply problematic, Curtis remains, in her eyes, an antagonist.

Jack Lombardi is one of the house’s owners. He is attractive, fit, and Margo speculates that he “must spend a fortune on skin care” (18). He is an avid yogi, and Margo engineers their first meeting after the initial, unplanned run-in at his local yoga studio. Jack’s commitment to health and wellness are, to Margo, part of the broader appeal of his family and the house itself. Jack, Curtis, Penny, and their home are all picture-perfect and stylized, and to Margo they represent a desirable ideal of the “perfect family.”

Margo herself is fixated on the idea of creating her own perfect family, in part through purchasing Jack and Curtis’s house. She is also drawn to Jack because of his loving parenting style. Her own father was a deeply problematic man who put himself before his children, and Margo is struck by how much Jack loves Penny. Until he becomes aware of Margo’s subterfuge, Jack is a warm, open individual. He easily strikes up a friendship with Margo and genuinely wants to share his experience with the adoption process. Kind and extraverted, he invites Margo and Ian over to his home very quickly after meeting her. Although the references to it are subtle, Jack is also a “self-made” man (18). Margo put herself through college and owes her success to her own hard work rather than parental support or inherited wealth. She is drawn toward other people who succeed in spite of difficult odds, and she often respects people more when she finds out that they do not come from privilege.

Erika is Margo’s friend and a journalist with a “highly respected byline” (20). She and Margo meet during Margo’s early days as a journalist and remain friends after Margo leaves to pursue a more lucrative career in PR.

Although Margo and Erika are, on the surface, friendly, all of Margo’s friendships are fraught, complex, and multi-layered: Margo resents Erika in part because, unlike Margo, Erika became pregnant as soon as she and her husband began trying for a baby. She also resents Erika’s success in DC’s cutthroat housing market, as Erika and her husband were able to purchase a large, beautiful home in one of DC’s most desirable neighborhoods, securing an accepted offer on the first house they bid on. There is no textual evidence to suggest Erika’s feelings toward Margo are disingenuous, but Margo certainly conceals her true feelings for Erika.

Erika helps Margo multiple times during Margo’s hunt for blackmail material on Jack and Curtis, and although Erika does, at one point, begin to question Margo’s motives, she does not refuse Margo’s requests for information and assistance. Like many of the novel’s other female characters, Erika is successful, strong-willed, and self-possessed. Although Margo herself has dubious ethics and is a complicated, often untrustworthy narrator, she is part of a broader cast of female figures who are all strong and resilient.

Natalie is Margo and Ian’s neighbor. She is characterized in large part through her hard-partying lifestyle and outgoing personality, both of which Margo judges harshly. Margo notes, with no small amount of derision that Natalie “got married right out of college” and is now “trying to reclaim her lost youth” after the finalization of her divorce (48). Natalie’s marriage and divorce were difficult, and she has soured on the idea of monogamy. Her romantic liaisons are casual, short-lived, and she finds moving from partner to partner thrilling. Natalie is also highly critical of the kind of life that Margo envisions for herself: Natalie scoffs at the institution of marriage and finds normative goals like home ownership and parenting limiting. She has a snarky, biting sense of humor and often pokes fun at beliefs and practices that are near and dear to Margo’s heart.

Natalie is not, however, truly malicious, and although Margo takes offense at much of what Natalie says and does, it is evident that Natalie is merely working to process her divorce and navigate this new stage in her life. That Margo dislikes Natalie so thoroughly yet maintains the appearance of a friendship with her speaks to Margo’s interpersonal style: She rarely reveals her true thoughts about her “friends” and colleagues and keeps people around in part to use them to her own advantage. Margo has no moral qualms about killing Natalie in order to help her secure an offer on her dream home, and Natalie becomes one more casualty of Margo’s machinations.

Jordana is Margo’s boss. She is stylish, poised, and chic. She is hardworking and knowledgeable, running a successful PR firm. Beyond her appearance and the skill and work ethic that she brings to her job, Jordana receives little characterization. However, she plays an important role in the narrative because of her interactions with Margo and the way that their relationship adds to Margo’s characterization.

Jordana’s wardrobe and put-together appearance often contrast with Margo, whose appearance is often messy. Margo, although she does enjoy looking good and understands the impact of a stylish outfit, is often too embroiled in one of her schemes to pay attention to what she is wearing. She is often depicted as messy, and when she is forced to select a professional outfit, she struggles. Jordana’s stylishness thus contrasts with Margo and helps the author to illustrate the impact that Margo’s obsession has on her life.

Jordana’s work ethic and commitment to her job also help characterize Margo as someone driven more by self-interest than a desire to succeed professionally. Margo, who loved the seriousness of journalism, finds her new career frivolous and, distracted by the house, cannot put as much effort into generating buzz for restaurants and hotels as Jordana. Jordana is also noteworthy for her strength and ambition. Most of the female characters in this novel are strong and empowered, which is a deliberate nod by the author to women’s empowerment.