The Hunting Wives

The novel’s deliberately jumbled, nonlinear structure introduces an immediate element of uncertainty, clearly marking itself as a member of the thriller genre. Notably, the Prologue reveals that a woman will be killed, but because her identity is hidden, Sophie’s new acquaintanceship with a whole group of women adds considerable suspense to the narrative, and the author implies that any of them could be the future victim. As Sophie’s first-person narration jumps erratically between different time periods, this approach contributes to her positioning as an unreliable narrator. For example, Sophie delays revealing that she has been stalking Margot online since December (several months before the main events are narrated) and that she has exhibited stalking behavior by driving past Margot’s house and lurking outside. Because these details are mentioned casually, it is clear that Sophie intends to minimize her own suspicious behaviors, but these details also mark her as a suspicious character in her own right.

The foundations of Sophie’s fascination rely on social media; given the novel’s setting in 2018, Facebook is the platform of choice and becomes a key stage on which the women of Mapleton perform their lives for a widespread, nebulous audience. Sophie herself participates in this trend when she posts photos of her family to seek validation and project the image of a picture-perfect family despite her increasing dissatisfaction with her life. Ironically, although Sophie is perfectly capable of crafting appearances that do not match reality, she is quickly seduced by the idealized imagery of Margot’s life, and her reflections on these pictures reflect the Threat of Repressed and Unsatisfied Desire. Sophie’s interest in Margot is sexualized from the very beginning, as seen when she lingers on the images of Margot’s “ sculpted thigh, her slender wrist […] her fuck-me eyes” (33). Sophie’s fascination with Margot features a version of the traditional “male gaze” trope, in which she becomes obsessively aroused by surveying the body of a woman who remains unaware of her interest. However, Sophie also perceives Margot as an aspirational archetype of the flawless wife and mother, with a beautiful home and “two children who look as if they’ve stepped from a Renoir painting” (7). Sophie’s idealized view and sexual desire for Margot blend together and give rise to her decision to imitate the woman and gain acceptance to her clique. As Sophie begins to plot a way to enter Margot’s social circle, she behaves in nefarious and deceitful ways, fueled by a longing to which she cannot fully admit.

Because Sophie is new in town and has recently experienced a significant identity transition, she proves vulnerable to developing an obsessive interest in Margot. Sophie identifies herself as “a stay-at-home mom” and repeatedly reflects on her boredom and discontentment with fulfilling the limited roles of wife and mother without an external outlet (3). Sophie was formerly a creative professional, and this background has left her susceptible to the shallow thrill of beauty. As Sophie herself concedes, “a decade spent in the lifestyle magazine business has [her] hardwired toward shallowness” (8), and she condemns the “oppressive” feel of her calm life of “zero traffic, near-empty stores, [and] bottomless hours in the day” (27). The novel’s setting of a small, prosperous town in East Texas thus reflects the domestic noir trope of revealing sinister secrets in seemingly idyllic settings. Sophie’s boredom and dissatisfaction also become a critique of the performative norms of femininity that run rampant in elite American communities; try as she might, Sophie is not satisfied with merely maintaining her home and caring for her child.

The novel’s setting is significant because Sophie feels alienated from this relatively religious and conservative community. She has grown up moving between many different locations and even lived in a large urban center before moving to Mapleton; these experiences mark her as somewhat more liberal and cosmopolitan than many of the women around her. Based on a sardonic comment that Margot made on social media, Sophie latches onto the misguided idea that she and Margot share similar values, and her assumption introduces the novel’s focus on The Danger of Emotion-Based Misperceptions. Sophie has no real basis for these assumptions and fixates on them because she wants these ideas to be true, not because they necessarily are. The novel’s early chapters also make it clear that Sophie falls prey to the allure of class and power that Margot exudes. Margot can present a beautiful façade on social media because she has the money to buy whatever she wants, and her wealth and charisma make her a powerful force within the community.