Release date: May 5, 2026
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Synopsis:
“Pretty much the platonic-ideal beach read.” —Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Crush
Hello Beautiful meets Miranda July in this sexy, darkly comedic literary novel set in San Diego about an obsessive love affair that ends in a murder
For Perdita Jungfrau, a social worker who thought she was going to be married to her husband forever, falling in love with her anarcho-Marxist roofer Nando is a crisis. Every possible obstacle is in their Nando is fifteen years younger and has a girlfriend. Perdita is pregnant and terrified to mess up her children. None of that hinders her from being drawn to this magnetic man who entrusts her with his deepest secret.
Three years later, Perdita’s lover has been murdered. As her bewildered husband tries to make sense of the wildly unpredictable person his wife has become, Perdita has other things on her mind. For starters, who is the mysterious woman sitting outside her house in a parked car all day? How can she stop her adored baby brother from being pulled under by his opioid addiction? Can someone with a childhood like theirs ever be the mother her children deserve?
And most of all, what should she do with the searing memories of the affair, which turned her life upside down?
Review:
A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch is one of those novels that sets up a fascinating premise and then deliberately refuses to stay in a single lane. At its core, it follows Perdita Jungfrau, a married mother whose life unravels after an affair with her much younger, politically radical neighbor, Nando. Years later, his murder forces her into a present that feels just as unstable as her past, where grief, guilt, and lingering obsession collide with everyday pressures like parenting, marriage, and family crisis. The setup promises intensity, and it delivers that, but not always in a steady or cohesive way.
What stands out most is Perdita herself. She’s deeply flawed, often frustrating, and consistently makes questionable decisions, but she’s also compelling in a messy, human way. The sardonic, dark humor threaded through her perspective helps keep the story from sinking under its heavier themes, and there are moments where her voice really cuts through. At the same time, the pacing feels uneven, and the narrative tone shifts between domestic mundanity and heightened drama in a way that doesn’t always fully settle. It leans into a genre blending structure—part literary drama, part psychological unraveling, part domestic suspense—but it occasionally feels like it hasn’t quite decided what it wants to be.
Ultimately, this is a book that intrigues more than it fully satisfies. The emotional threads; motherhood, addiction, memory, and the long tail of an affair are all interesting in isolation, but they don’t always come together in a fully cohesive way. Still, there’s something oddly absorbing about it, especially if you don’t mind an unpolished narrative that mirrors its protagonist’s own instability. For me, it lands in that middle of the road space: ambitious, occasionally gripping, but ultimately uneven. A solid 3-star read.
Overall rating: 3/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
Novelgossip 