Man’s Best Friend

DEBUT Although El is no longer an actress and currently works in a New York City bakery, her status as a former private-school student, albeit on scholarship, allows her to tag along with the rich kids. Courtesy of her wealthy friends, she enjoys an entitled existence—going to parties in the Hamptons; dining in fancy restaurants. When she first meets Bryce Ripley-Batan, the son of a wealthy pharmaceutical investor, she’s repelled by him. But bit by bit, she adapts to his lifestyle and deals with his insecurities. She has had practice: she faces constant turmoil in her relationships with her mother, a single parent with limited resources, and her father, who walked out to start another family. As she begins to piece together Bryce’s ugly and troubled past, El becomes hardened and eventually turns the tables. Most of the novel’s characters, including El and Bryce, come across as conniving, cruel, nasty, and privileged, setting a negative tone.