Man’s Best Friend

Lytle’s debut explores the notion that morals can be easily discarded if the rewards are large enough. Unsuccessful actress El is floundering. She had a taste of the high life when she received a scholarship to a New York private school populated by children of the Manhattan elite. Now 30 and working at a bakery, El cannot resist an old school friend’s invitation to a luxe East Hampton party. There, she meets obscenely wealthy Bryce Ripley-Batan, son of a shady pharmaceutical titan. Although El finds Bryce neither attractive nor likable, his lifestyle is irresistible. Bryce is intensely controlling, and El wonders what to make of him as she learns alarming information about him. Even so, can she give up all the benefits of this relationship and return to her previous life? Lytle’s book can be frustrating, with unappealing characters whom listeners may find hard to stomach. A side plot about dogs running away from their humans is tangential and somewhat obvious, adding little. Narrator Adina Verson does her best to bring the characters to life and certainly makes them sound as unpleasant as they are written.