Product Description

An ill-conceived pact between four L.A. housewives to each indulge in a year-long extramarital affair leads to freedom, revenge, social climbing, sex, drugs, and murder in this hilarious and biting solo debut by a coauthor of The Right Address and Wolves in Chic Clothing.
To address their general malaise, four privileged L.A. housewives each make a pact to have a year-long extramarital affair. Their husbands are declared off-limits and the friends agree to confide only in each other (the theory being that dalliances cause trouble in large part because word gets out). And so our ladies embark—two eagerly, one cautiously, and one very reluctantly—on perilous romantic paths that lead to all manner of adventure and intrigue. As the year progresses, secrets are revealed, betrayals pile up, desires are brought to light, lies are told, and each woman is forced to face up to the truth of who she is and the choices that have brought her here. When the women discover that a local gossip has been spying on their conversations and is threatening to reveal their secrets to the whole town, how far will they go to stop him? And how well do these friends really know each other anyway?
With a wry eye and an insider’s view of L.A.’s wealthy and occasionally desperate housewives, The Infidelity Pact is at once poignant and hilarious, a book that is sure to be talked about on both coasts—and everywhere in between.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #975672 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-26
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Four L.A. moms in their mid-30s are bored with marriage and child-rearing. Over meals in trendy eateries, devious Victoria has reasons of her own to persuade Helen, Leelee and Eliza to invent a dangerous, rut-defying game: they will all have affairs over the course of a year; they will confide only in each other; husbands of the four are off limits. Karasyov (coauthor of Wolves in Chic Clothing) gives a good sense of the stakes for each woman and works to give each a unique personality and background (Eliza has a magazine job; Helen's Korean-American; Victoria's mean and has a high-powered agent husband). But the four blur together, and flashes of inventive plotting flame out in an overheated ending. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Praise for The Right Address:

“Offers playful insight into a world as catty as it is rarefied.” —Vogue

“A winning novel . . . If you love society, scandal, and stories about the rich and the richer, look no further.” —Bookreporter.com

“It’s impossible to resist the charms of this modern Manhattan fairy tale.” —People


Praise for Wolves in Chic Clothing:

“Karasyov and Kargman display a frighteningly accurate, up-close and personal account of Manhattan’s bloodless blue-blood upper crust . . . An airy soufflé.” —Kirkus

“For those who crave diamonds and Manolos with their fairy tales, this confection hits the spot.” —People

“A gossipy Saturday-afternoon treat.” —Glamour

Review
"The Infidelity Pact reads like Desperate Housewives on steroids and will keep you hooked until the end." —Bookreporter.com

Praise for The Right Address:

“Offers playful insight into a world as catty as it is rarefied.” —Vogue

“A winning novel . . . If you love society, scandal, and stories about the rich and the richer, look no further.” —Bookreporter.com

“It’s impossible to resist the charms of this modern Manhattan fairy tale.” —People


Praise for Wolves in Chic Clothing:

“Karasyov and Kargman display a frighteningly accurate, up-close and personal account of Manhattan’s bloodless blue-blood upper crust . . . An airy soufflé.” —Kirkus

“For those who crave diamonds and Manolos with their fairy tales, this confection hits the spot.” —People

“A gossipy Saturday-afternoon treat.” —Glamour

Customer Reviews

Could have been much better
I had a so-so reaction to this book. I didn't hate it but didn't love it either.

The main thing I found missing in the book is a sense of who these women are as people and why they are friends. They are completely different types -- and without more substance they wind up being closer to stereotypes than believable characters.

In order to become invested in the story, I needed to care about the women. But two of them are unpleasant and one is just vague. Only Eliza is sympathetic. These women are supposed to be such good friends they would enter into this pact and share their secrets, but I never felt a strong bond among them.

I wish Ms. Karasyov's editor had sent her draft back with instructions to flesh out the characters and their friendship. Provide a reason for the women to act and feel the way they do. Because without that, the reader doesn't have a reason to care what happens to them. I didn't.

There is one benefit from reading the book, however. Desperate housewives will know to turn off the baby monitor before sharing secrets they wouldn't want the world to find out!

Surprised at all the rave reviews
I can understand that it is a likeable book but I think it's weird that everyone on here is raving like it's the best book out there. It seems a little suspicious. I started it and liked it and then about 60 pages in, I couldn't read anymore. I was starting to get really annoyed with Victoria's character. She was such a snot and seemed to look down at and complain about every single one of her friends. Which just really annoyed me. Then it started with the flashbacks and I just didn't care. I liked her friend's Jill Kargman's book much better!

"Desperate Housewives" on steroids
Victoria, Eliza, Helen and Leelee are well-to-do L.A. housewives who feel that something is missing in their respective lives. Victoria convinces them that they need to have an affair in order to spice things up. What makes this book interesting is that each woman has her own backstory and secrets, and deals with her goal and embraces the challenge in different ways.

Victoria has a lot of anger, having married a man she seduced away from another woman, not realizing that she never did love Justin to begin with. The feelings were mutual. Except for her two sons, she sees that nothing good has come from this marriage, and right now she would do anything to get back at her husband, who spends his days wooing actors, enticing them so he can represent them. When he enters a crowded room, all he cares about is finding who he needs to kiss up to at that moment.

Eliza is having the hardest time following through with the pact, because she is happy with her marriage and does not see any reason to rock the boat. She admits that things could be better, but they're not that bad. However, she may need a little more spice in her sex life with Declan. While Eliza appears to be the most conservative of the four women, she has a past that she is still embarrassed to confront. She once had an affair in high school with her teacher, Mr. Matthews, and he is the one man she still thinks about.

Helen isn't sure if her husband even loves her. Wesley is 20 years her senior, a typical stodgy Brit with parents who aren't too crazy about her. But she and Wesley share an awful secret that could get them into trouble with the law. She embraces the pact with abandon, going from one person to another, and has a good time.

Leelee already had someone in mind to have an affair with, a man she should have married years ago but lost out to another woman. She never got over it and thinks she's still in love with Jack, despite her husband Brad's devotion to her. She can't get Jack out of her mind and is now determined to bring him back in her life.

There is a lot of anger and other strong emotions felt by each character, as they live out their fantasies. Readers looking for women's fiction that makes them feel warm and fuzzy won't find it here. They may even be overwhelmed by these feelings of animosity, especially from Victoria, who appears to be angry at the world. It's "Desperate Housewives" and "Dynasty" all rolled into one. In fact, THE INFIDELITY PACT reads like "Desperate Housewives" on steroids and will keep you hooked until the end. The characters are very well drawn; while at first it took me a while to get to know each woman, I started to notice the differences and see each of them as unique.

The character who ties them together is a fifth person, a columnist for a tabloid newspaper. I imagined Anson Larrabee to look like a version of Truman Capote. He is effeminate, nosy, and has a mean streak that would scare anyone regularly found in the society papers. He has something on these women --- the secret infidelity pact they thought no one knew about.

While I did not approve of what they were all trying to do, I did sympathize with them. Carrie Karasyov does a good job creating characters who feel real in an exaggerated sense. I was entertained and at the same time felt connected to them; what's more, I even cared about the outcome to each of their stories.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton (Ratmammy@lofton.org)