⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars
Happy publication to Teddy Wayne and The Winner! Thank you to Teddy Wayne, Harper Publishing, and NetGalley ( @netgalley ) for allowing me to read a gifted eARC of this book for an honest review!

📅 Today, May 28, 2024 is the pub date for The Winner. Be sure to pick up a copy from your local bookstore or Amazon! 📅

If Teddy were a fisherman, his writing style would hook you from the beginning…almost immediately. He keeps the reader engaged and interested in the story line by interweaving characters into complex relationships…or dare I say relations. This would have been a 4 star read for me if the ending was more developed. I was left really frustrated by the abrupt ending that displayed none of the development or complexities mirrored in the rest of the book.

Conor O’Toole, a struggling law student, is in major need of a summer job. He is helping to support his mother who is unemployed and diagnosed with diabetes. He lands a lucky streak when he is hired to teach tennis lessons to John once a week in the small but prestigious community of Cutter’s Neck near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Conor gets to live in the guest bungalow on John’s property for free in exchange for the lessons. Conor also gets to mingle with the additional guests and residents of Cutters Neck in hopes to build up his revenue stream, offering lessons for $150 an hour. His business picks up a little more unconventionally than one may think. He finds himself in some rather strange predicaments, faced with extremely tough decisions. Does he make the ethical decisions that are needed for him to save face and land the law career of his dreams?

This is a fun roller coaster of a novel with a plot worthy of a grand audience. When one can not pay the bills and receives an offer any guy can not refuse Conor is taken on a ride he did not plan on. Conor becomes one who changes as the story goes yet who wouldn't in his circumstance? Lies do become you in the end.

For a Teddy Wayne novel, there is more plot and less magic here. You're always in expert hands with this author, but The Winner genre-hopped in a way that satisfied me less. A fun beach read, although I missed the character-driven nuance of work like Apartment.

This book is an unputdownable literary thriller that expertly explores themes of ambition, temptation, and the dark underbelly of the elite. Conor O’Toole, a young tennis instructor, finds himself in the opulent gated community of Cutters Neck near Cape Cod, exchanging lessons for luxurious lodging. Struggling to find clients, Conor accepts a lucrative offer from Catherine, a wealthy divorcée, leading to a secret and complex affair.

As Conor navigates this risky liaison, he also develops feelings for a young woman he meets on the beach, creating a tangled web of relationships. Wayne’s masterful storytelling builds tension with every page, culminating in a shocking and irreversible mistake by Conor.

The Winner is a cinematic and psychologically rich novel that skewers the excesses and moral decay of the upper class, making it a must-read for fans of dark, thought-provoking thrillers.

Thank you Teddy Wayne, Harper, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Conor O’Toole has struggled to get ahead most of his life. His one path to a better life has been his skill at tennis. Having just graduated from law school, Conor is drowning in debt and looking for a job. So he accepts an offer to live rent free in a guest cottage in the elite Cutters Neck, a gated community near Cape Cod, in exchange for providing his host with tennis lessons. He hopes to find additional clients for lessons to make more money while studying for the bar. He soon meets and gets entangled with Catherine, an older woman who lives in one of the largest houses in the community. He also meets and begins dating a woman his own age. Somehow, Conor manages both relationships, until his careful balancing act is undermined with consequences that threaten to reshape his future and the lives of the two women.

This is an engaging and well written thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat through the last page.

Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice and twisty slow-burn. Even though I absolutely despised the main character, I thoroughly enjoyed watching his transition. I almost gave up on this book, but I’m glad I didn’t because the ending turned out to be incredibly unpredictable and unsettling. Once the storyline picked up I was hooked! I highly recommend this one!

Conor O’Toole, a struggling young law school graduate, takes a Tennis Pro job in a Cape Cod gated community to make ends meet while studying for the bar exam. Despite his financial burdens, Conor is a likable character with a hint of resentment from his upbringing. As he navigates his path to financial stability, a fateful meeting with wealthy Catherine changes his life's course.

The first half of the book is engaging and well-crafted, drawing you into Conor's journey. However, the story takes a dramatic turn halfway through, leading to unexpected twists and turns that keep you captivated until the end. Teddy Wayne delivers a thrilling roller coaster ride of a story that will surprise and enthrall readers, making it a must-read for thriller fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC!

This surprised me, in a good way! I was expecting a Mrs Robinson slow burn drama, but this had so much more!

After finishing law school at the start of the pandemic, Conor has no job prospects, so he returns to teach tennis lessons for the summer as a way to make ends meet. He's from Yonkers but is intrigued by the wealthy people at the resort near Cape Cod where he moves to teach. When an older client comes on to him and he later gets entangled with a girl his own age, Conor has a lot of secrets to keep as he has dreams of wealth, fame, and of course sex.

This was a very soapy book but was pretty predictable. It had a pretty good pace (which saved it), and everyone loves a rich people, behaving badly, story. If you do, this one is for you. There is lots of drama, sex, money and class issues, and tennis.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

Solid 3.5 stars. At first I wasn’t sure about the mix of 2020/Covid and The Graduate vibes, but throw in a New England summer, some plot twists and Triangle of Sadness type class commentary and it had my attention. It’s interesting how Covid and the election are used not just as a plot device, but to commentate on the impact it had on different social classes. A bit slow in the middle, but otherwise an unsettling ride.

The Winner by Teddy Wayne was so engaging and kept me turning pages until the very end!
Well written, fast flowing, just a joy to read!
I enjoyed reading it.
I'd say it's perfect for a lazy afternoon.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more hype for this book! This book follows Conor, a hard-working law student, as he spends his summer teaching tennis lessons in an exclusive and very wealthy community. Over the course of the summer, he becomes involved with two very different women, and keeping those relationships separate becomes very complicated. The mistake referenced in the blurb doesn’t happen until nearly 60% into the book, at which point I’d say this book shifted from a drama into more of a thriller.

This book was set during the height of Covid, but Covid wasn’t used merely as a plot device. I really appreciated Conor’s astute observations about how Covid affected people in different income brackets so differently, and about how Covid barely crossed the minds of people in the Cutters but it was life or death every day for his mom back home in Yonkers.

I also thought the characterizations in this book were well done. For fear of spoilers, I won’t go into each character in-depth, but the two women could have easily been drawn as stock characters, but instead I felt like they were well fleshed-out. And it was very interesting to see Conor’s character change throughout the time he was away from home.

Four stars! I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

Wow! What a book. Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this eARC. The Winner by Teddy Wayne is a thriller that centers around tennis "pro" Conor O'Toole. He leaves his incredibly modest life in Yonkers for a summer on Cutter's Neck a gated community on the ocean in Massachusetts. Conor soon gets more than he bargained for when he starts an affair with one of the wealthiest older women there but soon starts to fall in love with her daughter. This thriller has spice, murder, and so much gas lightning it could catch on fire. I really enjoyed this atmospheric novel though. As a fan of tennis it was fun to read about. This does take place during the pandemic which was also an interesting story line which really added to the mystery. I highly recommend this book.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. It was a very slow burn, about 60% before the “thriller” aspect kicked in.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collin’s for the opportunity to read this arc

I went into this book expecting a traditional thriller (based on the vibes of the cover mostly) and it was definitely not that. It does, however, have all the trappings of a great domestic thriller - it was slower (things don’t really ratchet up until 60% in but by then, hold on tight because you’re in for a wild ride!!), more cerebral (exploring themes of class, privilege, and power), and the suspense was more subtle but still absolutely unsettling. This story focuses on the complicated relationships between three main characters with wildly different ages/economic status/lifestyles and I’m going to leave it at that because I highly suggest you go in blind like I did!

Perfect for fans of Come and Get It, My Husband, Stone Cold Fox, or The Guest.

Thanks NetGalley and Harper Collins for the eARC!

"Weak people dwelled on the past, wallowed in their losses, leaned on the crutch of psychobabble to justify their defects. The strong forged ahead, forged themselves into whatever they wanted to be, and he was nothing if not strong. Mentally tough. Not a pusher; a rocket ship."

Conor O'Toole has nabbed a cushy summer job as a tennis instructor at an exclusive gated community by the sea. With lodging provided, he can send all his earnings to his diabetic mother in Yonkers, and spend his down time studying for his upcoming bar exam. Sounds like a plan, only within days of his arrival, he gets Mrs. Robinsoned, and, well . . . insert your favorite quote about making plans here. Reluctant to give up the "good life" he's rapidly become accustomed to, Conor is soon fighting to keep track of all his lies, and basically selling his soul to save his skin.

This was terrific. The book reminds me so much of those great seventies novels I've read by Philip Roth, Bruce J. Friedman, and, yes, Charles Webb, about young protagonists who may start out idealistic, but, you know, things change, and shit happens, and you gotta look out for number one. (They didn't call it the Me Decade for nothin'.) This one is set, not in the seventies, but during the summer of 2020. Covid-19 fears are still running rampant, and masks are worn by some, but not all. Our protagonist is paying close attention to the upcoming presidential election, though we never really find out which candidate Conor actually supports.

I'd say that by the end of the book we know the answer to that question.

Well done, Mr. Wayne. Well done.

I just couldn’t get into this one. I found it too much of a slow burn, and couldn’t connect with the characters. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually a fan of Pandemic or Election type of books but the cover definitely has you wanting to try the author out.

This book follows Conor who is taking a summer job as a tennis instructor for a client within a gated community. As the story progresses Conor picks up other clients and he is starting a relationship that is just blossoming and then one night everything changes.

To me the story is slow moving and the dual relationship that Conor in is somewhat annoying. He is not easy to like just because of this drama and the situation. 75% of the book is slow and it finally picks up and you definitely want to find out what happens.

The ending seemed abrupt and i didnt really care for the story.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

I wanted to love it based on the premise but for some reason I found it impossible to connect with the protagonist or the story. Might be for someone else but it wasn’t for me!

The first 1/4 of this book was too much tennis and not enough action. BUT once the action started??? Whew. This was a wild one. I devoured it. I vividly saw this play out as a lifetime suspense movie 😂
The conversation this provokes regarding class differentials is a great layer for a novel that seems just salacious on the surface.