M
May CobbThriller · Suspense
The Hunting Wives
Synopsis
Sophie O'Neill gives up a career and the competitive pace of Chicago to settle with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. The house is beautiful and the community idyllic, but within a short time she is bored and restless, and the quiet starts to wear on her.
Then she meets Margot Banks, a socialite who belongs to an elite clique known privately as the Hunting Wives. The group spends its nights on target practice, martinis and reckless partying. Sophie is pulled toward Margot and into the circle's secretive world.
What begins as curiosity hardens into obsession. Sophie drifts further from her family and deeper into a group the book likens to a nest of vipers. Then a teenage girl's body is found in the woods where the women gather, and Sophie is caught up in a murder investigation while her own life spins out of control.
The book is a suburban thriller of obsession, seduction and murder, with a gossipy, scandalous edge. Its tone is sultry and dangerous, and the pull of the clique drives the pace as much as the crime does. It has also been adapted as a Netflix series.
How it reads
Prose complexity 4/10
Content warnings (3)
ViolenceGun ViolenceSubstance Abuse
Genres
Characters
Sophie O'NeillProtagonist
Former Chicago magazine editor who relocates to small-town East Texas with her husband and son, then grows dangerously obsessed with Margot Banks and the secretive Hunting Wives.
Margot BanksAntagonist
Wealthy, alluring socialite who leads the exclusive Hunting Wives clique and draws Sophie into a world of target practice, partying, and hidden danger.
Graham O'NeillSupporting
Sophie's husband, whose marriage strains as Sophie grows more entangled with Margot and the Hunting Wives.
Detective FlynnSupporting
Investigator leading the murder inquiry after a teenage girl's body is found in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Hunting Wives based on a book?
Yes. The Netflix series The Hunting Wives, which premiered July 21, 2025, is adapted from May Cobb's 2021 novel of the same name.
Is The Hunting Wives part of a series?
No. The Hunting Wives is a standalone novel by May Cobb. It has no sequel; the Netflix TV adaptation has been renewed for a second season, but that continuation exists only on screen, not in print.