Trust and Safety

Gleichman and Blackett (The Very Nice Box) satirize homophobia in their clever latest. When Rosie, 30, marries handsome tech lawyer Jordan Prawn, she hopes the partnership will bring her stability. Instead, she grows disillusioned with New York City and her job as a canvasser for an LGBTQ advocacy group. While browsing Zillow, she imagines a new life and convinces Jordan to put an offer on her dream house in Upstate New York. Jordan empties his savings to close the deal, then loses his job at a start-up after its personal assistant device courts controversy when it calls a straight user a “hot dyke,” and the company tanks. They rent out their shed to Dylan and Lark, two attractive women who belong to a queer polycule. Rosie becomes fascinated with the new tenants, who enthusiastically help her and Jordan with renovation projects and lead an appealingly unplugged lifestyle (Dylan uses a flip phone and builds furniture by hand). As Rosie’s desire for Dylan grows, she begins questioning her life’s choices. Blackett and Gleichman expertly build suspense following a bombshell revelation about Dylan’s true nature, and Jordan and his business partner’s attempts to consult with Dylan and Lark for a new family planning app are irresistibly cringeworthy. This intrigues and unsettles in equal measure. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group. (May)