The Rayburn Affair is a sharp, seductive book that explores ambition, desire, and the complicated power dynamics of art, influence, and intimacy. The story follows Dr Ruth Morgan, an academic teaching AI and storytelling by day, while quietly dreaming of literary success by night, living in the shadow of her idol, celebrated author Shelby Rayburn.

When Shelby and her charismatic husband Oscar enter Ruth’s life after a chance meeting at a faculty party, everything begins to shift. The connection between the three is immediate and intoxicating, charged with admiration, envy, and unspoken tension. As Ruth is drawn deeper into their orbit, it becomes increasingly unclear whether she is being nurtured, used, or both.

The turning point comes when Shelby makes Ruth a secret offer that changes the balance of their relationship entirely. From there, the story tightens into a quiet psychological spiral, where blurred boundaries, hidden motives, and unequal power dynamics create an atmosphere thick with unease. Ruth’s sense of self, her work, and her understanding of friendship are all slowly reshaped under Shelby and Oscar’s influence.

This is a very well written book that kept me hooked from start to finish. Despite its relatively short length, it packs a surprising emotional and psychological punch. Shelby is a fascinating character, charming and generous on the surface, yet undeniably manipulative beneath it. I love morally grey women in fiction, and Shelby is a brilliant example of how warmth and self interest can coexist.

Oscar largely fulfils the expectations his role sets up, but this never feels lazy or clichéd. His character is handled thoughtfully, adding to the tension rather than detracting from it. Ruth herself is an engaging narrator, intelligent yet vulnerable, and her slow realisation that admiration can easily turn into erasure is compelling to watch unfold.

A smart, addictive book about creativity, control, and the price of proximity to greatness. I loved it.

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I enjoyed this book about the literary world and the price friendship pays in this. The story is of Ruth who befriends a 'power couple' Oscar and Shelby, who take her under their wing. At first she is flattered as she begins to get to know both separately and then she starts to realise that she is perhaps in too deep.

The book delves into Shelby, the novelist, and her charismatic husband who is a director. Not everything is as it seems and Ruth's life starts to shift and change under their influence. Do they appreciate her art or is there something else going on?

Very well written this is a short book that will keep you hooked. I loved it.

Thank you to all for the advance copy.

Acclaimed video artist, Oscar Frost, teaches in the same faculty as Ruth who counts herself as a superfan amongst his novelist wife Shelby Rayburn’s legion of ardent admirers. At the dean’s annual party, Ruth engineers a meeting with this golden couple, amazed to find herself quickly folded into an intimate friendship with her idol and the man who seems to be the most desired on campus. She’s thrilled when Shelby agrees to look at her stories, eagerly accepting the editorial advice her new friend offers, if a little unsettled by the cagey answers she’s noticed Shelby giving to questions about her own current project. When a startling proposal is put to her, she decides to accept despite the risks involved. Betrayal, retribution, and revenge ensue.
There’s a touch of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in the portrayal of Shelby and Oscar’s power couple, singling out young women for their attentions, counterbalanced by Shelby’s vulnerability revealed in flashbacks. Foreshadowing and shifting of narrative perspectives ramp up the tension to a page-turning pace in this gripping exploration of friendship and creativity, which ends in a clever denouement and a gratifying exposure of bad behaviour.

As Shelby puts it in the book, this novel was 'the made up word, unput-downable'. I read it in one sitting!

In 'The Rayburn Affair' we follow Dr Ruth Morgan PhD, a lecturer in English and who explores the role of AI in fiction writing. Aspiring author Ruth in enamoured by famed literary fiction writer Shelby Rayburn, and in a delicious moment of kismet meets Shelby and her media lecturer husband Oscar at a faculty party.

What ensues is a heady story of friendship and betrayal with an underlying sexual tension between all three of our main cast - a will they, won't they situation that embroils the reader.

One of my favourite moments in this were the little glimpses we get into Shelby's inner world; although we primarily focus on Ruth, we get short moments from Shelby's past were we see her life prior to becoming a famed author, dive deeper into her relationship with Oscar, and also catch Ruth from an outsider's perspective, away from her own deep seated insecurity.

I loved Ruth - she is real, a young woman trying to make it as both an academic and a writer, who falls head over heels into a complex friendship with this beguiling older couple. I rooted for her the whole way through, even as she makes some questionable decisions.

My feelings on Shelby were more complicated - she is charming, kind but can also be manipulative. I love morally grey female main characters and Shelby is a wonderful example. Oscar unsurprisingly ended up living up to all the stereotypes I expected, however this is done thoughtfully and doesn't feel like a cliché.

This book is perfect for fans of 'The Rachel Incident' or 'Cleopatra and Frankenstein'.