"Genuine Fraud"

“Genuine Fraud”

Written by E. Lockhart

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

“Genuine Fraud” is the second mysterious young adult fiction novel written by E. Lockhart. In this tale, we learn of a secretive and suspicious young woman named Jules. We meet Jules at the end of her story, hiding in a tropical hotel. We learn quickly about her, that she is hiding her identity and plenty of truths. Told in a reverse chronological narrative, we see each chapter reveal previous moments, almost begging us to read from the end of the book. It’s a very interesting way to see how the story unwinds, letting us slowly learn about her manipulative and murderous side, as we learn how far she would go.

“Genuine Fraud” is a book that reminds me of many others, but I feel that this story is refreshing. Frankly, the book “Necessary People” has a very similar toxic friendship that ends in the exact same way. I’m surprised that Lockhart didn’t sue because of how exact the two scenes are. Jesus. In addition, this feels very reminiscent of one of my favorite books and films, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, which also has the same murder. Why does this keep happening? I feel like I’ve been thrown down a rabbit hole of copycats.

Other than the similarities, this is a pretty interesting tale. Jules is an intriguing and slightly terrifying character. We also learn in deep detail of the friends she has, especially Imogen. Other than what I’ve told you, there is a great room for spoilers, so to prevent any further ones, I’ll end my plot description here.

I recommend this book, but I also have to point out how “young” the book feels. The characters are in their twenties but use dated slang. Their dialogue makes the characters feel like teens. Their descriptions of how often they apply lipstick makes this book feel like “Gossip Girl Gone Wild”. E. Lockhart’s first book, “We Were Liars” is also about friendship, but I feel that one feels so much more mature than this one. I absolutely recommend her first book more.

In conclusion, I rate this book about three stars. I really enjoyed the more intense scenes, but they felt very derivative. Jules’s present tense storyline of her in the hotel, running away from a detective, was not very compelling. I did enjoy the reverse order narrative; I felt like that it definitely worked for this story.