Plainville LFL & ‘Genuine Fraud’

I found this one when I dropped off If We’re Being Honest for another Celadon Little Free Library Dropoff, this time at the Plainville Park Little Free Library, I’m so glad I stopped here, the Plainville LFL is just so cute! And look at that adorable stamp! It really makes me want to make my own stamp for when I leave books in local LFLs.

I’m glad I found this one, and overall, Genuine Fraud, by E. Lockhart is an intriguing read. It’s a bit of a rough start, though. We have a protag who’s lying about her name, background, and destination, which is intriguing from the start, but also a bit confusing. An unreliable narrator can be a thrill, but it can just be plain confusing, and this one leans way more into confusing.

The story jumps around in time, which is extremely confusing at the beginning. I noticed at about a third of the way in that I wasn’t even sure what genre I was reading. Spy thriller? Supernatural assassin? Random teen who likes to take physical revenge on people? Escape story? At one point, she gives a fake backstory about training at an elite academy for special operatives, and it kind of makes sense because she’s just taken down an investigator and she has access to loads of money, and also that fakeout is just given to the reader, not a character.

It was about three-quarters in when I realized I was reading The Talented Mr. Ripley, but with women, and that was when the story got good. There are direct nods to the original novel, like with the rented boat scene, and with annoying Freddie turning up at the apartment. The friendship between wealthy and privileged Imogen and grasping Jule works well for a modern adaptation. Jule imitates Imogen in both flattering and creepy ways, trying to copy her well enough to live a different life.

There were a couple scenes I really enjoyed here.  You know I always love a good thriller about a twisted friendship, and these last few chapters had perfect blend of Jule’s class observations about Imogen, mixed with her friend-obsession. The backwards format meant I already knew where it was all going, for even more tension.

But then… it didn’t actually resolve. I was a little afraid of this, because the end of The Talented Mr Ripley doesn’t quite say whether he gets away with it, does it? I was left with a feeling that he now had access to loads of cash, way more than he could have earned working a regular job or running his petty scams, but he was constantly anxious about being caught now. As the reader, I didn’t know if he was about to get caught or not, but that worked because he also didn’t know! Genuine Fraud has Jule getting away with it this time, by using her superhero-reflexes and bravery, but there are ominous hints. Was Paolo about to be her big slip up? And the backstory she told when she was drunk seems like a true one, and it’s possible that the woman who heard it will remember and repeat it… I don’t know if we were supposed to know whether Jule will get away with it. I felt a bit frustrated that I’d finished the book, and was back to guessing wtf was going to happen.

Overall, Genuine Fraud is an absorbing read, but not suspenseful in the way I usually like. The suspense comes more from trying to figure out what the heck is going on, not from trying to catch the criminal or solve the mystery.  Recommended for fans of The Talented Mr Ripley, fans of the user-friendship and social media misdirections in Social Creature, and fans of the backwards storytelling in Momento.