There was a lot going on here in such a short amount of time. It was quite entertaining in a little over 200 pages but I felt the characters didn't have much depth. Still a nice quick read.

After having loved The Best Kind of People, and having The Spectacular on my want to read shelf for a long time, I was excited to get the opportunity to read Whittall’s latest novel, The Fake.

A con artist who tells a man she meets in a bar and a woman she meets in a grief support group that she is getting treatment for kidney cancer and has lost family members to suicide, Cammie is an easy person to enjoy being around. She blows other women out of the water in the sex department where it comes to Gibson and feeds Shelby’s hysteria. Gibson and Shelby both have suspicions about Cammie’s honesty but is it in their interest to blow it all up?

At points The Fake reads like a good psychological suspense but if you look beneath the salaciousness of the con it asks important questions about what we get out of relationships we engage in.

Not my favourite by this author but still worthy of a read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollinsca for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions. The Fake publishes March 21, 2023.

Zoe has quickly become one of my favourite authors in the past couple of years. Her voice always feels fresh, and the stories she tells are so compelling.

The Fake had me invested right from the first page when we hear from Cammie and her twisted history and backstory. We then transition POVs away from Cammie, hearing exclusively from Gibson, Cammie’s love interest, and Shelby, Cammie’s new best friend. Both Gibson and Shelby are both grieving the loss of their spouses, the former from divorce and the latter from death, and they are quickly swept up in Cammie’s charisma.

Too bad she’s a big ol’ con artist.

Phew - this book was a big dose of anxiety, but in the best possible way. I was INVESTED. And also, I think many a reader will feel seen somewhere in these pages. The story was so real. It was like I knew these people, once upon a time.

I truly loved how very Toronto this book is. Set in places I used to live or spend time, it was very nostalgic for me.

Anyway, this book is really really really good and I’m so grateful that I was one of the lucky early readers. Whittall is a gift and I’m going to keep coming back for more.

Out March 21st!

Shelby and Gibson and two people who are going through challenging times in their lives. Enter Cammie, a young, charismatic, beautiful woman who breathes new life into both of theirs.
For Shelby she's suffering through deep loss and Gibson is trying to move on after getting recently separated from his wife and unfortunately for them both Cammie is a con artist and a liar and they are about to find themselves deep in a world of deception.
A short read that is beautifully written, The Fake is the story of longing and loss and what happens when nice people get taken advantage of.
Please find attached my spoiler free youtube review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PKQNfdKg30&t=252s

I was instantly captivated by Zoe Whitall’s storytelling abilities. The Fake was so emersive and captured the feelings of grief and longing so well.

2.5 stars

This was an interesting enough read to not warrant a DNF. In part due to the length being so short.

The plot line was original and unlike anything I’ve read before - con artist/pathological liar manages to entrap people, earn their trust, and then steal from them or ruin their lives in the process.

This novel has the reader diving headfirst into the story without any real character development or background information. The only character the reader comes to learn the most about is the con artist, however there are still pieces missing from the story.

Due to the nature of the story, I understand the element of relationships being rushed. However, it still felt awkward and choppy.

To tie it all in, the third person perspective felt more like a screenplay or script rather than a book. I’m not anti-third person and in fact have many top reads written in that perspective. This just wasn’t it for me unfortunately.

Would I recommend this book? Probably not. For what it’s worth, I’m glad to have had the opportunity to read it, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for.

This novel opens with Cammie trying to set the record straight. Are we going to believe her, or are we going to believe Shelby, who has an anxiety disorder and is hiding in her closet with her dog when we meet her? Are we going to believe Gibson, who’s been floundering since his separation from Veda?

The Fake is a tense novel, unravelling the stories of Cammie, who meets Shelby just after the death of her wife, and Gibson, just after his split. Both Shelby and Gibson are so glad, separately, to have such a good and loyal friend as Cammie, though Cammie’s initial impression starts to falter after a while. This was entertaining, but no surprises here: Cammie is a con artist, I mostly kept reading to see how it shook out in the end. I’m not sure the framing worked as well as it could have, with notes from Cammie opening and closing the novel, but nothing in between. I wasn’t blown away but it was a fine afternoon read.

The thing I’ll get out of the way first is that, if one were to come at this as a fan of Whittall’s more popular books, The Best Kind of People and The Spectacular, then one might be apprehensive at the outset. The premise: a scam artist suddenly appears in the lives of a new lover and a new friend, appears light and possibly shallow. It could definitely be confused as a departure from her very complex and relationship focused past works. The Fake, at first glance, seems like a simple story and, really, it is. What’s deep and engrossing about it isn’t on the surface. It’s what floats up from the depths of the story when you put it down or think about it after it’s over. The beauty of this story and of Whittall’s storytelling skill is that lurking just out of the picture and unbeknownst to the reader, she is working on what may feel like a small topic in a much bigger way. Yes, it’s easy to vilify the scammer. She’s taking advantage of a man who’s just gone through a painful breakup and a woman whose wife has just passed away. What’s not so obvious or common a consideration is the way that the scam fit so perfectly and easily into their lives. Finishing The Fake may even lead the reader to contemplate how the scammer may have worked in service to those she manipulated. It’s all a set up for a complicated reorganization of inter-relational roles and how deception may be alive and well in ways we never anticipated or appreciated.

Heather O’Neill said “My perspective on lies and liars has forever changed after reading this book.” I think that anyone reading this book may be at risk of having the same thing happen to them.

This was a fun and quick romp. The writing was easily accessible and enjoyable. I loved reading about Cammie, the con artist and the people that she cons. Is it really that bad? What does it mean to seek help? Who is really helping who? Loved the Toronto setting and relatable feelings.