I enjoy stories about writers and this one was a brilliant book about a fact checker for a newspaper. Read it, give it a chance. Perfect debut. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

"The Fact Checker" is Austin Kelley’s debut novel about a fact-checker who finds himself in a hard-boiled detective adventure. The story is set in 2004 and reflects the collective mood and actions following 9/11, the anthrax attacks, and the wars. During this time, mainstream media and politicians discouraged questioning and promoted consumerism, contributing to the rise of fake news and propaganda.

The main character, a fact checker, is assigned to check an article about a local farm. While working on this assignment, he meets Sylvia, a volunteer at the farmer's market, and becomes sidetracked, engaging in tangential stories, going against his usual direct fact-checking approach.

I recommend this novel. As the story progresses, the protagonist's quest for answers leads him further away from the truth. Readers will be left wondering what is real and what is a product of the narrator's delusions or wishful thinking. Is he falling victim to the confirmation bias he had warned about?

In a world filled with falsehoods and fakes, this protagonist must learn to trust but verify. However, as his peers point out, words and memories can sometimes fail, and truth may simply be a matter of perception and feeling. I recommend this novel. Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was an interesting read. It was funny, made me think, and feel other emotions throughout the book. It was a good book, the writing was god, the pacing was decent but there were a few slow parts in the book which made reading it a little bit of a challenge.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review!!