Book Review: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat. 

Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete. 

An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. A bad romance, or maybe three. 

Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains. 

A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her. 

A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

Happy publication day to Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart, author of the unforgettable We Were Liars! Thanks to Readers First for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a review!

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. What they don't say is that it can be deadly. This is a thrilling page turner of a book told backwards. We start at the end and end at the beginning.

If you're planning on reading this book be very careful with reviews, as almost every one I've seen compares it to a certain famous novel. Genuine Fraud is essentially a young adult retelling of said novel, and so these comparisons give the entire plot away! Spoilers much!? To follow up to such a phenomenon as We Were Liars was always going to be an impossible task. So rather than trying to replicate its success with Genuine Fraud Lockhart has produced something completely different. Those who didn't like the poetic narration of We Were Liars will be pleased to find it long gone (personally I loved it). Yet the prose that remains here is still undoubtedly Lockhart. Her writing style is inimitable.

I loved the reverse chronology aspect of this novel; it's incredibly clever and once you know the whole story you realise that this is absolutely the best way for it to be told. This isn't a whodunnit, it's a whydunnit, a howdunnit, and it's just as engrossing. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Another thing I noticed in his book that I really liked was the way there'd be a paraphrase or repetition of a paragraph a few chapters on from where it first appears. The memory jogs, you flick back to where you first read it and another part of the story falls into place. So clever! I noticed this technique in We Were Liars too, and although it's used to a lesser extent here it's amazing how it makes certain passages stick in the memory.

None of the main characters in Genuine Fraud are particularly likeable but I suspect that this is intentional. Jule is a kind of anti-hero. She's tough, cased in so many layers of pretence that it's impossible to know who she really is. And we never really find out. The lies she tells, the origin story she has fabricated, she believes in more than her own truth. But you have to admire her determination. Immie on the other hand is entirely superficial. There is little more to her than her money. Her wealth is a magnet that draws people to her, but few of them stick around. The only genuine character was Paolo, and I was hoping to see a bit more from him. There's plenty of scope for a sequel so maybe he'll crop up then!

I made the mistake of reading the reviews before I started this novel so I knew what to expect, but that aside I really enjoyed it. The story as a whole is nothing new, but the way in which it is told is inventive, powerful and riveting. Highly recommended.