Release Date: September 5th 2017
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Pages: 267
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: I was sent a copy of this book of this book through ReadersFirst
Rating: 2.75 stars

Synopsis

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.

Review

Genuine Fraud is the newest title from E. Lockhart, who is well known for the YA thriller We Were Liars. At one point I was seeing We Were Liars everywhere, I think around the time it was featured in the Zoella Book Club. I bought a copy for my kindle and read the book in a single sitting but I wasn’t entirely sure it was my cup of tea. After hearing about Genuine Fraud I thought the premise sounded really interesting and decided to give it a shot.

The one thing I found about both We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud is that they were pretty quick reads. Genuine Fraud is just over 250 pages and tells the story of two young women, Imogen and Jule and their lives over the course of their friendship.The story is told in a series of different chapters which jump in time. I found this really grating, especially when I put the book down for a while and went back to it. I imagine some people will love this non-traditional way of telling a story but it wasn’t really for me.

The story is an intense one and there are plenty of twists and turns. Like We Were Liars there were some shock reveals that I just didn’t see coming and would never have guessed in a million years. In that respect I enjoyed this book because quite frequently I find myself guessing the twists before they happen.

I won’t say too much about the plot because I don’t really want to give the story away – this is one of those books that is best to go into without knowing much about. The characters are interesting and well portrayed but I found it difficult to find any sort of likeable quality in any of them. Each was working to their own desires and motivations and while it made for some interesting perspectives, I didn’t really feel attached to any of them.

While I didn’t love this book Genuine Fraud is an interesting read and one I think loads of people will enjoy, especially if you’re a fan of psychological thrillers with a twist.