What if you could be someone else?

Author : e. Lockhart
Title : Genuine Fraud
Published : 05/09/2017
Pages : 272
Genre : Young Adult / Mystery Thriller
Publisher : Hot Key Books

     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.

     I'm always intrigued by a mystery thriller, I like story's that make you think and challenge you to try and work out what the heck is going on. The more I read about this book the more it seemed like the sort of book that would tick of both of these boxes.  I was faced with some slight trepidation due to one major factor in this book. In the telling of this story, the author chose to tell the story in reverse. Now for a lot of people, this is not such a problem but awhile back I read a book in a similar vein. And by the time I had finished, i sat the book to one side and was just left confused and a little frustrated that I hadn't been able to enjoy the story as much as I wanted. 

     For the most part books in this genre tend to follow certain presets, and within the pages of this book, I managed to find something a little new. Archetypes that are usually assigned to male characters were allowed to take a new path when women take up those mantels. The motives behind there actions take on a new avenue because they are not driven by the same primal motives. In the way, Lockhart uses her main character you can see how Jule manipulates those around her to get to what she sees as the next step. More often than not these are seen in very subtle ways whereas male characters would use his physical size or statue to push someone into doing there will, Jule has to think her way around these problems.

     For me it felt like she was playing a grand game of chess with the exception than Jule isn't playing against a single opponent. In her game, she is playing against everyone she comes into contact with. Even if that means she has to start playing part way through a game she didn't start. She came across as a very determined person willing to do whatever she has to do to get to where she perceives she needs to be. She, not a likable person all the time Jule is calculating how to use people and god help anyone who gets in her way.

     This is a very cleverly written book in the telling of this story I was concerned that there would be ether to many plot holes, or I would spend most of my time flipping back and forth trying to make sense of events. Lockhart managed to give each chapter focus for the different stage of Jule's  metamorphosis from Lava to butterfly. Rather than being left questioning how the characters came to have certain knowledge or how the ended up somewhere, they have no reason to, It was more a case of here is a logical and well thought out story. She lured me in in the first chapter by setting up an interesting character and then showed all the choices that had to lead her to this point.

    In what is a very dark and disturbing story I can't say that felt a great connection to many of the characters. Even the people Jule comes into contact with are not that likable for the most part they are self-obsessed trust fund kids. I think they are just as sociopathic as Jule they just don't go to the extremes she does. This was a book that I greatly enjoyed and because it's not too long I managed to get through it in the space of an evening. Which is about the right amount of time to spend with such despicable people.