The goodreads description of this book uses phrases like “scam of a lifetime” “page turner” and “dazzling, twisty, mesmerizing.” My experience of this book was…quite different.
Nina is the only child of a con-woman mother. Though determined to make a straight living, her mother’s recurring illness has pushed her to the wrong side of the law: stealing antiques from the rich and selling them on the black market. Vanessa is an heiress without much smarts or ambition, “self made” as an Instagram Influencer. When Nina finds out that her mother’s illness has returned once again, she sets her sights on Vanessa as the mark in her most ambitious con yet. But as Nina and her boyfriend, Lachlan, set the plan into motion, we get the sense that there’s some kind of history or connection between the two women…
The good: narration switches back and forth between Nina and Vanessa, and when switching POV, the author often jumps back in time so that we can see the same events from the other side. This allows for some pretty subtle and interesting differences in how the characters perceive and process the same events: slight changes in wording, different emphasis placed on details, etc. This really helps the reader to have a deeper understanding of the characters. I also found it interesting the way that social media is centered in the narrative, along with some exploration of social media as a consciously constructed façade. It’s not exactly new ground, but it’s handled deftly. I also thought the final reveal about motivations (keeping it vague to avoid spoiling) was an unusual choice, and the author was not afraid to let the reader sit with the discomfort of that choice.
The not as good: Vanessa as a character is super annoying. Like, really annoying. She is shallow and vapid, and privileged, and I don’t know whether the author intended her to be sympathetic or not. This book was also far, far too long. There were a lot of historical digressions that were useful as character development, but not nearly enough plot to balance them. The narration of both women just endlessly processes every thought and feeling, and at a certain point, WE GET IT and can we just move on? And the final resolution of conflict felt so unlikely as to be laughable.
