BOOK REVIEW for The Fraud Squad by Kyla Zhao

 

Thank you to Berkley for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review.

TITLE:                        The Fraud Squad

AUTHOR:                    Kyla Zhao

GENRE:                       Debut fiction

RATING:                      3.5 stars

This book is interesting.  I knew nothing of Singapore and we get to find out what Singapore high society looks like.  It kind of reminds me of the novels of the 1980's featuring lavish lifestyles with people with too much money.

This book shows what happens when you will do anything to get into the "in" crowd.  Samantha is ready to be part of this society but its not what she thought it would be and all the hoops she has to go through, dragging her own mother through it all, is ultimately not worth it.

This, to me, is the best part of this book.  Kicking and clawing towards your goal, regardless of what you have to do - made it all worth the read.

There are a lot of things going on here and not all of it works, but the story is propelled by exciting stories and good writing.

It did feel a little long towards the end, but overall, this is a compelling debut - reality -vs- fraud.  Your version of reality may just be my idea of cheating and pretending - basically of fraud.