Counterfeit

by Kirstin Chen

HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer… A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Propulsive and captivating’ Vogue ‘Darkly comedic’ Daily Mail

Meet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.

Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.

When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined.

Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all?

‘Entertaining, luxurious … innovative and subversive’ NEW YORK TIMES

’Riveting and energetic’ BALLI KAUR JASWAL

’Clever, sharp, and slyly funny’ KIRKUS REVIEWS

’Will keep you breathless to the last page’ CLAIRE MESSUD

’Sly, subversive … incisive’ BOOKLIST

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NetGalley readers LOVE Counterfeit

‘One of the best books I’ve read all year’ * * * * *
‘Gripping … ingenious’ * * * * *
‘Amusing, addictive story that kept me reading all night’ * * * * *
‘Mysterious, suspenseful and twisty … had me on the edge of my seat’ * * * * * *
‘Fresh, observant and somehow … an incredible story without a wasted word’ * * * * *
‘I absolutely loved this book … highly recommend’ * * * * *
‘Devoured this in a night or two … funny, sad and eye-opening’ * * * * *
‘This book refused to allow me to put it down!’ * * * * *
‘Amusing, addictive … kept me reading all night’ * * * * *

• ISBN13: 9780008484477
• Publish Date: 9 June 2022 (first published 7 June 2022)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: The Borough Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

Amazing. Immediately engaging and didn't want to put it down. Love the unreliable narrator being subtle and not extreme. Best book I've read this year, so far. Great writing, compelling characters. Felt like a real adventure. It was so fun to read.

[bookstagramofmine]

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen came out on the 7th of June and was published by William Morrow. It's barely been two months, and the book already has over sixteen thousand reviews on Goodreads, and is in the top 10 in two categories on amazon. It's 284 pages long and while normally I complain that a book should be longer or shorter, I can't with this one because it's just perfect. It's also not a debut as the author has written other novels such as Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners, both of which are on Kindle Unlimited. This book is perfect for readers who liked Bad Blood, and shows like Inventing Anna!

 

When Ava reconnects with her old college roommate Winnie, literally not one person could have predicted the outcome; that the two of them would run a counterfeit scheme involving replicas of luxury handbags.

 

I won't argue that the book is perfect. It absolutely isn't! But amidst all the garbage that seems to get published, it's good to come across an author who can write something interesting, while still addressing more complex topics such as how the Asian American community is viewed in the United States and how quickly the model migrant narrative can change when profits are threatened. I absolutely hated Ava's husband and his white boy obliviousness to everything. I adore Winnie and the guts she had to pull all of this off.