The Perfect Fraud by Ellen LaCorte | Audiobook Review

I received this book for free from Library, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In this propulsive debut thriller, two women with deep secrets are thrown together by an unexpected meeting that plunges both their lives into chaos. But it’s a sick little girl whose fate hangs in the balance.
Motherhood is tough. But then, so is daughterhood. When we first meet Claire, she’s living in Sedona, Arizona with her boyfriend Cal and ducking calls from her mother.  Her mom is a world class psychic on the East Coast and Claire doesn’t want her to discover the truth. Claire works in the family business and calls herself a psychic, but she doesn’t really have “the gift” and hasn’t for a long time. She’s a fraud.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Rena, a young mother, has family issues of her own. She’s divorced and her four-year-old daughter, Stephanie, suffers from mysterious, seemingly incurable stomach problems. No matter how many specialists Rena drags her to, no matter how many mommy-blog posts she makes about her child’s health issues, trying to get help and support from her online community, Stephanie only gets sicker.
When Claire and Rena meet by chance on an airplane, their carefully constructed lives begin to explode.  Can these two women help each other and can they help Stephanie before it’s too late? 
 

Why Did I Listen To The Perfect Fraud by Ellen LaCorte?

The Perfect Fraud by Ellen LaCorte initially appealed to me when I was going through a phase of exploring thriller books. However, I got kind of busy and it just languished on my TBR cart. Eventually though, I borrowed the audiobook from Hoopla on a whim — I needed a small break from historical romances. I think maybe the fact that this book was different from the genres I’ve been reading lead me to like it more than I would have otherwise.

What’s The Story Here?

LaCorte’s The Perfect Fraud follows two women, Claire and Rena. Claire is working in the family business as a psychic. Only, unlike her mother and family, she is just faking it. That’s her big secret, that she has no skills as a psychic except reading people’s body language and being general enough in her readings to sound legitimate. Rena is a divorced mother who is a blogger. She specifically blogs about her four year old daughter Stephanie’s illness. Stephanie seems to get sicker and sicker with her stomach problems and the doctors don’t seem to know what they are doing. Claire and Rena happen to meet by chance on a flight and that is when the events of this book take a real turn.

How Did I Like The Perfect Fraud?

Apparently I am in the minority with my opinion of The Perfect Fraud based on browsing my friend list on Goodreads for this book. This book was mostly panned by my friends. For me though, there was a real advantage to waiting out the hype and listening to this book. It was different from the other genres I’ve been dipping into. I found the plot and the characters really compelling. I was invested in Claire and how she comes to terms with her past but also with her feelings in her current relationship. As for Rena, she is the actual worst but like a trainwreck, I could not look away. I did find myself a little too invested in the ending which on the one hand was good but on the other, I found kind of depressing and sad.

How’s The Narration?

The audiobook has dual narrators – Karissa Vacker and Elizabeth Godley. It is 9 hours 36 minutes unabridged and if you listen to it at 1.75 or 1.5x speed, you’ll miss out on nothing. Vacker and Godley have different enough voices that it was easy to distinguish the Claire chapters from the Rena chapters. Also, this book is so well produced and narrated that I think that really lended to my enjoyment of The Perfect Fraud. If you’re looking to delve into this thriller, I highly recommend the audiobook.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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