Fake by Roz Kay

James Cowper-art dealer, gambler, thief-is going straight and on the brink of redeeming himself with his disillusioned wife, Imani. He's still broke, but all he needs to take care of that is a rare art find. Then trouble arrives in the shape of a scheming landlord and an unwelcome dinner party with his boss. As events spin out of his control it appears that nobody, including Imani, is what they pretend. And over everything looms one make-or-break question for James: can he get a grip on his exploding life?

About Roz Kay:

Roz Kay is a writer and former journalist. Her debut children’s novel, The Keeper of the Stones, was published in March 2020 by Hayloft Publishing and she’s had literary short stories published under the name Roz DeKett. Roz, who now lives in Wiltshire, England, has lived in Ghana, Canada, Malaysia, Brunei, and the United States—including nearly six years in Philadelphia where Fake is set. Fake is her debut novel for adults. 

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_RozKay

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Website: https://rozdekett.com/

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Review

OMG I loved this darkly funny book! It has snappy dialogue, fidelity and infidelity, theft, looming financial disaster and the dinner party from hell. All wrapped up with believable characters, art and alcohol. Lots of alcohol. There where times I actually guffawed out loud and I just couldn’t put this book down!

James is an art dealer, whose wife Imani is a nurse and they have a college aged son Cody. His boss caught him stealing from the company and asks James to pay him back. He also invites himself to dinner with his new wife Pumpkin. Due to his gambling debts they have had to move into rented accommodation (which sounds like my dream house!) but their landlords suddenly invite themselves to stay! This all proves to be a delicious mix which forms a great comic novel.

When I was reading the author’s acknowledgments at the end of the book she mentioned that this was originally devised as a play and I can totally see that working. All the main action is in the historic townhouse and I would definitely go to see it. I loved the humour, love and tenderness which went into James and Imani’s relationship, even though it was in troubled waters. However, pathetic James might come across at times there is no doubt that he loves his wife.

Are you one of those people that when they see something like a really bad audition on the X Factor that you hide behind a cushion and just cringe, but are secretly loving it as well? If that’s the case you will love this book - it has the cringe factor! Seriously though in a good way. The fact it provokes that awkward feeling means it has done its job. I just loved it.

I highly recommend this book. If lockdown is wearing you down and you need something funny to read this is the book for you.

Let me know if you read it and your thoughts!