Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Jule West-Williams is running from something. She affects a British accent, wears wigs, steals passports, and pays for everything with cash. Jule seems pretty comfortable staying at a Mexican resort until a woman strikes up a conversation. Suddenly, that woman (who turns out to be a cop) is following her even when she thought she was stealthy. What is she running from and who is chasing her?

Genuine Fraud is one of the most unique teen thrillers that I've read. So many fall into the same tropes (a teen having an affair with a teacher, a love triangle, a new friend to be jealous of, etc etc.) that they blend together in my mind. This one doesn't fall into any of those tropes and stands apart from those thrillers. The book is told backwards. It took a bit to get used to and figure out what was happening in what order. I spent way too long looking at the dates trying to figure out the pattern, which is that each chapter backs up one month. Once I got it, the story flowed more freely for me.

Jule is a bit of an enigma for most of the book. She imagines herself as a bad ass secret agent, but we don't know her situation until the end. Her view is completely clouded by her fantasies, making her narrative completely unreliable. My view of her changed as the novel traveled backwards in time. At the beginning of the novel, Jule seems to be some sort of heiress with unlimited funds for resorts, luxuries, disguises, and payoffs. Then the police are following her and my mind races with possibilities. Her true origin is much less glamorous. I love how the story reveals the mystery, introduces characters, and uncovers twists and turns bit by bit.

Genuine Fraud is a surprising book that seems more adult than its YA marketing. The cover makes it seem like some sort of fluffy contemporary romance. Everyone involved is college age and I think it might have been better received as an adult thriller. There's a missing heiress, her jealous boyfriend, and Jule somehow fitting into it all. As thrillers go, this one surprised me and kept me guessing all the way to the end. It's a short book that only took me a day to read and it's definitely worth your time.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins 

Even More Upcoming Fall Horror Films

* Lizzie - September 14



Lizzie tells the infamous story of Lizzie Borden killing her father and stepmother, but centers around her secret romance with a maid named Bridget as a possible reason for the murders. At this point, everyone thinks that Lizzie killed her parents even though no solid evidence was found. Many will point to this new development as a way to demonize gay people. However, Chloe Sevigny (who plays Lizzie) talks about the film showing Lizzie's relationship and the murder of her rapist, abuser father as the only way to freedom in an oppressive patriarchal, heteronormative society. I'm willing to give it a shot plus it has to be better than the cheestastic Lifetime movie and series with Christina Ricci.

* Assassination Nation - September 21



In Salem, Massechusetts, an anonymous hacker exposes the secrets of all the residence with chaos and violence ensuing afterwards. This film looks like a cross between Heathers and The Purge with digital privacy gone. I'm definitely intrigued about this film. It looks satirical, brutal, and honest. It's reminiscent of Mayhem or The Lobster where people just act truly on their impulses and say what their really thinking, but in this film they are freed by all of their secrets being released into the public. I'm hyped for it.

* A Simple Favor - September 14



Mommy vlogger Stephanie and sophisticated, enigmatic Emily become unlikely friends because of their sons. After spending some time together, Emily goes missing and Stephanie digs into her past to find out what happened to her. Just from this trailer, there are a lot of possibilities for this mystery: a murdering husband, insurance fraud, or Emily being tired of her constrictive life. Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are perfectly cast. The whole trailer had an air of tension that hope the film has as well. This looks like an intriguing thriller and I can't wait to watch.

Summer of '84 (2018)

It's summer and Davey Armstrong has more time than ever to hang out with his best friends Eats, Woody, and Faraday. When they are playing "Manhunt," a tag game played at night with flashlights, Davey notices a curly haired kid in his neighbor Wayne Mackey's house only to have them disappear a moment later. He doesn't think anything of it at the time, but the next time he sees the kid's face is on a milk carton. Davey is convinced that police officer Mackey is a murderer and spends all summer snooping around and trying to prove it.

Summer of '84 is more of a mystery than a horror film that pits four teens against a possibly murderous cop who lives next door. The friends are pretty different from each other and most are fleshed out. Davey is a conspiracy theorist whose walls are papered with a paper that's essentially the Weekly World News. Eats is a wannabe punk who tries to be as abrasive as possible and has a troubled home life. Woody is the "fat kid" so common in 80's movies. He's the nicest character. Faraday is a nerd. These kids are all so different, it begs the question why they are all even friends. Faraday gets next to no character development and Eats does, but randomly leaves before the finale of the film. They do lots of typical things together like playing their "Manhunt" game, hanging out in their tree house, and looking at porn or the dressing girl next door to Davey.

Even though it has all the things that make 80's media successful, it feels a bit artificial here. The film strives to be more "adult" than Stranger Things, but comes off more offputting. Women have no major role beyond Nikki, the girl next door. Her character is completely unbelievable. First, she's the unattainable dream girl next door that Davey watches undress and then becomes something more. After she realizes this, she comes over to his house like a fantasy, pours out her heart, seems to have sexual interest in him (even though she used to babysit him), and helps with his investigation. This felt like complete wish fulfillment for Davey. Nikki is a popular seventeen year old girl. There's no reason for her to hang out with Davey when she has friends her own age beyond the artificial wish fulfullment. It's also disappointing that the writers wanted "80's authenticity," so women have no real role outside of a sex object.

Summer of '84 is overall an enjoyable movie to watch. The pacing is glacial for the majority of it and takes forever for anything to actuall confirm or deny if the cop next door is a murderer. I enjoyed the misdirections, but most of the movie was a mystery with teen antics as opposed to the horror I expected it to be. The ending is worth the wait with all the horror elements I wanted stuffed into about 20 minutes. The characters and pacing are flawed and obviously tries to capitalize on the 80's nostalgia so popular today, but it's worth a watch.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Upcoming Halloween Events

Halloween is not just a day for me; it's a whole season. It starts in late September with some wonderful Halloween events I attend every year. Here are some of them plus a couple of new events.

* Knott's Scary Farm

Knott's Scary Farm has been raising their standards year after year with interesting concepts, better sound and visual effects, improving makeup effects, and original ideas. The announced mazes are Red Barn, Paranormal Inc., Special Ops: Infected, Trick or Treat: Lights Out, Pumpkin Eater, Dark Ride, and Shadowlands. Most of these are amazing attractions that have been improved year after year. It's the first repeat for Pumpkin Eater so I'm excited to see what's changing with that. Shadowlands is insensitive, awful, and not scary. That's disappointing, but the rest are enjoyable. Two more mazes haven't been announced and I'm hoping for Nevermore. Very excited for this park.

* Universal's Halloween Horror Nights

Universal is my gold standard for Halloween haunts. It always has amazing makeup, sound and visual effects, music, and actors. The announced mazes are Stranger Things, Universal Monsters (!!), Trick 'r Treat (!!!!),  Poltergeist (!!!), The First Purge, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Meyers, The Terrors of Blumhouse: Chapter 2 (Truth or Dare and Unfriended), and Hollywood Harry's Dreadtime Storiez for the Terror Tram. I am so excited for this!!! So many of my favorite movies are being covered. The only lackluster entries seem to be Blumhouse and The First Purge. I'm interested how Unfriended is going to be since the whole movie was on a computer screen.

The RIP Tour is back for the second year in a row and it's better than ever (and a tad more expensive). It's totally worth it for the food and valet parking, but the added trams to the backlot and Terror Tram, makeup effects demonstration, and dessert make it even more so. I have high expectations for this park.

* Six Flags Fright Fest

Every year Six Flags has their Fright Fest. I haven't gone because it's pretty far from where I live, but this year, they are collaborating with the film Hell Fest. One of their mazes will replicate the horror attractions in the film that will include The Mausoleum's narrowing corridor, The Mask Room's sea of floating white faces, The Doll Room, and The Torture Chamber's carnage. The other mazes are original content that include Red's Revenge, Sewer of Souls, Condemned- Forever Damned, Willoughby's Resurrected, and Aftermath 2: Chaos Rising. I'm debating on whether to go to this or not, but the Hell Fest maze interests me. The concept of the film is brilliant and what I've seen of the mazes look pretty good.

#FashionVictim

Anya St. Clair is clawing her way to the top of the fashion industry as a writer. She needs to be just a little bit thinner and prettier to make it to the next level, being invited to the most exclusive parties and fashion shows with front row access. The person she simultaneously puts on a pedestal and identifies as a rival is the flawless and beautiful Sarah Taft. Success and fame come to Sarah effortlessly while Any works hard to fall short. Anya wants to be her best friend, be her, and destroy her all that the same time. To claw her way to the top, she has to take the cutthroat nature of industry literally.

#FashionVictim is kind of like You meets The Devil Wears Prada with the dark humor and social commentary of American Psycho. Everything is pitch perfect, hilarious, and biting. Anya St. Clair seems like a struggling fashion writer at first. Her name is never recognized or found on a list right away and her seat is never in the front. She's tagged in hideous Instagram pictures and constantly teased about her weight. I thought I knew what to expect until she had visions of an assistant with a shard of glass in her eye that turned into a real murder. Anya decides to solve her work problems with murder. Toss in her very unhealthy love/hate obsession with Sarah, the woman whose every move is front page fashion news, and things couldn't be more uncomfortable.

As she spirals out of control, Anya still completely follows the fashion industry and their ridiculous expectations. She doesn't really fit in, but she's willing to break herself to do so. Over the course of the novel, Anya's troubled background and delusions become more apparent. It starts with small comments like her recognizing the sound of bones breaking to more obvious things like being annoyed with typical police questioning. Her delusions include hallucinating her victims around her and considering the police investigator an interested suitor. The story bounces from her normal work experiences to her creating obsessive collages to her carrying out her planned murders. It plays out like a slasher film from the perspective of the killer with a large dose of black humor. Every detail drew me in and proved to be different than other killers.

The fashion industry comes out looking pretty terrible here. Everything is extremely superficial and nothing is based on merit. People only care about weight, fashion labels, and accessories. Conversations are riddled with backhanded comments, cruel gossip, and vapid subjects. All out screaming is only acceptable at very top along with outright abusive treatment. The book also touches on institutionalized racism within the industry that has companies not wanting to be branded "ethnic" and hiring one person of color per department to basically not be sued. When the body count piles up, most people aren't bothered. Sarah makes particularly cruel comments about the murder victims, which makes me root more for Anya even though she's a literal murderer.

I read #FashionVictim in a day because the story just grabbed me and ran. The world of fashion felt alien and cruel, not too different from Anya's twisted mind. With both, certain people have no value and are treated accordingly whether that's screaming and basically being treated like a slave or murder. This book worked for me on every level. It's a biting commentary of the fashion industry that brings in pitch black comedy. I would love to see it as film because it's untreaded waters and could be super fun. Highly recommended.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

More Upcoming Horror Movies in the Fall

More upcoming horror films to look forward to!

* The Nun - September 6



The Nun takes place in the 50's and focuses on a Vatican investigation into a nun's suicide. I am not a fan of The Conjuring movies or any of its offshoots. This one seems no different. The main crux of the trailer is the creepy look of the nun, who actually looks more like Marilyn Manson in a nun habit, and the jump scare at the end. The only interesting thing about the jump scare is the misdirection of it. I expect most of the scares to be similar, but I might be surprised. The one bright spot of this trailer is Taissa Farmiga.

* The Little Stranger - August 31



The Little Stranger has a lot of potential. It could be similar to The Others or The Innocents. Of course I could be wrong. The actors are all amazing and the look of the film is remarkable. Just the contrast of the house from the vibrant colors of the past to the monochrome of the present. I have no idea what's going on this movie, whether it's ghosts or something more conventional, but I'm excited to find out.

* The Predator - September 14



In the 6th Predator film, a new type of predator emerges, bigger and stronger, to kill its smaller brethren. Military people try to figure out how to beat it. The problem with this new predator is that people barely beat the regular ones, let alone something even tougher and stronger. Plus it messes up the lore built about the aliens. Perhaps the regular predators and humans will team up? I'll probably watch this and I expect it to be better than the Alien vs. Predator movies.

More to come!

The Bright Sessions Season 3

Dr. Bright's plan to save her brother fell apart because of Damien, who kidnapped Mark, used his manipulative power, and lied to him about everything. Joan and Sam are distraught and have no way to find Mark. The AM is all over Joan and her patients, making sure she won't step out of line again. Caleb and Adam are back together. Chloe continues to help Frank and struggles with Joan's hypocrisy. Unresolved issues between many are brewing beneath the surface and threatening to explode.

The Bright Sessions becomes more complex as it goes on. The characters continue to develop, grow, and create new relationships. Joan is worried for her brother since he was kidnapped by Damien. She also struggles with her ties with the AM that simultaneously allows her to help Atypicals live normal lives and puts her patients in danger if their abilities prove too interesting for the AM to ignore. The AM also forces her to work with Wadsworth, her former friend and colleague, who she still finds herself admiring and achieving breakthroughs with. Chloe criticizes Joan for chastising her for being unable to give people privacy with her ability to read minds while Joan records people without their knowledge and feeds information to the AM. This situation isn't black and white, so there's debate on all sides with good points.

The AM is seen in more detail this season. It's always loomed in the background but now we get to see how it operates on an everyday level and its deeper recesses. Every day, they take in Atypicals to test them and assess if they need help on a more intense level to control their ability and blend into normal society. On the surface, this seems normal and even altruistic to help people. If you probe deeper, they are conducting unethical experiments and trying to find people with specific, rare abilities to exploit. Mark fills in many of these gaps with the abhorrent way he was treated while confined to the AM that includes mental torture, physical torture, and threats to his family to comply. Each season, the veil gets pushed back a bit further on this organization and it's not pretty.

The character who grows the most is Frank. He's always been in the periphery of the show and only appeared in person last season. Joan talks through some things with him and it's truly heartbreaking. He reveals details about his military service and the experiment his unit consented to. They all had an artificial empathic connection to one another that lost focus over time. Their shared decision to not tell anyone about the complication so they could stay together had devastating consequences, but was understandable in the situation. The fact that a huge revelation about Mark's story line happened the episode right before took away a bit from this emotional episode.

The last few episodes of this season went places I didn't think the show would go. It was surprising, devastating, and hopeful all at the same time. Damian goes from fairly harmless to dangerous through his rocky journey. The ending is explosive in a variety of ways. Many characters who have kept their feelings hidden have meaningful conversations with others to hash out feelings, articulate what has been unspoken, and get issues out into the open. It's also the most violent episode from an unexpected source. I'm hyped to see what happens next season both in the relationships and in the main action of the show.

The scope and cast of the show continues to grow. It's wonderful to see representation in so many different spheres. A glimpse of a new Atypical is seen. Rose travels through dreams and doesn't know whether to be honest with her girlfriend about her ability. I'm interested to see how she will fit in with the group and how the group will move forward in the face of the traumatic events of the last episode. The next season is ongoing so I'm excited to listen as it's being produced.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins