Cover Story, by Susan Rigetti

If you’ve been intrigued by the story of Anna Delvey, or if you’ve watched the Netflix series, Inventing Anna, pick up a copy of Cover Story, by Susan Rigetti. While the author doesn’t specifically state that this book is based on Anna’s incredible con, I think it was definitely inspired by the scam!

Cover Story follows the diary of Lora Ricci who is hired by Elle magazine for a summer internship. While at Elle, Lora meets Cat Wolff…magazine editor and heiress to a family fortune. Lora and Cat form an unexpected friendship and Cat hires Lora as her ghostwriter. Lora gets caught up in Cat’s glamorous lifestyle and eventually the facade starts to crumble.

This book is written from the perspective of diary entries, email correspondence, FBI briefs…all epistolary form… which, for me, made this an exciting read. I personally love a book written in this style, but if that’s something that prevents you from connecting to the characters or the story as a whole, this might not be the book for you.

This story toggled back and forth from being fast paced to dragging in parts, but because the Anna Delvey story was so fascinating to me (and this book was incredibly reminiscent of that saga), I kept reading because I wanted to see how it all fleshed out.

I’m so fascinated by scam culture and those who fall prey to the people scamming them, so for me this was a great read! It was equal parts entertaining and infuriating. So many head scratching moments had me screaming at Lora saying things like, “are you dumb?!?!” and “how could you believe that?!?!” or “don’t fall for it, sister!!!“, and “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?” And while I could easily sit back and rip this book apart for writing a character so naive and foolish, I know this type of thing happens in real life and personal circumstances and experiences can definitely contribute to a person’s willingness to fall for a too-good-to-be-true kind of scam.

The ending took me on a WILD ride and threw me for a loop. I’m still thinking about it. Like, what just happened?!?! There’s a twist I didn’t see coming and I all I can say is that I want more!!!! I like my stories complete with a bow on top…I don’t like to guess. And I’m STILL playing the guessing game. Probably also a great sign that I can’t stop thinking about it either! Enjoyable and entertaining…I personally recommend!

4 out of 5 stars