The Fraud Squad

Crazy Rich Asians meets The Devil Wears Prada in this millennial women's fiction novel by debut author Kyla Zhao, about a working-class woman who infiltrates Singapore's high society to fulfill her dreams, only to lose herself in the process. For as long as she can remember, Samantha Song has dreamed of writing for a high-society magazine—and she'd do anything to get there. But the constant struggle to help her mom make ends meet and her low social status make her dream feel like a distant fantasy. Now, Sam finds herself working at a drab PR firm. The closest she’ll get to that life is living vicariously through her socialite coworker and friend, Anya Chen. Then she meets Timothy Kingston: the disillusioned son of one of Singapore’s elite families—and Sam’s one chance at infiltrating the high society world to which she desperately wants to belong. To Sam’s surprise, Tim and Anya both agree to help her make a name for herself on Singapore’s socialite scene. The borrowed designer clothes and plus-ones to every glamorous event can only get her so far; the rest is on Sam, and she’s determined to make an impression on the editor-in-chief of Singapore’s poshest magazine. But the deeper Sam wades into this fraud, the more she fears being exposed—especially with a mysterious gossip columnist on the prowl for dirt—forcing her to reconcile her pretense with who she really is before she loses it all.