MY FRIEND ANNA by Rachel DeLoache Williams

MY FRIEND ANNA by Rachel DeLoache Williams

This story was marketed as Catch Me If You Can meets Sex and the City and I think that's a pretty spot-on description. I listened to this book primarily on audio, and hearing Rachel DeLoache Williams tell the story of how she trusted the wrong person and how she got caught under her spell of deceit and manipulation felt like listening to a friend recount a horrible story over a couple glasses of wine and lots of pizza. The story was paced excellently and I appreciated the way Williams presented it to us--starting us in the thick of Anna's web of lies, and walking us backward to the beginning.

As a lawyer that deals primarily with complex business cases, I was fascinated by Anna's actions and I loved the legal component to the story.

My biggest criticism is that Williams' story just wasn't very relatable to me. It's kinda like how I have a hard time feeling bad for the kids who forked over $50K or more to attend Fyre Festival. I don't want to read their memoirs. BUT I DO want to read a piece of investigative journalism on Billy McFarland and the whole scam. I think I'd love this story more if it was told from an investigative angle, remarking on Anna's entire game of deceit, not just on what happened to Williams.

Overall, I think fans of stories about con artists would enjoy this read. Anna is very much a Billy McFarland-type and her fraud was like a more intimate Fyre Festival. Still waiting on a book to cover THAT mess.