The famously false memoirs of James Frey may be yesterdayβs news, but as this funny riff reminds us, literary fakes are as old as literature itself. Ian Minot is an aspiring writer who labors over short stories that seem destined to remain unread. His beautiful Romanian girlfriend, Anya Petrescu, finds success more easilyβand leaves Ian for Blade Markham, a bloviating ex-gangbanger whose βso-called memoirβ is a best-seller. When Ian is approached by ex-editor Jed Roth, who wants Ian to publish Jedβs pulpy tale of book theft and murder as a memoir, then renounce it, itβs a chance for both of them to get revenge: Jed on his former employer, and Ian on the world. Although Langer may be too cute for some (he employs made-up slang in which a penis is a portnoy), he does an engaging job with the hall-of-mirrors plot. And if readers can predict that the book theyβre reading is the one that Ian ends up writing, theyβll never guess the ending. Just when you want a surprising twist, Langer delivers several.