Faking It

This week, the fiction and nonfiction recommended by our reviews editors all has to do with some sort of con. There's a memoir about a mother’s hustle to survive, a novel about a psychopathic young man living off the women in his life, a report on exploitive multilevel marketing schemes, and a study of the chameleon-like Warhol Superstars. Also this week, authors take stock of the space for work about marginal cultures in both the U.S. and Canada. Happy reading!

May 2, 2025

Starred Reviews Releasing Next Week
Check out all the books to receive starred PW reviews that are hitting shelves next week. more

For Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Joy and Grief Are Intertwined
The poet hopes her recent National Book Award win for Something About Living can bring heightened visibility and more opportunities to Arab American writers. more

A Visit to Shel Silverstein’s Archives
On a tour through the private archive in Chicago, PW gained glimpses of the late poet and songwriter's creative and editorial process. more

4 Books About Racism in U.S. Education
These studies reflect a growing understanding of the failures behind school integration, almost a quarter-century after Brown v. Board of Education. more

Digital, Natal: PW Talks with Amanda Hess
In Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age (Doubleday, May), the New York Times culture writer documents the looming presence of the internet and other technologies in contemporary pregnancy. more

Oh Canada: PW Talks with André Alexis
The Giller winner explores the loss of one’s parents and what it means to be Canadian and an immigrant in his collection Other Worlds (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May). more

Plan Like a Raven, Write Like a Fox: PW Talks with Antonia Hodgson
The award-winning historical mystery author explains how she managed to combine epic fantasy with a fair-play whodunit in The Raven Scholar, the first volume of her Eternal Path trilogy. more

How Heartwood by Amity Gaige Got Made
An inside look into the publication process of the author’s literary thriller, about a woman who disappears near Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness. more

Editors’ Picks

Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America

By Bridget Read (Crown)

A captivating deep dive into multilevel marketing schemes, this has all the juicy details of a top-shelf true crime documentary, but what truly sets it apart is the piercing perspective on how MLMs represent the dark side of the American Dream, outsourcing self-fulfillment and financial security to exploitative market forces.—Marc Greenawalt, science and pop culture reviews editor

Read our review

By Paula Bomer (Soho)

What makes a psychopathic protagonist so alluring? In this portrait of a selfish and privileged young man and the havoc he wreaks while conning and mooching in early 1990s New York City, the pleasure is in the prose, crystalline and razor-sharp as Bomer cuts straight down to the truth. —David Varno, literary fiction reviews editor

Read our review

This Is Your Mother: A Memoir

By Erika J. Simpson (Scribner)

Simpson's inventive debut employs a series of tricks—including a fake sitcom script and parodic religious scripture—to help capture her larger-than-life mother, Sallie Carol, a hustler, cancer survivor, and capital-C Character who oversaw Simpson's financially unstable childhood with the gumption of Mama Rose. Sallie's not easy to forget, but Simpson's skill as a storyteller and sentence-level writer are what really make an impression. —Conner Reed, mystery and memoir reviews editor

Warhol's Muses

By Laurence Leamer (Putnam)

Leamer offers a visceral dissection of Andy Warhol's treatment of his so-called Superstars as they churn through the Factory machine, only to be spit out by the artist or fly too high in their own pursuit of fame and notoriety. Throughout, Leamer details how Warhol molded the misguided souls in service of his work without caring for their own interests or well-being. —Daniella Fishman, reviews department assistant

Top 10 Bestsellers

Great Big Beautiful Life

Emily Henry, Author

Sunrise on the Reaping (a Hunger Games Novel)

Suzanne Collins, Author

The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking about

Mel Robbins, Author

I Wish Someone Had Told Me . . .: The Best Advice for Building a Great Career and a Meaningful Life

Dana Perino, Author

Lights Out: An Into Darkness Novel

Navessa Allen, Author

The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life

Suleika Jaouad, Author

The Perfect Divorce

Jeneva Rose, Author

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Dr Seuss, Author

Fearless

Lauren Roberts, Author

Strangers in Time

David Baldacci, Author

Download a printable PDF of this bestsellers list.

For more PW bestsellers lists, click here.

PW Picks Editors: Conner Reed, David Varno

Send editorial questions about this e-newsletter to David Varno.
Send advertising questions about this e-newsletter to Joe Murray.

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