Pretty Things
Available April 21, 2020
Two wildly different women—one a grifter, the other an heiress—are brought together by the scam of a lifetime in a page-turner from the New York Times bestselling author of Watch Me Disappear.
“Pretty Things is awesome. Simple as that. I loved every page. Janelle Brown is your new must-read author.”—Harlan Coben, New York Times bestselling author of Run Away
Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.
Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer—traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy. After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family’s sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: a mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa’s past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina.
Nina’s, Vanessa’s, and Lachlan’s paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.
This dazzling, twisty, mesmerizing novel showcases acclaimed author Janelle Brown at her best, as two brilliant, damaged women try to survive the greatest game of deceit and destruction they will ever play.
Praise for Pretty Things
“It’s Dynasty meets Patricia Highsmith. . . . Duplicity abounds when two messed-up clans collide, and Brown’s final multiple twists are doozies.”—The Washington Post
“Brown offers a glittering, high-stakes drama, stacking childhood nostalgia against the power to reinvent oneself in the age of social media. . . . Packed with plot twists.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Fiendishly clever.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A can’t-look-away story of and for our generation, Pretty Things combines a spellbinding setting with dark, slippery secrets to expose what we’ve always known—or maybe just hoped—to be true about the gilded lives presented in our social media feeds. Janelle Brown is a literary powerhouse.”—Chandler Baker, New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network
“I devoured this book—an incredible read.”—Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and The Favorite Sister
“I love a good con story—especially when I can’t tell who’s the actual mark and who’s the real con artist. In Janelle Brown’s compulsively readable Pretty Things, the good girls and the bad girls keep switching places in a story that will keep you turning pages till the end. Even more richly told than Watch Me Disappear, Brown’s latest novel has the same sharp observations that are her trademark—about shifting identities and the secrets we all keep.”—Attica Locke, author of Heaven, My Home
“Hungry, sexy, and packed with twists, this latest novel from Janelle Brown exposes what’s hidden behind the stone walls of the elite’s mansions and the slick facades of con artists’ scams. Money, family, and Instagram collide to make a book you won’t be able to put down.”—Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth
“Part psychological thriller and part morality tale, Janelle Brown’s Pretty Things is literary suspense at its best. Gorgeous prose, complex characters inhabiting the fascinating worlds of elite Instagram influencers and high-stakes scam artists, a thought-provoking dual narrative, a twisty plot with a shocking, never-saw-that-coming ending—this brilliant novel has it all! I read it in one day in one sitting, mesmerized, and I loved every moment.”—Angie Kim, bestselling author of Miracle Creek
“I drank down Janelle Brown’s Pretty Things in one greedy gulp, speeding through the pages even as the sharp, insightful writing made me feel compassion for each narrator. . . . Mesmerizing, provocative, surprising and thoughtful—a must-read.”—Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janelle Brown is the New York Times bestselling author of Watch Me Disappear, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, and This Is Where We Live. An essayist and journalist, she has written for Vogue, The New York Times, Elle, Wired, Self, theLos Angeles Times, Salon, and numerous other publications. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children.