Deuxmoi. Anon Pls. William Morrow, 2022. 287 pp. SBN 978-0063257801 $19.59

In the vein of The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries, art imitates life in a tell-all expose style of what it’s really like to work in a social media driven fashion industry. Cricket Lopez just wants a promotion, but her evil, demanding boss won’t relent, and after a potential client pushed by Cricket resells some gifted merch instead of wearing and promoting it, it seems like hell will freeze over before she gets promoted. In a drunken fit, she posts about the snafu on her anonymous fashion account that’s been gathering dust, inviting other people to send their tidbits about celebrities: celebrity sighting, famous people they’re just like us, and especially, famous people behaving badly. It goes viral, her boss threatens to fire anyone associated with the account, and Cricket cowers but powers on. Soon, celebrities are responding to correct misunderstandings and fight for their good names, and everyone wants to know who the brains behind the anonymous tipline account is. As on the popular blind item account, no attribution of authorship is given.

Either I’m really out of touch or all celebrities were fabricated. There was lots of product name dropping, butI didn’t even bother to look up Chelsea boots and jeans; it was disappointing that the generally writers could not be bothered to describe articles of clothing by more than a brand name. I powered through, partially hooked by a love interest who wants a scoop and offers advice and phone sex.

I read a digital ebook edition of Anon Pls through my local public library via OverDrive.