288 pages

4 stars

Narrated from various points of view adds to the authenticity of the speakers' feelings and thoughts.

When Will thought he left his life as a preeminent forger behind, he never dreamed that his past would come back to haunt him. Enter Slader, once a colleague of Will's, now someone to be feared and intensely disliked essentially blackmails him and his daughter Nicole into forging an early work of Edgar Allan Poe’s called Tamerlane.

Masie, Will and his wife Meghan's adopted daughter is terrified by a man in the woods on her way home from a friend's house. A strange man has given her a package to deliver to her father. So begins the tale of the forger's daughter.

The tension in this story is delicious. Will and Meghan fear being found out at every step in the process. But Will has no choice but to go along with the murderous Slader. Slader is responsible for the knife attack on Will sometime earlier that left him with only a partial right hand. Thus he know of what Slader is capable.

I learned much about the world of forgers and publishing from this book. I like Will and his family. They seemed so authentic to me. I appreciated Meghan's fears about Slader and what he was really up to. I was a little distressed at how much Will seemed to trust him even after what Slader did to him. I truly enjoyed the little subplots, especially the Atticus one. I guessed correctly early on after he reentered Will and Meghan's lives.

I want to thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press for forwarding to me a copy of this great book for me to read, enjoy and review.

**This book is not yet available on GoodReads or BookBub to review.

While there is so much going on in this book, it does not detract from its readability and enjoyment. Will, a reformed forger is seemingly happily married with two daughters to raise. However, once a forger always a forger. His past catches up with him and eventually involves his entire family in his dirty little secret. Edgar Alan Poe's life and history figures prominently in the story as does forgery and forgers. There are alternating voices, but with no hint as to who is speaking before they speak. Do not let this put you. It is well- worth the time spent reading it - one sitting will do because you'll get so involved you will have to see how it all ends. I absolutely adored this book!

Will believed he had left his life of forgery behind him. All that changes when someone breaks into his home, terrifies his wife and daughter, and leaves behind a package demanding that Will dust off his forgery skills. The book to be forged is the first written by Edgar Allan Poe. Few copies have survived, but now in order to save his wife and daughter Will must help create a perfect forgery of Poe’s famous work, Tamerlane. A fascinating look into the dark and seamy side of publishing