THE DEEPFAKE

A woman learns to make her own choices and escape the straitjacket of others’ expectations in Cohen’s novel.

Smart, attractive, and a top salesperson at tech startup AIfuture, 34-year-old Sylvie Manhardt still struggles with habitual people-pleasing, indecision, and feeling not good enough, a legacy of her relationships with her overly critical mother and smug, controlling, and wealthy ex. Her life is comfortable until her boss is suddenly fired and Sam, her hotheaded colleague and friend, worries a competitor will acquire the company. Sylvie discovers that the development of a key new product has been stalled because the department head has diverted resources to a top-secret side project. Worse, she learns AIfuture’s founder has “discreetly” borrowed company funds for personal use, covering it up with some “creative” accounting. To combat stress, she starts personal training—and flirtatious bantering—with Fielding “Rip” Harris, the fit and funny co-owner of a new gym on the ground floor of her office building. As if the work problems aren’t enough, her mother invites her to spend Thanksgiving in Florida, despite their prickly relationship. Cohen’s writing sparkles from the opening paragraph, which wryly compares Sam’s expensive BMW to “a woman in a black satin gown wearing too much jewelry.” She deftly introduces each character, enabling the reader to picture them instantly (“His amorphous personality went with his features, as chiseled as yesterday’s farina”), and pokes fun at social norms, such as the annual company holiday party, “at its heart a masquerade.” The dialogue contains plenty of amusing banter. Although the plot tries to do too much—both Sylvie’s work and personal dramas could be whole novels by themselves—readers will easily relate to and root for a woman breaking free of the good-girl mold to find new and genuine purpose.

An indecisive woman finds inner strength—and romance—in this wise and witty tale.