Welcome to Fake Night, a manic, fast-paced dark comedy where identity is a costume, humor goes off the rails, and everything spins beautifully out of control.
Imagine Agatha Christie writing an episode of Community inside a chaotic found family.
Every July 26th, six friends gather for Fake Night, a ritual where they slip out of their real identities and become entirely new people for one chaotic evening. Different names. Different personalities. Different lives. The rules are sacred: always stay in character, and whatever happens isn’t your fault, it’s your character’s.
But tonight, one of the six, Detective Vee, goes all in.
Armed with a suspects board, a magnifying glass, and way too much caffeine, she becomes obsessed with the idea that someone is hiding something devastating beneath their fake persona. As the night spirals into absurdity, featuring workaholic accountants, glitter-throwing daughters, chemistry experiments, and emotional explosions, the line between playacting and reality starts to blur.
As Vee digs deeper, her hunt for truth collides with an unexpected attraction to another woman, turning suspicion into desire and making the case dangerously personal.
Fueled by sharp wit, found family dynamics, and characters who are simultaneously running from themselves and toward each other, Fake Night unfolds over one wild night of madness, razor-sharp humor, and escalating tension that pulls you in and won’t let go.
As I was perusing my NetGalley feed, this book popped up. It’s not my usual read, but the idea of a book described as The Community written by Agatha Christie intrigued me. I requested it and got a copy! So, here’s my review.
First, I want to say that I don’t actually agree with the Agatha Christie part. The Community part is still up in the air because I haven’t actually seen that show. But, in the standards of a “mystery”, I feel Fake Night falters. I wouldn’t even label it as a dark comedy . . . more like an overcast grey comedy. I say that because there is drug use and questionable sexual elements, but within the confines of the story itself, it’s not dark; it’s a more psychological comedy journey.
But “psychological comedy” as a sub-genre doesn’t really exist. Therefore, I understand the label “dark comedy.” I just wouldn’t necessarily put it there.
Fake Night might be a bit difficult to properly convey, to be honest. It was a simple read and very quick to get through. For a fast reader, you could feasibly finish it in a day or two. For a slower reader, I’d say three tops. It’s a fast read that keeps you engaged. It was like watching a train wreck, but that’s not a good descriptor either. Really, it was like watching a roleplay therapy session without a mediator or actual psychologist.
Actually, yes, that’s how I would describe the story in this book. It is very much a roleplay therapy session that a group of friends go through yearly. Drugs and alcohol have historically been a part of Fake Night, but this year it’s different. And it’s the going through this year’s differences that the reader sees different facets of the characters who are actually in character.
Don’t go into this book thinking you know who everyone is, because everyone is playing a character of sorts. It says it right in the Fake Night declaration: “4. On Fake Night, you become someone entirely new.” So, when you read, you see people pretending to be someone else. All the while, they learn something about themselves through their characters.
Fake Night is a rather niche book. There isn’t really a plot per se, and the characters’ actions gave me moments of anxiety because of the many mini-explosions and yelling. But I actually really enjoyed the book. It might be because there is a catharsis in how they eventually end up. They clearly trust one another deeply because something like this takes a lot of trust. How they ended up doing the first Fake Night in high school is a mystery to me, but that doesn’t matter.
What matters is the moment you learn something about yourself by pretending to be someone else.
And that’s what I got from this book. Which, when you look at the book itself, is a rather poignant way to view the story.
Is Fake Night witty? No, I wouldn’t say so. But it did make me think in the end. And I tend to value those types of reads more.
Would I read another book by Eyal Rosen? Yes, I think I would. I wouldn’t know what to expect, though, because I feel the description of this book wasn’t quite on the nose. Did it describe everything in the book to expect? Yes, but there is a deeper meaning that I wasn’t expecting.
So, if you’re willing to read something fast that may surprise you in the end, read Fake Night by Eyal Rosen.
Casia's Corner 