DEEPFAKE

The high school rumor mill becomes even more treacherous when deepfakes are thrown into the mix.

Dara and Will are at the top of Greenpoint High’s senior class—enviable because, as the Rumor Has It gossip site reveals, they are a happy couple whose top grades put them both in the running for valedictorian. The anonymous writer suggests that Will’s best friend, MJ, is upset—possibly because she has a crush on him or because her first-choice college rejected her. But it is the site’s next post, containing a video of Dara speculating that Will cheated on his SATs, that causes an uproar among this default-White cast. Despite Dara’s denial that she ever said this, Will breaks up with her and the school initiates an investigation of Will’s SAT. The story is narrated in alternating chapters by Dara and Will, with occasional chapters from MJ’s perspective. Given current media hype over manipulated videos, most readers won’t understand why the Greenpoint brainiacs readily believe the video is real, making Dara’s determination to expose the fakery feel anticlimactic. These themes were more surprising in 2017’s Takedown by Corrie Wang. Here, the more intriguing questions come later: Who created the deepfake, and who is the writer behind the gossip website? Teens hooked on tales of high school drama who stick with it to the end, when the betrayal is revealed, will feel satisfied.

Readers who embrace the premise will enjoy watching the drama unfold.