A few years ago a young man named JT Leroy appeared on the New York literary scene with a successful short novel called Sarah he claimed was written when he was 16. The book was about the life of a teenage male truckstop prostitute and his mother, purportedly based on Leroy's own life as a truck stop prostitute. The young author was feted in literary circles and his story of "triumph over adversity" was championed by celebrities like Billy Corgan, Courtney Love, and even Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). I even once read a gushy interview by Leroy of child star Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon and Bad News Bears) where they commiserated about childhood stardom. 

Well, the truth is Leroy wasn't a teenager at all when he wrote his celebrated books. Turns out there is no such person as JT  Leroy; a couple of unfulfilled rock musicians/writers concocted the character of JT Leroy to gain access first to literary circles and, later, to celebrities. They managed to keep the ruse alive for about nine years, until today, when the New York Times officially unmasked Leroy as a fraud. He's the Milli Vanilli of the New York publishing world!

My wife read Sarah and I read the first few pages. I thought it sucked, and I figured it had only gotten the attention because the author was a kid with an interesting story. Now, it's just a book that sucks, with only an interesting story of fraud and deception keeping it from floundering into irrelevancy.