Counterfeit

Counterfeit (2022) is an adult suspense novel written by Kristen Chen, the author of two other novels. The novel follows two main characters: Ava Wong and Winne Fang, two former college roommates. In the first part of Counterfeit, Ava, a California lawyer who is now an at-home mom, explains to a police detective how Winnie lured her into a scheme to sell replica designer bags. The second part of the novel follows Winnie as she flees to China to hide from the authorities and the former boss she and Ava framed. Her story reveals that Ava is far more complicit in their con than she’s led the detective, and the reader, to believe.

Counterfeit was a New York Times bestseller and a pick of Reese’s Book Club. It was also praised by outlets like The Washington Post and Harper’s Bazaar as a feminist caper and an incisive critique of prevalent attitudes toward Chinese people and Asian Americans.

This guide refers to the hardcover edition published by William Morrow in 2022.

Plot Summary

The novel opens as Ava Wong, a former corporate lawyer, is speaking to a detective. Ava recounts meeting her college roommate, Winnie Fang, in a San Francisco coffee shop. Winnie approached Ava to inquire after a liver transplant for a friend. Winnie appeared glamorous and polished compared to Ava, mother of a nonverbal two-year-old boy and wife of a surgeon husband, who is also often gone for work. Ava explains that Winnie left Stanford in their first semester over a scandal regarding with falsified SAT scores.

Ava insists that Winnie preyed on her vulnerabilities to get Ava to go along with Winnie’s business, which entails buying expensive designer handbags from stores, selling them online, and returning a high-end replica to the store in place of the original. A Chinese businessman named Boss Mak, who runs a factory that makes designer handbags, designs Winnie’s replicas, and he is the one in need of the liver transplant. When Ava discovered her husband cut off her credit card because he didn’t approve of her impulsive visit to family in Hong Kong, Ava agreed to work for Winnie. Ava felt further indebted when Winnie helped enroll her son in preschool. She tells the detective that is why she got involved as a shopper and a manager in Winnie’s business.

With her marriage strained and other friendships waning, Ava confesses to the detective that she secretly admires Winnie’s audacity. Winnie fights for what she wants and lands on her feet, which is the opposite of Ava, who all her life has done what’s expected of her. When Winnie pushed her to visit the replica factory in China, Ava was horrified by the working conditions; she feels sick associating with men who participate in corrupt practices. She repeatedly tells the detective she does not know where Winnie is now.

The second half of the book describes Winnie hiding in China, recovering from plastic surgery to change her face and waiting for Ava to report on the state of her confession. Winnie’s reflections on Ava’s participation in their con show a different picture of Ava’s character than that of the remorseful victim. Winnie sees Ava as sharp, ruthless, and willing to exploit her innocent-looking appearance. Their business might have lasted if a counterfeit return hadn’t been discovered, leading stores to tighten their return policies and their shoppers to quit. Winnie researches lab-grown diamonds while she waits for Boss Mak, who is traveling to San Francisco for the liver transplant, to be apprehended by US authorities.

In her conversation with the detective, Ava continues to portray herself as a dutiful wife who is devoted to her family, describing visits to her family in Hong Kong, seeing her father and brother in Boston, and trying to repair things with her husband. The day of her 15-year college reunion, when she realized how far she’s diverged from the path she set for herself, Ava decided to turn herself in. She pieces together how the detective figured out her and Winnie’s scheme and asks the detective to show her leniency since she turned in Boss Mak. After Boss Mak is taken into custody, Ava calls Winnie to report that her sentence is relatively light, and Winnie flies back to the US.

The Epilogue is set at the end of Ava’s two-year probation. Now divorced and working in a dental office, she visits Winnie in New Hampshire to discuss their new business: returning lab-grown diamonds to jewelry stores. The two women review their adventures and toast their success.