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A Deal with the Devil
A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History | Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken
3 posts | 5 read | 7 to read
In this spellbinding true story, a pair of award-winning CNN investigative journalists track down the mysterious French psychic at the center of an international scam targeting the elderly and emotionally vulnerable, resulting in an expos of one of the longest running cons in history. While investigating financial crimes for CNN Money, Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken were intrigued by reports that elderly Americans were giving away thousands of dollars to mail-in schemes. With a little digging, they soon discovered a shocking true story. Victims received personalized letters from a woman who, claiming amazing psychic powers, convinced them to send money in return for riches, good health, and good fortune. The predatory scam has continued unabated for decades, raking in more than $200 million in the United States and Canada alonewith investigators from all over the world unable to stop it. And at the center of it allan elusive French psychic named Maria Duval. Based on the five-part series that originally appeared on CNNs website in 2016 and was seen by more than three million people, A Deal with the Devil picks up where the series left off as Ellis and Hicken reveal more bizarre characters, follow new leads, close in on Maria Duval, and connect the dots in an edge-of-your-seat journey across the US to England and France. A Deal with the Devil is a fascinating, thrilling search for the truth and is long-form investigative journalism at its best.
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review
thebackyardgnome
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Mehso-so

...when you are in a quiet room, all dressed up, and there is a party going on behind the wall - and your feelings drift between happhness-by-proxg for the party-goers, curiousity about what is exactly happening there and frustration that you can't join the fun. That you are missing a lot and no one will fill you in.

That. That's how this book feels.

It's well written and it's a sketch of a fascinating story that's just not entirely here.

thebackyardgnome I have rrad about Maria Duval, ive evrn seen the ads in the newspapsrs when I was a small kid, so the entire situation was fascinsting to me from the get-go... But the book just runs out of steam by thr end, while also seeming too short. I wish the authors havr looked more into all the othsr strangr fortune-tellers and other charactsrs that just felt sidelined in the book. But it's an interesting read anhway. 1y
UwannaPublishme Welcome to Litsy! 👋🏻🎉📚 1y
thebackyardgnome @UwannaPublishme hi! Nice to meet you ~ 1y
14 likes3 comments
review
NotCool
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Mehso-so

This seems well researched. The criminals are greedy, cruel, and willing to blame anyone but themselves for their actions in a very familiar way. But I found the tone of the authors, CNN reporters who covered a fair number of frauds and seemed like competent adults, kinda disingenuous. It‘s probably a technique. Rather then writing “this woman is a scam”, write “I don‘t know, but here‘s people SAYING she‘s a scam”. But it rankled.

blurb
JessieReadsInBK
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Relaxing Sunday morning with one of my best friend‘s books! I was lucky enough to read the first draft and am so excited to dig in to a galley! I‘m so proud of Melanie. Everyone should add this to their TBR (it comes out Aug. 7)!