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iRsSlw"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/profil"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></a></div></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearHed-NCyCC iUEiRd NbxED hpJvIc">A Spense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptns</h1></div><div class="ContentHearAccredatn-lfctVB enhwXT ntent-hear__accredatn" data-ttid="ContentHearAccredatn"><div class="ContentHearDek-bIqFFZ Mtme">Dan Mallory, who wr unr the name A. J. Fn, went to No. 1 wh his début thriller, “The Woman the Wdow.” His life ntas even stranger twists.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH bwbwth byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn lOLCm byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG uhfVi byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL brYZgj byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/ian-parker">Ian Parker</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2019-02-04T05:00:00-05:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">Febary 4, 2019</time></div></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ContentHearLeadAsset-hGbumP iWPCcH lead-asset ContentHearLeadAssetWrapper-hfXHEc fTrSlG lead-asset--width-smallle" data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset"><figure class="ContentHearLeadAssetContent-kOfYSG dRGWbI"><div class="ContentHearLeadAssetContentMedia-bLEIpi jjhWdS lead-asset__ntent__photo"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jFTshY"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Illtratn of AJ Fn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></div></div></span><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn ContentHearLeadAssetCaptn-hPWmSN kuCzGS"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">At Oxford, Dan Mallory studied Patricia Highsmh’s Tom Ripley novels, which are about a charmg, brilliant impostor.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Kristian Hammerstad</span></div></div></figure><div data-ttid="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor" class="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor-jYVcDc djtEof"></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this 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xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><figure data-ttid="IameEmbed" class="IameEmbedWrapper-sc-dRedg cjyRVU iame-embed"><div data-ttid="IameEmbedContaer" class="IameEmbedContaer-hptgUZ fXVBaX"><div class="IameEmbedAspectRatWrapper-hFVJps BKpgQ"><iame class="IameEmbedContent-cMdiev csnuAY IameEmbedContent lazyload" height="90" width="100%" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-orig allow-popups" tle="Embedd Frame" data-src=" allowfullscreen="" allow="toplay *; encrypted-media *; clipboard-wre; toplay; fullscreen; picture--picture"></iame></div></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Dan Mallory, a book edor turned novelist, is tall, good-lookg, and clever. His novel, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Woman the Wdow</a>,” which was published unr a lightly worn psdonym, A. J. Fn, was the h psychologil thriller of the past year. Like “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Gone Girl</a>,” by Gillian Flynn (2012), and “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Girl on the Tra</a>,” by Pla Hawks (2015), each of which has sold lns of pi, Mallory’s novel, published January, 2018, featur an unreliable first-person female narrator, an apparent murr, and a possible psychopath.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory sold the novel a two-book, two-ln-dollar al. He dited to a man he has scribed as an ex-boyiend, and secured a blurb om Stephen Kg: “One of those rare books that really is unputdownable.” Mallory was profiled the <em>Tim</em>, and the novel was <a href=">reviewed this magaze</a>. A Washgton <em>Post</em> cric ntend that Mallory’s prose “rs .” The novel entered the <em>Tim</em> bt-seller list at No. 1—the first time twelve years that a début novel had done so. A film adaptatn, starrg Amy Adams and Gary Oldman, was shot New York last year. Mallory has said that his send novel is likely to appear early 2020—cidg, he hop, wh the Osr ceremony at which the film of “The Woman the Wdow” will be honored. Translatn rights have been acquired more than forty foreign markets.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Mallory n be lightful pany. Jonathan Karp, the publisher of Simon & Schter, recently relled that Mallory, as a junr lleague the New York book world, had been “charmg, brilliant,” and a “terrific wrer of e-mail.” Ts Gerrsen, the crime wrer, met Mallory more than a ago, when he was an edorial assistant; she remembers him as “a charmg young man” who wrote ft jacket py. Craig Rae, the Brish poet and amic, told me that Mallory had been a “charmg and talented” graduate stunt at Oxford; there, Mallory had focsed his studi on Patricia Highsmh’s Tom Ripley novels, which are about a charmg, brilliant impostor.</p><p class="paywall">Now thirty-ne, Mallory liv New York, Chelsea. He spent much of the past year travellg—Spa, Bulgaria, Estonia—for terviews and panel discsns. He repeated entertag, upbeat remarks about his love of Aled Hchck and French bulldogs. When he ma an unschled appearance at a gatherg of bloggers São Plo, he was greeted wh pop-star screams.</p><p class="paywall">One eveng September, Christchurch, New Zealand, Mallory sat down the bar of the hotel where he and other guts of a lerary ftival were stayg. Tom Stt, an edorial rtoonist and a screenwrer, was stck by Mallory’s self-assurance, which remd him of Sam Shepard’s reprentatn of Chuck Yeager, the tt pilot, the film “The Right Stuff.” “He me wearg the same kd of bomber jacket,” Stt said recently, a fondly teasg tone. “An credibly good-lookg guy. He sat down and plonked one leg over the arm of his chair, and swung that leg sually, and wh two mut he’d mentned that he had the bt-sellg novel the world this year.” Mallory also noted that he’d been paid a ln dollars for the movie rights to “The Woman the Wdow.” Stt said, “He was enjoyg his succs so much. It was almost like an outsir lookg on his own succs.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory and Stt later appeared at a ftival event that took the form of a lighthearted bate between two teams. The dience was rowdy; Stt relled that, when was Mallory’s turn to speak, he flipped the room’s mood. He announced that he was gog “off script” to share somethg personal—for what Stt unrstood to be the first time. Mallory said that once, orr to alleviate prsn, he had unrgone electronvulsive therapy, three tim a week, for one or two months. It had “worked,” Mallory noted, addg, “I’m very grateful.” He said that he still had ECT treatments once a year. “You knew he was tellg somethg that was really te,” Stt relled. In the room, there was “a huge surge of sympathy.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Mallory had equently referred to electronvulsive therapy before. But, those stanc, he had clud a list of therapi that he had nsired unsatisfactory the years between 2001, when he graduated om De Universy, and 2015, when he was given a diagnosis of bipolar II disorr, and found relief through meditn. In a talk that Mallory gave at a library Centennial, Colorado, soon after his book’s publitn, he said, “I rorted to hypnotherapy, to electronvulsive therapy, to ketame therapy, to retail therapy.”</p><p class="paywall">In that talk, as dozens of appearanc, Mallory adopted a tone of wty self-pretn. (An dience member asked him if he’d nsired a reer standup edy.) But Mallory’s central theme was that, although prsn may have ed him to thk poorly of himself, he was fact a tremendo succs. “I’ve thrived on both sis of the Atlantic,” he said. “I’m like Ale!” He’d reached a mass rearship wh a first novel that, he said, had honored E. M. Forster’s exhortatn “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Howards End</a>”: “Only nnect.” Mallory scribed himself as a man “of disciple and passn.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory also explaed that he had e to accept that he was attractive—or “semi-f to be viewed by the semi-naked eye.” On a trip to Cha, he had been told so by his “host fay.” At a talk two weeks later, he repeated the anecdote but intified the host fay as Japane.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk 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rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Such storytellg is hardly sndalo. Mallory was takg his first steps as a public figure. Most people have jazzed up an anecdote, and is a novelist’s job to manipulate an dience.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">But Colorado Mallory went further. He said that, while he was workg at an imprt of the publisher Ltle, Brown, London, between 2009 and 2012, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Cuckoo’s Callg</a>,” a thriller submted psdonymoly by J. K. Rowlg, had been published on his remendatn. He said that he had tght at Oxford Universy, where he had received a doctorate. “You got a problem wh that?” he add, to lghter.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="ceray5y"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="28vi7w"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Mallory don’t have a doctorate om Oxford. Although he may have read Rowlg’s mancript, was not published on his remendatn. (And he never “worked wh” Ta Fey at Ltle, Brown, as an official bgraphy of Mallory claimed; a reprentative for Fey recently said that “he was not an edor any pacy on Ta’s book.”)</p><p class="paywall">Moreover, acrdg to many people who know him, Mallory has a history of imposture, and of dupg people wh false stori about disease and ath. Long before he wrote fictn profsnally, Mallory was experimentg wh gothic personal fictns, apparently signed to get attentn, brg him advancement, or to expla away failgs. “Money and power were important to him,” a former publishg lleague told me. “But so was drama, and securg people’s sympathi.”</p><p class="paywall">In 2001, Jefey Archer, the Brish novelist, began a two-year prison sentence for perjury and pervertg the urse of jtice. Nobody has acced Dan Mallory of breakg the law, or of lyg unr oath, but his behavr has stck many as lculated and extreme. The former lleague said that Mallory was “clever and reful” his “thls” ceptns: “If there was somethg that he wanted and there was a way he uld posn himself to get , he would. If there was a story to tell that would help him, he would tell .” This don’t look like poetic license, ordary cks, or Nabokovian game-playg; nor is behavr associated wh bipolar II disorr.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In 2016, midway through the ctn for “The Woman the Wdow,” the thor’s real name was revealed to bidrs. At that pot, most publishg ho dropped out. This move reflected an dtry-wi unease wh Mallory that never beme public, and that did not stand the way of his enrichment: William Morrow, Mallory’s employer at the time, kept biddg, and bought his book.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory had by then spent a publishg, London and New York, and many people the profsn had heard mors about him, cludg the suggtn that he had left jobs unr peculiar circumstanc. Several former lleagu of Mallory’s who were terviewed for this article relled feelg eply unnerved by him. One, London, said, “He exploed people who were sweet-natured.” A lleague at William Morrow told iends, “There’s this guy my office who’s got a ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’ thg gog on.” In 2013, Sophie Hannah, the teemed Brish crime-fictn wrer, whose work clus the sanctned ntuatn of Agatha Christie’s seri of tective novels, was one of Mallory’s thors; she me to distst acunts that he had given about beg gravely ill.</p><p class="paywall">I recently lled a senr edor at a New York publishg pany to discs the experience of workg wh Mallory. “My God,” the edor said, wh a lgh. “I knew I’d get this ll. I didn’t know if would be you or the F.B.I.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Craig Rae tght English lerature at New College, Oxford, for twenty years, until his retirement, 2010. Every sprg, he read applitns om stunts who, havg been accepted by Oxford to pursue a doctorate English, hoped to be attached to New College durg their studi. A or so ago, Rae read an applitn om Dan Mallory, which scribed a proposed this on homoeroticism Patricia Highsmh’s fictn. Unually, the applitn clud an extend personal statement.</p><p class="paywall">Rae, tellg me about the say durg a phone nversatn a few months ago, lled an astonishg piece of wrg that scribed almost unbearable fay sufferg. The say sought to expla why Mallory’s performance as a master’s stunt at Oxford, a few years earlier, had been good but not brilliant. Mallory said that his studi had been dispted by viss to Ameri, to nurse his mother, who had breast ncer. Rae relled, “He had a brother, who was mentally disadvantaged, and also had cystic fibrosis. The brother died while beg nursed by him. And Dan was supportg the fay as well. And the mother gradually died.” Acrdg to Rae, Mallory had scribed how his mother rejected the ia of sufferg whout plat. Mallory often read aloud to her the passage “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ltle Women</a>” which Beth di, wh meek, tidy stoicism, so that his mother “uld sneer at , basilly.”</p><p class="paywall">Rae went on, “At some pot, when Dan was nursg her, he got a bra tumor, which he didn’t tell her about, bee he thought would be upsettg to her. And, evintly, that sort of cleared up. And then she died. The brother had already died.”</p><p class="paywall">Rae admired the say bee “knew was movg but didn’t exaggerate— was wrten lmly.” Rae is the longtime edor of <em>Areté</em>, a lerary magaze, and he not only helped Mallory secure a place at New College; he ved him to expand the say for publitn. “He worked at for a uple of months,” Rae said. “Then he said that, after all, he didn’t thk he uld do .” Mallory explaed that his mother, a private person, might have preferred that he not publish. Instead, he reviewed a llectn of says by the poet Geofey Hill.</p><p class="paywall">Pamela Mallory, Dan’s mother, do seem to be a private person: her Instagram acunt is locked. When I briefly met her, some weeks after I’d spoken to Rae, she cled to be terviewed. She liv for at least part of the year a large hoe Amagansett, near the Devon Yacht Club, where a celebratory lunch was held for Mallory last year. (On Instagram, he once posted a vio clip of the club’s exterr, ptned, “The first le of yacht club is: you do not talk about yacht club.”) In 2013, at a untry club Charlotte, North Carola, Pamela Mallory attend the weddg receptn of her younger son, John, who go by Jake, and who was then workg at Wells Fargo. At the weddg, she and Dan danced. This year, Pamela and other fay members were photographed at a talk that Dan gave at Queens Universy of Charlotte. Dan has scribed travellg wh his mother on a publicy trip to New Zealand. “Only one of will make back alive,” he joked to a reporter. “She’s que spired.”</p><p class="paywall">I told Rae that Mallory’s mother was not ad. There was a pse, and then he said, “If she’s alive, he lied.” Rae unrsred that he had taken Mallory’s say to be factual. He asked me, “Is the father alive? In the acunt I read, I’m almost a hundred per cent certa that the father is ad.” The senr John Mallory, once an executive at the Bank of Ameri Charlotte, also attend the event at Queens Universy. He and Pamela have been married for more than forty years.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Dan Mallory, who turned down requts to be terviewed for this article, was born 1979, to a fay that he has lled “very, very Waspy,” even though his parents both had a Catholic tn and he has scribed himself as havg been a “prec Catholic” childhood. His maternal grandfather, John Barton Poor, was the chairman and chief executive of R.K.O. General, which owned TV and rad statns. Mallory was perhaps referrg to Poor when, as an unrgraduate at De, he wrote a stunt paper that, at the age of ne, he had “slammed the keyboard ver of my grandfather’s Steway onto my exposed penis.” The article ntued, “As I beheld the flhed member pned agast the ivori like the snakelg Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, I immediately feared my uratg days were over.”</p><p class="paywall">Dan and Jake Mallory have two sisters, Hope and Elizabeth. When Dan was ne or so, the fay moved om Garn Cy, on Long Island, to Virgia, and then to Charlotte, where he attend Charlotte Lat, a private school. The fay spent summers Amagansett. In terviews, Mallory has sometim joked that he was unpopular as a teen-ager, but Matt Cloud, a Charlotte Lat classmate, recently told me, by e-mail, that “Dan’s the bt,” and was “a stellar performer” a school productn of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In 1999, at the end of Mallory’s sophomore year llege, he published an article the De <em>Chronicle</em> which purported to scribe events that had occurred a few years earlier, when he was seventeen; he wrote that he was then livg a sgle-parent hoehold. The piece, tled “Take Full Advantage of Sufferg,” began:</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Two grave robbers get feelgs for each other as their shovels touch." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 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17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>From a dim rner of her hospal room I surveyed the patient, who appeared, tucked primly unr the crisp sheets, not so much reupg om surgery as steeped a late-eveng reverie. Her blank face registered none of the priste grimns which so often pervas medil environs; hopeful hts of rose uld be discerned her pale sk; and wh each gentle halatn, her cht lifted slowly but reassurgly heavenward. Me, by ntrast, palpated so furly that I braced myself for rdiac arrt.</p><p>I do not know whether she spied me as I gazed downward, ntemplatg the unjtly lloquial sound of “lumpectomy,” or if some primally maternal stct alerted her to my prence, but a arse, ragged voice, she breathed my name: “Dan.”</p></div></blockquote></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="me3znq"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">His mother, he wrote, urged him “to wre to your lleg and tell them your mother has ncer.” Mallory said that he plied, addg, “I hardly feel I palized on tragedy—rather, I merely squeezed lemona om the proverbial lemons.” In llege applitns, he noted, “I lamented, the sweepg, tragic prose of a Brontë sister, the unsettlg darkns of the master bedroom, where my mother, reelg om bombardments of chemotherapy, lay for days huddled a fetal posn.”</p><p class="paywall">This strategy apparently failed wh Prceton. In the article, Mallory relled wrg to Fred Hargadon, then Prceton’s an of admissns. “You heartls bastard,” the letter supposedly began. “What kd of latter-day Stal ref admissn to someone my plight? Not that I ever serly nsired gracg your godforsaken stutn wh my prence—you should be so lucky—but I’m nohels relieved to know that I won’t be attendg a universy whose admistrators opt to ignore onlogil afflictns; perhaps if I’d followed the example of your prized stunt Lyle Menenz and killed my mother, thgs would have turned out differently.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory end his article wh an exhortatn to his rears: “Make sufferg worth . When the silver lg prov elive, when the suatn nnot be helped, nothg empowers so much as workg for one’s own advantage.”</p><p class="paywall">At some pot Mallory’s teen years, I learned, his mother did have ncer. But the say feels like a blueprt for the manipulatns later exerted on Craig Rae and others: spirg py and furtherg ambn while holdg a pose of souciance.</p><p class="paywall">In the summer of 1999, Mallory terned at New Le Cema, New York. He later claimed, the De <em>Chronicle</em>, that he “whiled away” the summer “polishg” the horror film “Fal Dtatn,” directed by Jam Wong. “We need a young person like you to sex up,” Mallory relled beg told. Wong told me that Mallory did not work on the script.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory spent his junr year abroad, at Oxford, and the experience “changed my attu toward life,” he told <em>De Today</em> 2001. “I disvered Brish youth culture, went out clubbg. . . . I learned was O.K. to have fun.” While there, he published a dispatch, the De stunt publitn <em>TowerView</em>, scribg an enunter wh a would-be mugger, who asked him, “Want me to shoot your motherfuckg mouth off?” Mallory rpond wh wty aplomb, and the mugger, wed, scuttled “down some anonymo alley to reflect on why is Bad To Threaten Other People, pecially phy Amerins who doubt he has a gun.”</p><p class="paywall">Before Oxford, Mallory had been self-ntaed—Jeffery Wt, who tght Mallory a De actg class, and st him a productn of Tom Stoppard’s “Ardia,” said that he was then a “gawky, lanky kd of boy, an Other.” After Oxford, Mallory was bolr. Mary Carmichael, a De classmate and his edor at <em>TowerView</em>, told me that Mallory was now likely to sweep to a room. An article the <em>Chronicle</em> proposed that “beg center stage is a joy for Mallory.” He directed plays, which were well received, and he beme a film cric for the <em>Chronicle</em>. He led that Matt Damon had been “miserably gracels” as the star of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In 2001, Mallory was the stunt speaker at De’s mencement. As his ncer article, he ma a bater’s se for temery, part by ployg temery. He lled himself a “novelist,” and said that he had missed out on a Rhos Scholarship only bee he’d been too cutely ndid an terview: when asked what ma him lgh, he’d said, “My dog,” rather than somethg rarefied. He scribed talkg his way to the this program of De’s English Department, spe not havg done the qualifyg work. He pared his stubborn “attu” on this matter to stggl over civil rights. In llege, he said, “I had honed my personaly to a fe lance, and uld ploy my character as I did my tellect.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">“The Woman the Wdow” is narrated by Anna Fox, an agoraphobic middle-aged woman, livg alone a Harlem brownstone, who believ that she has wnsed a vlent act occurrg a neighbor’s livg room. Early 2018, when Mallory began promotg the novel, he sometim said that he, too, had “suffered om” agoraphobia. He later said that he had never had the ndn.</p><p class="paywall">In an terview last January, on “Thrill Seekers,” an onle rad show, the wrer Alex Dolan asked Mallory about the novel’s Harlem settg. Mallory said that, when scribg Anna’s hoe, he had kept md the uptown home of a fay iend, wh whom he had stayed when he terned New York. After a rare hatn, Mallory shared an anecdote: he said that he’d once accintally locked himself the hoe’s ground-floor bathroom. When he was eventually rcued, by his host, he had been trapped “for twenty-two hours and ten mut.”</p><p class="paywall">“Wow!” Dolan said.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory said, “So perhaps that ntributed to my fascatn wh agoraphobia.”</p><p class="paywall">Dolan asked, “You had the disciple to, say, not kick the door down?”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory, mted to twenty-two hours and ten mut, said that he had torn a brass towel rg off the wall, straightened to a pipe, “and sort of hacked away at the area right above the doorknob.” He ntued, “I did eventually bore my way through , but by that pot my fgers were bloody, I was screamg obsceni. This is the pot—of urse—at which the father of the hoe walked !” After Dolan asked him if he’d rorted to eatg toothpaste, Mallory steered the nversatn to Hchck.</p><p class="paywall">In subsequent terviews, Mallory do not seem to have brought up this bathroom aga. But the exchange giv a glimpse of the temptatns and risks of hyperbole: how, unr even slight prsure, an exaggeratn n bee further exaggerated. For a speaker more vted advantage than accuracy, such fabulatn uld be exhilaratg—and might even lead to the dispatch, by disease, of a fay member. I was recently told about two former publishg lleagu of Mallory’s who lled him after he didn’t show up for a meetg. Mallory said that he was at home, takg re of someone’s dog. The meetg ntued, as a nference ll. Mallory now and then shouted, “No! Get down!” After hangg up, the two lleagu looked at each other. “There’s no dog, right?” “No.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Between 2002 and 2004, Mallory studied for a master’s gree at Oxford. He took urs on twentieth-century lerature and wrote a this on tective fictn. Profsor John Kelly, a Yeats scholar who tght him, told me, “He wrote very challengg and creative says. I said to him once, ‘It n be a ltle florid.’ I always thk that’s a wonrful flt, if is a flt—nstantly lookg for not jt the mot jte, as were, but to give a sp on the mot jte. And his e-mails to me were like that, too; they were always very amg.” Chris Parris-Lamb, a New York lerary agent, siarly imprsed by Mallory’s e-mails, once suggted that he wre a llectn of humoro says, the mo of <a href=">David Sedaris</a>.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Two men watch two other men duel. One man the gun fight has been shot ad." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“I’m feelg a ltle guilty for havg troduced them to each other.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">As Kelly relled, by the end of the two-year urse Mallory was makg equent trips to Ameri, apparently to addrs ser medil issu. Kelly didn’t know the tails of Mallory’s illns. “We talked general terms,” Kelly said. “I didn’t ever prs him.” Kelly also unrstood that Mallory’s mother had a life-threateng illns. “Alas, she did die,” Kelly told me, addg that he rpected Mallory’s “forbearance.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Mallory received his master’s 2004 and moved to New York. He applied to be an assistant to Lda Marrow, the edorial director of Ballante, an imprt of Random Hoe known for mercial fictn. At his terview, he said that he had a love of popular women’s fictn, which rived om his havg read wh his mother when she was gravely ill wh ncer. He later said that he had once had bra ncer himself.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory was given the job. He imprsed Ts Gerrsen and others wh his wrg; he ntributed a smart afterword to a reprt of “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">From Doon wh Death</a>,” Ruth Renll’s first novel. Adam Korn, then a Random Hoe assistant, who saw a lot of Mallory socially, told me that Mallory was “a good guy, lovely to talk to, very rmed,” and already “ser about beg a wrer.” Another lleague relled that Mallory immediately “gave off a vibe of ‘I’m too good for this.’ ” Ballante’s books were too down-market; Mallory’s role was too admistrative.</p><p class="paywall">As if impatient for advancement, Mallory often ed his boss’s office late at night, and worked on her puter. On a few ocsns 2007, after Mallory had announced that he would soon be leavg the pany to take up doctoral studi at Oxford, people found plastic cups, filled wh ure, and near Lda Marrow’s office. The registered as msag of disda, or as terrorial markg. Mallory was spected of rponsibily but was not challenged. No siar cups were found after he qu. (Mallory, through a spokperson, said, “I was not rponsible for this.”)</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="5vrq"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="khror9"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">A few months later, after Mallory had moved to Oxford, his former employers noticed unexplaed spendg, at , on a rporate Amerin Exprs rd. When nonted, Mallory acknowledged that he had ed the rd, but sisted that was error. He add that he was experiencg a recurrence of ncer.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In an terview wh the De alumni magaze last sprg, Mallory said that, as someone who was “very l-nsc,” he found Patricia Highsmh’s reprentatn of Tom Ripley, across five novels, to be “thrillg and disturbg equal measure.” He went on, “When you read a Sherlock Holm story, you know that, by the end, the nocent will be reemed or reward, the guilty will be punished, and jtice will be upheld or rtored. Highsmh subverts all that. Through some alchemy, she persuas to root for socpaths.”</p><p class="paywall">When, a scene partway through “The Woman the Wdow,” Anna Fox thks about another character, “He uld kiss me. He uld kill me,” Mallory is alludg to a pivotal moment “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Talented Mr. Ripley</a>.” On the Italian Riviera, Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf, a dazzlg iend who is tirg of Ripley’s pany, hire a motorboat and head out to sea. In the boat, Ripley nsirs that he “uld have h Dickie, spng on him, or kissed him, or thrown him overboard, and nobody uld have seen him.” He then beats him to ath wh an oar.</p><p class="paywall">Back at Oxford, Mallory has said, he “anoted” Highsmh as the primary subject of his dissertatn. But he don’t seem to have published any scholarly articl on Highsmh, and ’s not clear how much of a this he wrote. An Oxford arts doctorate generally tak at least three or four years; 2009, midway through his send year, Mallory was signg e-mails, untthfully, “Dr. Daniel Mallory.” Oxford recently nfirmed to me that Mallory never pleted the gree.</p><p class="paywall">At Oxford, Mallory beme a stunt-welfare officer. In a gui for New College stunts, he troduced himself wh br, and ved stunts to approach him wh any issu, “even if ’s on Eurovisn night.” Acrdg to Ts Gerrsen, who had drks wh him and others Oxford one night, Mallory mentned that he was “workg on a mystery novel,” which “might have been set Oxford, the world of the dons.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory sometim saw John Kelly, his former profsor, for drks or dner. “They were very, very merry ocsns,” Kelly told me. He relled that Mallory once cled an vatn to a party, sayg that he would be tied up London, supportg a ncer-related anizatn. Kelly was stck by Mallory’s public-spiredns, and by his mosty. “I would have never found out about , except he wrote to me to say, ‘I’d love to be there, but ’s gog to be a long day London.’ ” (When Kelly learned that I had some doubts about Mallory’s acunts of ncer, he said that he was “astonished.”)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">At one pot, Kelly noticed that Mallory no longer rpond to not sent to him through Oxford’s ternal mail system: he had left the universy. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, his doctoral supervisor, recently said of Mallory, “I’m very sorry that illns terpted his studi.” Mallory had begun lookg for work London publishg, scribg himself as a former edor at Ballante, not as an assistant. He claimed that he had two Ph.D.s: his Highsmh-related dissertatn, om Oxford, and one om the psychology partment of an Amerin universy, for rearch to Munchsen syndrome. There’s no evince that Mallory ever unrtook such rearch. A former lleague rells Mallory referrg to himself as a “double-doctor.”</p><p class="paywall">Toward the end of 2009, he was hired as a mid-level edor at Sphere, a mercial imprt of Ltle, Brown. In New York, news of this event ed puzzlement: an edor then at Ballante relled feelg that Mallory “hadn’t done enough” to earn such a posn.</p><p class="paywall">One of Mallory’s London lleagu to whom I spoke at length scribed publishg as “a soft dtry—and much more so London than New York.” Hirg standards London have improved the past , this lleague said, but at the time of Mallory’s hirg “ was much more a se of ‘I like the cut of your jib, you n have a job,’ rather than ‘Have you actually got a Ph.D. om Oxford, and were you an edor at Ballante?’ ”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory was amg, well read, and ebullient, and uld make a memorable first imprsn, over lunch, on lerary agents and thors. He tend to speak almost whout pse. He’d beg wh rapturo flattery—he told Louise Penny, the Canadian mystery wrer, that he’d read her mancript three tim, once “jt for fun”—and then shift to self-regard. He wtily skewered acquatanc and seemed always nsc of his physil allure. He’d say, passg, that he’d molled for Gus jeans—“nway only”—or that he’d appeared on the ver of Rsian <em>Vogue</em>. He mentned a iendship wh Ricky Mart.</p><p class="paywall">This display was at tim profsnally effective. In a blog post wrten after signg wh Ltle, Brown, Penny excedly scribed Mallory as a former “Oxford profsor of lerature.” Referrg to the bond between thor and edor, she add, “It is such an timate relatnship, there needs to be tst.”</p><p class="paywall">Others found his behavr off-puttg; seemed unsued to buildg long-term profsnal relatnships. The London lleague said, “He was so full-on. I thought, My God, what’s gog on? It was performative and lculatg.” A Ltle, Brown lleague, who was ially imprsed by Mallory, said, “He was not most, ever.” The lleague noted that many edors got to trouble by disregardg sal and focsg only on books that they loved, addg, “That certaly never happened wh him.” Ltle, Brown thors were often “sced by Dan” at first but then “beme disenchanted” when he was “late wh his eds or got someone else to do them.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory, who had jt turned thirty, told lleagu that he was impatient to rise. He found iends the pany’s higher ranks. Havg acquired a prcelg stat, he ed to nigrate lleagu. The London lleague said that Mallory would tell his superrs, “This is a bunch of dullards workg for you.” Another lleague said of Mallory, “When he lik you, ’s like the sun shg on you.” But Mallory’s ntempt for perceived enemi was disncertgly sharp. “You don’t want to get on the wrong si of <em>that</em>,” the lleague relled thkg.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="A knight tak off his helmet to reveal a sunburn." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path 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button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Mallory moved to an apartment Shoredch, East London. He wasn’t seen at publishg parti, and one lleague wonred if his extroversn at lunch meetgs served “to disguise cripplg shyns” and habs of solu. On his book tour, Mallory has said that prsn “blighted, blotted, and blackened” his adult life. A former lleague of his told me that Mallory seemed to be driven by fears of no longer beg seen as a “goln boy.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-7 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In the summer of 2010, Mallory told Ltle, Brown about a job offer om a London petor. He was promised a raise and a promotn. A prs release announcg Mallory’s elevatn scribed him as “entreprenrial and a te team player.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="tst44"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">By then, Mallory had ma wily known to -workers that he had an operable bra tumor. He’d survived earlier bouts wh ncer, but now a doctor had told him that a tumor would kill him by the age of forty. He seemed to be sayg that ncer—already intified and unequivolly fatal—would allow him to live for almost another . The claim sounds more like a gobl’s curse than like a prognosis, but Mallory was persuasive; the lleague who was ially supportive of him recently said, wh a shake of the head, “Y, I believed that.”</p><p class="paywall">Some -workers wept after hearg the news. Mallory told people that he was seekg experimental treatments. He took time off. In Ltle, Brown’s open-plan office, helium-filled “Get Well” balloons swayed over Mallory’s sk. For a while, he wore a baseball p, even doors, which was thought to hi hair loss om chemotherapy. He explaed that he hadn’t yet told his parents about his diagnosis, as they were aloof and unaffectnate. Before the office closed for Christmas 2011, Mallory said that, as his parents had no tert seeg him, he would stead make an exploratory vis to the facili of Dignas, the assisted-ath nonprof based Swzerland. A Dignas ath occurs a small hoe next to a mache-parts factory; there’s no tradn of showg this space to possible future patients. Mallory said that he had found his vis peaceful.</p><p class="paywall">Sourc told me that, a few months later, Ursula Mackenzie, then Ltle, Brown’s C.E.O., attend a dner where she sat next to the C.E.O. of the publishg hoe whose job offer had led to Mallory’s promotn. The rival C.E.O. told Mackenzie that there had been no such offer. (Mackenzie cled to ment. The rival C.E.O. did not reply to requts for ment.) When challenged at Ltle, Brown, Mallory claimed that the rival C.E.O. was lyg, reprisal for Mallory’s havg once rejected a sexual proposn.</p><p class="paywall">In Augt, 2012, Mallory left Ltle, Brown. The terms of his parture are vered by a nondisclosure agreement. But ’s clear that Ltle, Brown did not fd Mallory’s rponse about the job offer nvcg. “And, once that fell away, then you obvly thk, Is he <em>really</em> ill?” the once supportive lleague said. Everythg now looked doubtful, “even to the extent of ‘Do his fay exist?’ and ‘Is he even lled Dan Mallory?’ ”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory was not fired. This fact pots to the strength of employee protectns the U.K.—’s hard to prove the absence of a job offer—but also, perhaps, to a sense of embarrassment and dread. The prospect of Mallory’s public antagonism was evintly alarmg: Ltle, Brown was nsc of the risks of “a fantasist walkg around tellg li,” an employee at the pany told me. Another source ma a jokg reference to “The Talented Mr. Ripley”: “He uld e at me wh an axe. Or an oar.”</p><p class="paywall">In protectg his reer, Mallory held the advantage of his own failgs: Ltle, Brown’s reputatn would have been harmed by the knowledge that had hired, and then promoted, a habual liar. When Mallory left, many of his lleagu were unaware of any unpleasantns. There was even a small, awkward dner his honor.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Two weeks before Mallory left Ltle, Brown, was announced that he had accepted a job New York, as an executive edor at William Morrow, an imprt of HarperColls. Publishg profsnals timate that his startg salary was at least two hundred thoand dollars a year. That fall, he moved to an apartment a sixty-floor tower, wh a pool, midtown, and to an office at Morrow, on Fifty-third Street.</p><p class="paywall">He had been hired by Liate Stehlik, Morrow’s wily admired publisher. It’s not clear if Stehlik heard mors about Mallory’s unreliabily—or, to e the words of a former Morrow lleague, the fact that “London had end some sort of ball of flame.” Stehlik did not reply to requts for ment for this article.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-8 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Whereas London Mallory had sometim seemed like a Brish satire of Amerin blter, New York he me off as Brish. He spoke wh an English accent and said “brilliant,” “bloody,” and “Where’s the loo?”—as one lleague put , he was “a grown man walkg around wh a fake accent that everyone knows is fake.” The hab lasted for years, and one n fd a postman, not a mailman, “The Woman the Wdow.”</p><p class="paywall">Some book edors immerse themselv text; others foc on makg als. Mallory was firmly of the latter type, and specialized acquirg tablished thors who had an ternatnal reach. Before the end of 2012, he had signed Wilbur Smh—once a giant popular historil fictn (and now, as Mallory put an e-mail to iends, “approximately four centuri old”).</p><p class="paywall">At some pot that wter, Mallory stopped g to the office. This mystified lleagu, who were given no explanatn.</p><p class="paywall">On Febary 12, 2013, some people London who knew Mallory profsnally received a group e-mail om Jake Mallory, Dan’s brother, whom they’d never met. Wrg om a Gmail addrs, Jake said that Dan would be gog to the hospal the next day, for the removal of a tumor. He’d be havg “plited surgery wh several high risk factors, cludg the possibily of paralysis and/or the loss of functn below the waist.” But, Jake went on, “Dan has been through worse and has poted out that if he uld make through Love Actually alive, this surgery holds no terrors.” Dan would eat “an early dner of sashimi and will then read a book about dogs until bedtime,” Jake wrote, addg, “Dan was treated terribly by people throughout his childhood and teenage years and to his twenti, which left him a very eply lonely person, so he do not like/tst many people. Please keep him your thoughts.”</p><p class="paywall">That e-mail appears to have been addrsed exclively to ntacts the U.K. The next day, Jake sent an e-mail to acquatanc of Dan’s the New York publishg world. It noted that Dan would soon be unrgog surgery to addrs “a tumor his spe,” addg, “This isn’t the first (or even send) time that Dan has had to unrgo this sort of treatment, so he knows the drill, although ’s still an unpleasant and ighteng proposn. He says that he is lookg forward to beg fted wh a spal-fluid dra and that this will renr him half-man, half-mache.”</p><p class="paywall">Recipients wrote back distrs. An edor at a rival publishg hoe told me, “I totally fell for . After all, who would fabrite such a story? I sent books and sympathi.” In time, Jake’s exchang wh this edor beme “quippy and upbeat.” Another rrponnt told Jake that his wrg was as droll as Dan’s.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="nwlpk"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="ngurm"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Jake’s stylg of “” was unual. The next week, Dan wrote to Chris Parris-Lamb, the agent. He began, “Wanted to thank you for your very lovely to my brother.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="A man wh a monkey on his head stands next to his wife who has a scratched and swollen face." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“I want to keep , but my wife hat the way scratch her face.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Given the idsyncrasy of “”—and given Dan’s taste for crafted zgers, and his history of fabritn—’s now easy to suppose, as one recipient put , that “somethg crazy was gog on,” and that “Jake” was Dan. Like Tom Ripley wrg letters that were taken as the work of the murred Dickie Greenleaf, Dan was apparently munitg wh iends a fictnal voice. (Onle impersonatns also figure the plot of “The Woman the Wdow.”)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-9 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Jake Mallory is thirty-five. He’s a ltle shorter than Dan, and don’t have the same lacrosse-player batn of strong ch and floppy hair. The week of Dan’s alleged surgery, while Jake was supposedly by his si New York, Jake’s fiancée posted on Facebook a profsnal “pre-weddg” photograph of the uple. In , she and Jake, who got married that summer, look happy and hopeful. Jake Mallory did not rpond to requts for ment. Dan Mallory, through the spokperson, said that he was “not the thor of the e-mails” sent by “Jake.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">On Febary 14, 2013, a “Jake” msage to New York ntacts scribed overnight surgery—unmon timg for a schled procre— an unspecified hospal. “My brother’s 7-hour surgery end early this morng,” the e-mail began. “He experienced signifint blood loss—more so than is mon durg spal surgeri, so required two transfns. However, the tumor appears to have been pletely removed. His very first words upon wakg up were ‘I need vodka.’ ” I was told that a recipient sent vodka to Dan’s apartment, and was thanked by “Jake,” who reported that his brother roed himself jt long enough to say that the senr was a godss.</p><p class="paywall">The ventriloquism is halfhearted. Dan’s own voice keeps tdg, and the hurried sequence of events suggts anxiety about gettg the patient home, and returng him to a sparer, mythic narrative of endurance and w. While a New York hospal, Dan was a dot on the map, exposed to visors. Reports om the ward would require the clutter of realist fictn: medil vic, doctors wh nam.</p><p class="paywall">“Jake” ntued, “He has been fted wh a ‘lumbar dra’ his back to dra his spal fluid. The pa is apparently que severe, but he is on medice.” (A Brishism.) “He is not great shape but did manage to ask if he uld keep the tumor as a pet. He will most likely be gog home today.”</p><p class="paywall">On Febary 15th, “Jake” wrote an e-mail to Parris-Lamb: “We’re anticipatg a week or so of ncentrated rt, the only trick will be fdg enough readg material to keep his bra occupied.” A week later, Dan Mallory, wrg om his own e-mail addrs, sent Parris-Lamb the note thankg him for the “very lovely ”—which, he said, had “warmed my black heart.” Mallory went on, “Today I start weang myself—I’ll jt let that clse stand on s own for a mute; are you gaggg yet?—off my sweet sweet Vid, so am at last f to rrpond. Feelg que spry; the wound is healg nicely, and I’m no longer wobbly on my feet. Not when sober, at any rate.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory suggted meetg the agent for drks, or dner, a week or two later. Wrg to another ntact, he scribed an impendg trip to London, for which he was packg ltle more than “a motheaten jumper.” On Febary 26th, twelve days after seven-hour spal surgery, Mallory wrote to Parris-Lamb to say that he was Nashville, for work.</p><p class="paywall">Three days later, “Jake” wrote another group e-mail, sayg that “an allergic reactn to a new pa killer” had ed Dan “to go to shock and rdiac arrt.” He went on, “He was taken to the hospal on time and treated immediately and is out of tensive re (still on a rpirator and unr sedatn). While this setback is not wele is not permanent eher, and at least Dan n now say he has had two lucky p the space of two months.” “Jake” went on, “The worst is past and we are hopg he n go back to his apartment this weekend and then pick up where he left off. This would dnt a mere mortal but not my brother.”</p><p class="paywall">At the end of March, late at night, “Jake” wrote aga to London ntacts. Dan was “ cent physil shape,” but was upset about the “paful upheaval” of the prev year—and about an e-mail, wrten by an unnamed Ltle, Brown executive, that seemed to “poke fun at him.” Dan felt “utterly let down” and was “whdrawg to himself like a turtle.”</p><p class="paywall">“Jake” noted that Dan had been “workg wh abed children and fants at the hospal where he was treated.” The prev week, “Jake” had seen Dan “talkg to a ltle girl whose arm had been broken for her,” he wrote, addg, “My brother’s arm was broken for him when he was a baby.” This phrasg seems to stop jt short of allegg parental abe. (The theme of childhood victimizatn, sometim an element of “Jake” e-mails sent to London associat, did not appear the New York e-mails.) “Jake” went on, “He wrote the ltle girl a story about a hedgehog his nict handwrg to show her how she uld rebound om a bad experience. I want for him to do the same, although I unrstand that he is tired of havg to rebound om thgs.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-10 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The same night the “Jake” e-mail was sent, an ex-lleague of Mallory’s at Ltle, Brown received an anonymo e-mail llg her one of the “nastit c*nts publishg.” Mallory was asked about the e-mail, and was told that Ltle, Brown would ntact law enforcement if anythg siar happened aga. It didn’t. (Through the spokperson, Mallory said that he did not wre the msage and “do not rell beg warned” about .) In “The Woman the Wdow,” Anna Fox seeks advice about a threateng anonymo e-mail, and is told that “there’s no way to trace a Gmail acunt.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">A week later, an apparent attempt at a ret, Dan Mallory wrote a breezy group e-mail unr his own name. The ncer surgery, he said, had been “a total succs.” A metal ntraptn was attached to his spe, so he was now “half-man, half-mache.” He noted that he’d jt seen “Matilda” wh his parents.</p><p class="paywall">When Mallory returned to work that sprg, after several weeks, nothg was said. A former -worker at Morrow, who admir him and still has only the vagut sense of a health issue, told me that Mallory “seemed the same as before.” He hadn’t lost any weight or hair.</p><p class="paywall">After his return, Mallory me to work on a highly irregular schle. Unlike other edors, he rarely attend Wednday-afternoon edorial meetgs. At one pot, another -worker began keepg a log of Mallory’s absenc.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory bought a one-bedroom apartment Chelsea, for six hundred and twenty-five thoand dollars. He rated wh imag and mols of dogs, a amed sign readg “Amagansett,” and a reproductn of a seventeenth-century engravg of New College, Oxford.</p><p class="paywall">Morrow executiv eher believed that Mallory’s ncer story was real or cid to live wh the fact that was not. Explag Morrow’s acmodatn of s employee, a former lleague said that Mallory’s foc on ternatnal als protected him, addg, “Nothg’s more important than global thors.” The -worker went on, “There’s a horror movie where all the teachers a school have been fected by an alien parase. The kids realize , and of urse nobody believ them. That’s what felt like.” The -worker scribed Mallory’s “gaslightg, lyg, and manipulatn” the workplace as cel, but noted, “People don’t re, if ’s not sexual harassment.” A Morrow spokperson released a statement: “We don’t ment on the personal liv of our employe or thors. Profsnally, Dan was a highly valued edor, and the publitn of ‘The Woman the Wdow’—a #1 New York Tim btseller out of the gate, and the btsellg but novel of 2018—speaks for self.”</p><p class="paywall">An acquatance of Mallory’s recently said that “there’s not a lot of nontatn” publishg. “It’s a bs based on hope. You never know what’s gog to work.” In the dtry, mors about the “Jake” e-mails were ntaed—perhaps by discretn or out of people’s embarrassment about havg been taken .</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Gulliver is tied up on a hill watchg Sefeld." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 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15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">I recently spoke wh Victoria Sanrs, an agent who reprents Kar Slghter, the thriller wrer. In 2015, Slghter signed a three-book al, for more than ten ln dollars, volvg Mallory and a Brish unterpart. Sanrs viewed Mallory as Slghter’s “quarterback,” addg, “His level of engagement ma him really que extraordary.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="027sd6i"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The edor at a rival publishg hoe who’d had “quippy” exchang wh the Jake persona said of the episo, “Even now seems a bizarre, eccentric game, but not threateng.” “Jake” hadn’t asked for sh, so wasn’t an “jur sm.” The edor said, “This seemed almost performance art.” Chris Parris-Lamb, however, was afonted, part bee someone close to him had recently died om ncer.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-11 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The acquatance who scribed an dtry “based on hope” didn’t see Mallory for a few years, then ma plans to meet him for a work-related drk, Manhattan. Mallory said that he was now well, except for an eye problem. His eye began to twch. Mallory’s pann asked after Jake. “Oh, he’s ad,” Mallory said. “Y, he mted suici.” The acquatance relled to me that, at that moment, “I jt knew I was never gog to rrpond or al wh him aga.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In 2013, Sophie Hannah met Mallory for the first time, over lunch New York. They discsed plans, already set motn London, for Hannah to wre the first official Agatha Christie ntuatn novel. William Morrow would publish the U.S. They also discsed Hannah’s non-Christie fictn, which later also me to Morrow. Hannah, who liv Cambridge, recently said by phone that they quickly beme iends. Mallory “renewed my creative energy,” she said. He had a knack for “givg feedback the form of praise for exactly the thgs I’m proud of.”</p><p class="paywall">Hannah seems to have found, Mallory, a remarkable source of material. In 2015, she pleted her send Hercule Poirot novel, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Closed Casket</a>.” Poirot is a gut at an Irish untry hoe, and meets Joseph Stcher, a character whose role n’t be scribed whout spoilers. Stcher is a charmg young flatterer who has told everyone that he is termally ill, wh kidney disease. Durg Poirot’s vis, Stcher is murred, and an topsy reveals that his kidneys were healthy.</p><p class="paywall">After the murr, Randall Kimpton, an Amerin doctor who is also stayg the hoe, tells Poirot that he’d bee iendly wh Stcher years earlier, at Oxford; he had begun to doubt Stcher’s dire prognosis, while thkg that “surely no one would tell a lie of such enormy.” Kimpton tells Poirot that he was once approached by someone claimg to be Stcher’s brother. This brother, who looked intil to Stcher except for darker sk and a wild beard, had nfirmed the kidney disease, and Kimpton had cid “no man of honor would agree to tell a stranger that his brother was dyg if were not so.” But the supposed brother had then accintally revealed himself to be Stcher, wearg a beard glued to his face.</p><p class="paywall">A sctive man li about a fatal disease, then fends the lie by pretendg to be his brother. The brother’s name is Blake. When I asked Hannah if the plot was spired by real events, she was evasive, and more than once she said, “I really like Dan, and he’s only ever been good to me.” She also noted that, before startg to wre “Closed Casket,” she scribed s plot to Mallory: “He said, ‘Y, that sounds amazg!’ ” Hannah, then, n’t be acced of disurty.</p><p class="paywall">But she acknowledged that there were “obv parallels” between “Closed Casket” and “mors that circulated” about Mallory. She also admted that the character of Kimpton, the Amerin doctor, ow somethg to her former edor. I had noticed that Kimpton speaks wh an affected English accent and— what works as a fe portra of Mallory, mid-flow—has ey that “seemed to flare and subsi as his lips moved.” The passage ntu, “The wi-eyed flar were only sends apart, and appeared to want to nvey enthiastic emphasis. One was left wh the imprsn that every third or fourth word he uttered was a source of light to him.” (Chris Parris-Lamb, shown the sentenc, said, “My God! That’s so good.”) While Hannah was wrg “Closed Casket,” her private workg tle for the novel was “You’re So Va, You Probably Thk This Poirot’s About You.”</p><p class="paywall">A publishg employee New York told me that, 2013, Hannah had bee spic that Mallory wasn’t tellg the tth when he spoke of makg a trip to the U.K. for ncer treatment, and had hired a tective to vtigate. This suggtn seemed to be supported by an acunt, on Hannah’s blog, of hirg a private tective that summer. Hannah wrote that she had lled him to scribe a “weird nundm.” Later, durg a vatn wh her hband Agatha Christie’s untry hoe, Devon, she lled to check on the tective’s progrs; he told her that “there was a mor gog round that X is the se.”</p><p class="paywall">“You’re supposed to be fdg out if X is <em>te</em>,” Hannah told the tective.</p><p class="paywall">“I’m not sure how we uld really do that,” he replied. “Not whout hackg e-mail acunts and thgs like that—and that’s illegal.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-12 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Asked about the blog post, Hannah told me that she had thought of hirg a tective to check on Mallory, and had discsed the ia wh iends, but hadn’t followed through. She had, however, hired a tective to vtigate a graffi problem Cambridge. I said that I found this hard to believe. She went on to say that she had fotten the tective’s name, she had leted all her old e-mails, and she didn’t want to bother her hband and ask him to nfirm the graffi story. All this enuraged the thought that the novelist now wrg as Agatha Christie had hired a tective to vtigate her edor, whom she spected of lyg about a fatal disease.</p><p class="paywall">Hannah—who, acrdg to several people who know her, has a great appete for discsg Mallory at parti—also seems to have ma fictnal e of him her non-Poirot wrg. “The Warng,” a short story about psychopathic manipulatns, clus an extraordarily charmg man, Tom Rigbey, who lov bull terriers. Hannah recently -wrote a mil mystery, “The Generalist”; s plot featur a succsful romance novelist who feels that her publisher has bee neglectful, after wrg a bt-seller of his own.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">An Amerin woman mid-reer, a psychologist wh a Ph.D. and profsnal experience of psychopathy, is trapped her large home by agoraphobia. She has been there for about a year, after a personal trma. If she tri to go outsi, the world sps. She drks too much, and recklsly b alhol and anti-anxiety meditn. Police officers distst her judgment. Onle, she plays chs and ntribut to a fom for strs-sufferers, a place where danger li.</p><p class="paywall">This is the setup for “Copyt,” a spired 1995 thriller, set San Francis, starrg Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. It also scrib “The Woman the Wdow.” In “Copyt,” the psychologist’s fom log- is She Doc. In “Wdow,” ’s <em class="small">THEDOCTORISIN</em>.</p><p class="paywall">“The Woman the Wdow” acknowledg a bt to the film “Rear Wdow,” by makg Anna Fox a fan of noir movi and Hchck. And Mallory has publicly referred a few tim to “The Girl on the Tra,” a well-told story about a boozily unreliable wns, a woman much like Mallory’s boozily unreliable wns. But he hasn’t acknowledged “Copyt”—unls one cis that when, “The Woman the Wdow,” a photograph wh a time stamp s rner downloads om the Inter at a spenseful, dial-up speed, is an homage to the same scene “Copyt,” rather than an dictment of Inter service provirs Manhattan.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="A man stands at a neighbor's door askg for the WiFi password." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“Someone the buildg recently password-protected their Wi-Fi and I’m wonrg if was you.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div 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10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">When I e-mailed Jon Amiel, the director of “Copyt,” about parallels between the two narrativ, he replied, “Wow.” Later, on the phone, he proposed that the bt was probably “not actnable, but certaly worth notg, and one would have hoped that the thor might have noted himself.”</p><p class="paywall">The official orig myth of “The Woman the Wdow” feels unrwrten. In the summer of 2015, Mallory has said, he was at home for some weeks, adjtg to a new meditn. He rewatched “Rear Wdow,” and noticed a neighbor the apartment across the street. “How funny,” he said to himself. “Voyrism di hard!” A story suggted self. Mallory is more gent when reflectg on his shrewdns regardg the marketplace—when he talks about his novel the voice of a startup C.E.O. pchg for funds. “I brg to ‘The Woman the Wdow’ more than thirty years of experience the genre,” he told a crime-fictn blogger last wter. He explaed to a podst host that, before “Gone Girl,” there had been “no brandg” for psychologil spense; afterward, there was vast mercial opportuny. Mallory has said that he favored the psdonym A. J. Fn part for s legibily on a small screen, “at rced pixelatn.” He me up wh the name Anna Fox after lookg for somethg that was easy to pronounce many languag.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="cx9sbaf"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="9vxbhj"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Mallory has scribed wrg a seventy-five-hundred-word outle and showg to Jennifer Joel, a lerary agent at I.C.M., who is a iend of his; she enuraged him to ntue. He has said that he then worked for a year, staed by Adrall, Co-Cola, and electronic mic. Mallory told the <em>Tim</em> that he wrote at night and on the weekends. Former lleagu who had taken note of his office absenc were skeptil of this claim.</p><p class="paywall">Pla Hawks’s “The Girl on the Tra” was published January, 2015. By the summer of 2016, had sold 4.25 ln pi the U.S. Early that September, jt before the release of the film adaptatn, was No. 1 on the <em>Tim</em> paperback bt-seller list. On September 22nd and 23rd, a PDF of “The Woman the Wdow,” by A. J. Fn, was e-mailed to edors New York and London. Mallory has said that he adopted a psdonym bee he wanted publishers to asss the mancript whout “takg to acunt my standg the dtry.” This isn’t te, as Mallory has himself acknowledged some terviews: Jennifer Joel told edors that the thor worked at a senr level publishg.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-13 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The edors started readg: “Her hband’s almost home. He’ll tch her this time. There isn’t a scrap of curta, not a bla of bld, number 212—the st-red townhome that once hoed the newlywed Motts, until recently, until they un-wed.”</p><p class="paywall">The story feels transposed to New York om a more tranquil place, like North Oxford. The nights are dark; the sound of a cello, or a scream, rri. At the center of the plot are two neighborg ho, on the same si of a street, wh si wdows that face each other across a garn. This arrangement is easy to fd most parts of the world that aren’t Manhattan.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory nnily set himself the task of popularizg the already wildly popular plot of “The Girl on the Tra.” His book nsists of a hundred very short chapters, and reads like a film script that has been novelized, on a adle, unr severe vobulary rtrictns: sunshe “bolts ” through a door; eyebrows “bolt to each other”; ey “bolt open”; one character is “bolted to the sofa”; another has “strong teeth boltg om strong gums.” He then gild his text wh referenc to Tennyson, Nabokov, and the Pt Rivers Mm, Oxford. The over-all effect is a ltle like readg the e-mails sent by “Jake”: Anna, the narrator, feels subordate to Mallory’s stttgly sistent voice. It’s much more a Tom Ripley novel than a Patricia Highsmh novel. Instead of Highsmh’s disorientg, erotic disvery of character, “Wdow” is an enactment of Ripleyan manipulatn. It’s a thriller exced about gettg away wh wrg a thriller. In a recent e-mail, Joan Schenkar, the thor of “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Talented Miss Highsmh</a>,” an acclaimed bgraphy, scribed “Wdow” as a “novel of strategi, not psychologi.” It was, she said, “the most self-nsc thriller I’ve ever opened.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The sellg of “The Woman the Wdow” was a perfectly librated manver, and ed the kd of hoopla that happens only once or twice a year Amerin publishg. One publisher offered hundreds of thoands of dollars an effort to preëmpt an ctn. This was rejected, and at least eight publishg imprts, cludg Morrow, began to bid for the North Amerin rights. Meanwhile, offers were beg ma for European edns, and Fox 2000 bought the film rights.</p><p class="paywall">When the biddg reached seven hundred and fifty thoand dollars, Mallory revealed his name. A former Morrow employee relled, “I’d wonred why this person publishg wants to be anonymo. Then: Oh, <em>that’s</em> why!” Mallory has said that “nobody dropped out” at that pot; but many, cludg Ltle, Brown, did. When was announced that Mallory’s employer had won the ctn, one joke New York was “The ll was g om si the hoe!”</p><p class="paywall">Morrow sent out a prs release sayg that Mallory had been “profiled <em>USA Today</em>”—he hadn’t—and quotg Jennifer Brehl, the Morrow edor who had won the ctn. “A. J. Fn’s voice and story were like nothg I’d ever heard before,” she said. “So creepy, sad, twisty-turny, and cunng.” She said that she had not regnized this voice as Mallory’s, and add, “He’s already known as an teemed edor; I predict a long reer as a brilliant novelist, too.” Liate Stehlik, the Morrow publisher, later wrote to booksellers, “I love , and the only thg I thought when I was readg was that Morrow mt publish this book.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory stayed on as an edor at Morrow for another year. He set up a rporatn, A. J. Fn, Inc., g an Amagansett P.O. box. A photograph of him sg and unshaven, taken by Hope Brooks, the olr of his sisters, began appearg stori about his succs.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The Mallory hoe Amagansett is set back om a quiet road; tre le the driveway, jog overhead to form a tunnel. On an overst morng jt before Thanksgivg, I walked up to the hoe, and reached a garage whose doors were open. An S.U.V. was parked ont; two dogs leaped, barkg, om s back seat. (I relled that, acrdg to Dan Mallory, his mother had, on separate ocsns, killed two dogs by backg up over them.)</p><p class="paywall">John Mallory, Dan’s father, me out of the garage, wearg a nim shirt. He is his mid-sixti, and has a handsome, squarish face. He apologized for the panmonium, and joked, “I’m jt the lawn guy.”</p><p class="paywall">I explaed why I was there. “Dan do not want me mentg,” he said. “He’s my son, so I have to rpect his privacy.” But his manner was iendly, and the dogs lmed down, and we stood talkg for a few mut. “He’s a wonrful young man, he tly is,” John said.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-14 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">I said that I’d bee terted Dan’s acunts of ncer—the claim that he’d had a malignant tumor, and that his mother had died of ncer.</p><p class="paywall">“No, no,” he said. He didn’t sound surprised or annoyed—rather, he was obliged to rrect a misapprehensn. When Dan was a teen-ager, he said, “his mother did have ncer. Stage V, so she was next to ath. But, no, Dan didn’t have . He’s jt been an absolutely perfect son. He has his flts, like we all do, he’s jt a tremendo young man.”</p><p class="paywall">Did Dan have ncer later? “No, no,” John said, addg that Dan had told him that “he’d been misquoted several tim, and really bothers him when thgs e out that are negative about him.”</p><p class="paywall">I began to scribe the “Jake” e-mails. “Dan and his brother, Jake, are very close,” John said, addg that “Jake would never, ever say” Dan had fallen ill wh ncer, bee wasn’t te. I wonred if John had been told that such e-mails existed, and uld be explaed as the work of a scurrilo third party. They n’t—Dan saw repli wrten to the “Jake” e-mail addrs, and rpond to them.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Mos holds the ten mandments and talks to God." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“So, basilly, this is all about what <em class="unrle">you</em> want?”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 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ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">When Dan wrote about livg a sgle-parent fay when he was seventeen, was that te?</p><p class="paywall">“No,” John said. “Well, a way I gus was, bee my wife and I were separated.” They were apart for two and a half years, he said. “She ma me e back,” he went on, lghg. “We had our differenc. We didn’t file for divorce or anythg like that.” He add, “Pam was sayg, ‘I thk you ma a mistake. But ’s up to you.’ And then I realized I’m beg an idt.”</p><p class="paywall">I asked if the separatn was difficult for Dan. “Very difficult,” he said. “The fay’s very closely kn and to see the dad not there on Thanksgivg or Christmas—Ian, ’s my flt. I hate to this day to thk they had a Thanksgivg dner whout me.”</p><p class="paywall">He ntued, “Dan went through a tough time, his teen-age years, but he’s really pulled together.” In the past, “a lot of tim, he hid om .” Now “every morng I get a FaceTime om Dan. He jt bought a ltle French bulldog. Oh, my God, Ian—he bought one three weeks ago, the dog has, like, four thoand toys, a ltle blanket. He’s jt an avid dog-lover, as we all are—as you see. He don’t have a mean bone his body.” He said that, as far as he knew, Dan had fished his Ph.D.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="76k3v2"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The dogs started barkg aga. A r me up the driveway. “Here his mother,” John said. “Oh, Lord.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-15 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Pamela Mallory got out of an S.U.V. wh a shoppg bag. I troduced myself. “We’re not dog that,” she said, walkg toward the hoe. “Thank you.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In “The Woman the Wdow,” much of whose plot this article is about to give away, Anna Fox watch a fay move next door. Ethan, the fay’s sorrowful and lonely only child, aged about fifteen, viss Anna. She is filled wh py when he scrib a ntrollg, vlent father, and she is stck by his earntns: he’s prone to tears, and teach swimmg to velopmentally disabled children.</p><p class="paywall">Then Ethan murrs his mother, and— the novel’s climax—appears one night Anna’s bedroom, wh a letter opener as a weapon, and a crazed look, sayg, “Olr women tert me.” In passag that seem more fluent than those which have e before, Ethan acknowledg the matrici, and scrib as “exhilaratg.” Stg on Anna’s bed, playg wh the letter opener, he acknowledg other transgrsns. By impersonatg a iendly grandmother on Anna’s agoraphobia fom, he has tricked her to givg up her passwords. He has pied her hoe key, allowg him to go and out of her hoe. “I e here almost every night,” he says. He forc her to agree that she is “very fuckg stupid.” He mocks her—a child psychologist—for not regnizg him for what he is.</p><p class="paywall">“I know what I am,” Ethan tells her. “Do that help?”</p><p class="paywall">Anna says to herself, “Psychopath. The superficial charm, the labile personaly, the flat affect.” She then tells him, “You enjoy manipulatg others.”</p><p class="paywall">He repli, “It’s fun. And easy. You’re really easy.” He strok the bla agast his thigh. “I didn’t want you to thk I was a threat. That’s why I said I missed my iends. And I pretend I might be gay. And I cried all those fuckg tim.”</p><p class="paywall">Both Ethan’s prsn and his acunt of a vic father were part of a performance—one effective enough to dupe a psychologist and draw the eye away om personaly pathology.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In a Morrow sal brochure, Mallory said that he’d “stggled for more than fifteen years wh severe prsn,” and that, 2015, he had fally been given a diagnosis of bipolar II disorr. This announcement surprised the acquatanc of Mallory’s who spoke to me. Over the years, he had been willg to talk of ncer, near-ath, and a brother’s suici, but he hadn’t mentned mental illns so severe that he’d sought relief electric shocks and ketame.</p><p class="paywall">Speakg Colorado last January, Mallory quoted a passage om Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">An Unquiet Md</a>,” which she scrib repeatedly nontg the social wreckage ed by her bipolar episos—knowg that she had “apologi to make.” Nobody I spoke to remembered a Mallory reckong or an apology. In more recent public appearanc, Mallory seems to have dropped this reference to wreckage. Instead, he has accepted cred for his urage brgg up his mental sufferg, and he has foreground his virtu. Asked, on an Atralian podst, to fe himself three adjectiv, Mallory said, “Inquisive. Kd—I do thk I’m a kd person.” He clicked his tongue. “And I love French bulldogs. I don’t know if there’s an adjective that sums that up.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory clearly has experienced mental distrs. At Mallory’s requt, his psychiatrist nfirmed to me that Mallory was given a diagnosis of bipolar II. The psychiatrist said that Mallory, bee of his mother’s illns, sometim had “somatic plats, fears, and preoccupatns,” cludg about ncer. But a bipolar II diagnosis do not easily expla anized untths, mataed over time. Nigel Blackwood, a forensic psychiatrist at Kg’s College London, told me that patients wh the ndn may experience “perds of flated self-teem,” but he emphasized that hypomanic episos “nnot acunt for staed arrogant and ceptive terpersonal behavrs.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-16 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Chris Parris-Lamb, the agent, who has a very close fay member who is bipolar, said, “I’ve seen the ravag, the sufferg that the disease n e.” He went on, “If Mallory’s ce is the product of bipolar episos, then they have been sgularly advantageo to his reer, and that is unlike any bipolar person I’ve ever enuntered. And if he is one of the lucky on who has managed to get his disease unr ntrol and produce a bt-sellg novel—if he is stable and lucid enough to do that—then he is stable and lucid enough to apologize to the people he lied to and the people he hurt.”</p><p class="paywall">Carrie Bearn, a profsor of psychiatry at U.C.L.A., who has not met Mallory, said that a patient wh bipolar II disorr nnot attribute to that diagnosis lns, amnia, or “chronic lyg for sendary ga, or to get attentn.” To do so is “very irrponsible,” she said, and uld add to the “already huge stigma associated wh the disorrs.”</p><p class="paywall">On January 30th, a public-relatns firm workg on Mallory’s behalf provid <em>The New Yorker</em> wh a statement om him: “For the past two years, I’ve spoken publicly about mental illns: the fg experience of my life—particularly durg the btal years bookendg my late twenti and mid-thirti—and the central theme of my novel. Throughout those dark tim, and like many afflicted wh severe bipolar II disorr, I experienced cshg prsns, lnal thoughts, morbid obssns, and memory problems. It’s been horrific, not least bee, my distrs, I did or said or believed thgs I would never ordarily say, or do, or believe—thgs of which, many stanc, I have absolutely no rellectn.”</p><p class="paywall">He went on, “It is the se that on numero ocsns the past, I have stated, implied, or allowed others to believe that I was afflicted wh a physil malady stead of a psychologil one: ncer, specifilly. My mother battled aggrsive breast ncer startg when I was a teenager; was the formative experience of my adolcent life, synonymo wh pa and panic. I felt tensely ashamed of my psychologil stggl—they were my srit, most sensive secret. And for fifteen years, even as I worked wh psychotherapists, I was utterly terrified of what people would thk of me if they knew—that they’d nclu I was fective a way that I should be able to rrect, or, worse still, that they wouldn’t believe me. Dissemblg seemed the easier path.”</p><p class="paywall">He ntued, “Wh the benef of hdsight, I’m sorry to have taken, or be seen to have taken, advantage of anyone else’s goodwill, however sperate the circumstanc; that was never the goal.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">A paperback edn of “The Woman the Wdow” was published the U.K. December, and the novel immediately returned to the bt-seller list; the U.S. paperback will appear next month, wh a first prt n of three hundred and fifty-five thoand pi. The movie adaptatn, wrten by the Pulzer Prize-wng playwright Tracy Letts, is schled to be released on October 4th.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory has said that his send novel will be set San Francis. It will have the flavor of an Agatha Christie story, and will be partly set a Victorian mansn. It’s a story of revenge, he has said, volvg a female thriller wrer and an terviewer who learns of a dark past. He hop to turn to a televisn seri. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="kxethe"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2019/02/11" data-reactroot="">Febary 11, 2019</a>, issue, wh the headle “Unreliable Narrator.”</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/ian-parker">Ian Parker</a> has been a staff wrer at The New Yorker sce 2000.</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/a-j-fn" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">A. J. Fn</span></a><a href="/tag/wrers" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Wrers</span></a><a href="/tag/thrillers" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Thrillers</span></a><a href="/tag/the-woman--the-wdow" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">“The Woman the Wdow”</span></a><a href="/tag/books" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Books</span></a><a href="/tag/but-novels" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Debut Novels</span></a></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt jjsHHz newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Weekly</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Your gui to the latt magaze and our biggt stori of the week, pl highlights om podsts, humor, and more.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT laFPCK text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. This se is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google<a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Privacy Policy</a> and<a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Terms of Service</a> apply.</p></span></div></form></div></div></div></div></div><div class="ntent-bottom-anchor"></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-footer" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-footer"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="recirc-list-wrapper viewport-monor-anchor"><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan ContentFooterRelated-kEBiFe kVUuwq"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 SummaryCollectnGridComponent-ktyEog bdTTVU summary-llectn-grid RecircListDefltOverlaySummaryCollectnGrid-AHJhY bEaXiL recirc-list__ems summary-llectn-grid--four-lumns summary-llectn-grid--DenseDktopStack"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm jTGbEO"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR eOCboB hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/02/26/the-domtic-thriller-is-havg-a-moment" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Domtic Thriller Is Havg a Moment" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Books</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2018/02/26/the-domtic-thriller-is-havg-a-moment" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Domtic Thriller Is Havg a Moment</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/02/26/the-domtic-thriller-is-havg-a-moment" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Domtic Thriller Is Havg a Moment" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In A. J. Fn’s “The Woman the Wdow,” an agoraphobic wh a zoom lens thks she se somethg.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joyce Carol Oat</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/12/10/lerary-hoax-and-the-ethics-of-thorship" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Lerary Hoax and the Ethics of Authorship" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">A Cric at Large</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2018/12/10/lerary-hoax-and-the-ethics-of-thorship" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Lerary Hoax and the Ethics of Authorship</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/12/10/lerary-hoax-and-the-ethics-of-thorship" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Lerary Hoax and the Ethics of Authorship" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">What happens when we fd out wrers aren’t who they said they were.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Louis Menand</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Novelist Whose Inventns Went Too Far" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Life and Letters</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Novelist Whose Inventns Went Too Far</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Novelist Whose Inventns Went Too Far" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">After the Ao-Cuban wrer H. G. Carrillo died, his hband learned that almost everythg the wrer had shared about his life was ma up—cludg his Cuban inty.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>D. T. 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iRsSlw"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/profil"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></a></div></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearHed-NCyCC iUEiRd NbxED hpJvIc">A Spense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptns</h1></div><div class="ContentHearAccredatn-lfctVB enhwXT ntent-hear__accredatn" data-ttid="ContentHearAccredatn"><div class="ContentHearDek-bIqFFZ Mtme">Dan Mallory, who wr unr the name A. J. Fn, went to No. 1 wh his début thriller, “The Woman the Wdow.” His life ntas even stranger twists.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH bwbwth byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn lOLCm byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG uhfVi byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL brYZgj byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/ian-parker">Ian Parker</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2019-02-04T05:00:00-05:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">Febary 4, 2019</time></div></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ContentHearLeadAsset-hGbumP iWPCcH lead-asset ContentHearLeadAssetWrapper-hfXHEc fTrSlG lead-asset--width-smallle" data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset"><figure class="ContentHearLeadAssetContent-kOfYSG dRGWbI"><div class="ContentHearLeadAssetContentMedia-bLEIpi jjhWdS lead-asset__ntent__photo"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jFTshY"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Illtratn of AJ Fn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></div></div></span><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn ContentHearLeadAssetCaptn-hPWmSN kuCzGS"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">At Oxford, Dan Mallory studied Patricia Highsmh’s Tom Ripley novels, which are about a charmg, brilliant impostor.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Kristian Hammerstad</span></div></div></figure><div data-ttid="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor" class="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor-jYVcDc djtEof"></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this 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xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><figure data-ttid="IameEmbed" class="IameEmbedWrapper-sc-dRedg cjyRVU iame-embed"><div data-ttid="IameEmbedContaer" class="IameEmbedContaer-hptgUZ fXVBaX"><div class="IameEmbedAspectRatWrapper-hFVJps BKpgQ"><iame class="IameEmbedContent-cMdiev csnuAY IameEmbedContent lazyload" height="90" width="100%" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-orig allow-popups" tle="Embedd Frame" data-src=" allowfullscreen="" allow="toplay *; encrypted-media *; clipboard-wre; toplay; fullscreen; picture--picture"></iame></div></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Dan Mallory, a book edor turned novelist, is tall, good-lookg, and clever. His novel, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Woman the Wdow</a>,” which was published unr a lightly worn psdonym, A. J. Fn, was the h psychologil thriller of the past year. Like “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Gone Girl</a>,” by Gillian Flynn (2012), and “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Girl on the Tra</a>,” by Pla Hawks (2015), each of which has sold lns of pi, Mallory’s novel, published January, 2018, featur an unreliable first-person female narrator, an apparent murr, and a possible psychopath.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory sold the novel a two-book, two-ln-dollar al. He dited to a man he has scribed as an ex-boyiend, and secured a blurb om Stephen Kg: “One of those rare books that really is unputdownable.” Mallory was profiled the <em>Tim</em>, and the novel was <a href=">reviewed this magaze</a>. A Washgton <em>Post</em> cric ntend that Mallory’s prose “rs .” The novel entered the <em>Tim</em> bt-seller list at No. 1—the first time twelve years that a début novel had done so. A film adaptatn, starrg Amy Adams and Gary Oldman, was shot New York last year. Mallory has said that his send novel is likely to appear early 2020—cidg, he hop, wh the Osr ceremony at which the film of “The Woman the Wdow” will be honored. Translatn rights have been acquired more than forty foreign markets.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Mallory n be lightful pany. Jonathan Karp, the publisher of Simon & Schter, recently relled that Mallory, as a junr lleague the New York book world, had been “charmg, brilliant,” and a “terrific wrer of e-mail.” Ts Gerrsen, the crime wrer, met Mallory more than a ago, when he was an edorial assistant; she remembers him as “a charmg young man” who wrote ft jacket py. Craig Rae, the Brish poet and amic, told me that Mallory had been a “charmg and talented” graduate stunt at Oxford; there, Mallory had focsed his studi on Patricia Highsmh’s Tom Ripley novels, which are about a charmg, brilliant impostor.</p><p class="paywall">Now thirty-ne, Mallory liv New York, Chelsea. He spent much of the past year travellg—Spa, Bulgaria, Estonia—for terviews and panel discsns. He repeated entertag, upbeat remarks about his love of Aled Hchck and French bulldogs. When he ma an unschled appearance at a gatherg of bloggers São Plo, he was greeted wh pop-star screams.</p><p class="paywall">One eveng September, Christchurch, New Zealand, Mallory sat down the bar of the hotel where he and other guts of a lerary ftival were stayg. Tom Stt, an edorial rtoonist and a screenwrer, was stck by Mallory’s self-assurance, which remd him of Sam Shepard’s reprentatn of Chuck Yeager, the tt pilot, the film “The Right Stuff.” “He me wearg the same kd of bomber jacket,” Stt said recently, a fondly teasg tone. “An credibly good-lookg guy. He sat down and plonked one leg over the arm of his chair, and swung that leg sually, and wh two mut he’d mentned that he had the bt-sellg novel the world this year.” Mallory also noted that he’d been paid a ln dollars for the movie rights to “The Woman the Wdow.” Stt said, “He was enjoyg his succs so much. It was almost like an outsir lookg on his own succs.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory and Stt later appeared at a ftival event that took the form of a lighthearted bate between two teams. The dience was rowdy; Stt relled that, when was Mallory’s turn to speak, he flipped the room’s mood. He announced that he was gog “off script” to share somethg personal—for what Stt unrstood to be the first time. Mallory said that once, orr to alleviate prsn, he had unrgone electronvulsive therapy, three tim a week, for one or two months. It had “worked,” Mallory noted, addg, “I’m very grateful.” He said that he still had ECT treatments once a year. “You knew he was tellg somethg that was really te,” Stt relled. In the room, there was “a huge surge of sympathy.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Mallory had equently referred to electronvulsive therapy before. But, those stanc, he had clud a list of therapi that he had nsired unsatisfactory the years between 2001, when he graduated om De Universy, and 2015, when he was given a diagnosis of bipolar II disorr, and found relief through meditn. In a talk that Mallory gave at a library Centennial, Colorado, soon after his book’s publitn, he said, “I rorted to hypnotherapy, to electronvulsive therapy, to ketame therapy, to retail therapy.”</p><p class="paywall">In that talk, as dozens of appearanc, Mallory adopted a tone of wty self-pretn. (An dience member asked him if he’d nsired a reer standup edy.) But Mallory’s central theme was that, although prsn may have ed him to thk poorly of himself, he was fact a tremendo succs. “I’ve thrived on both sis of the Atlantic,” he said. “I’m like Ale!” He’d reached a mass rearship wh a first novel that, he said, had honored E. M. Forster’s exhortatn “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Howards End</a>”: “Only nnect.” Mallory scribed himself as a man “of disciple and passn.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory also explaed that he had e to accept that he was attractive—or “semi-f to be viewed by the semi-naked eye.” On a trip to Cha, he had been told so by his “host fay.” At a talk two weeks later, he repeated the anecdote but intified the host fay as Japane.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk 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6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Such storytellg is hardly sndalo. Mallory was takg his first steps as a public figure. Most people have jazzed up an anecdote, and is a novelist’s job to manipulate an dience.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">But Colorado Mallory went further. He said that, while he was workg at an imprt of the publisher Ltle, Brown, London, between 2009 and 2012, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Cuckoo’s Callg</a>,” a thriller submted psdonymoly by J. K. Rowlg, had been published on his remendatn. He said that he had tght at Oxford Universy, where he had received a doctorate. “You got a problem wh that?” he add, to lghter.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="ceray5y"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="28vi7w"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Mallory don’t have a doctorate om Oxford. Although he may have read Rowlg’s mancript, was not published on his remendatn. (And he never “worked wh” Ta Fey at Ltle, Brown, as an official bgraphy of Mallory claimed; a reprentative for Fey recently said that “he was not an edor any pacy on Ta’s book.”)</p><p class="paywall">Moreover, acrdg to many people who know him, Mallory has a history of imposture, and of dupg people wh false stori about disease and ath. Long before he wrote fictn profsnally, Mallory was experimentg wh gothic personal fictns, apparently signed to get attentn, brg him advancement, or to expla away failgs. “Money and power were important to him,” a former publishg lleague told me. “But so was drama, and securg people’s sympathi.”</p><p class="paywall">In 2001, Jefey Archer, the Brish novelist, began a two-year prison sentence for perjury and pervertg the urse of jtice. Nobody has acced Dan Mallory of breakg the law, or of lyg unr oath, but his behavr has stck many as lculated and extreme. The former lleague said that Mallory was “clever and reful” his “thls” ceptns: “If there was somethg that he wanted and there was a way he uld posn himself to get , he would. If there was a story to tell that would help him, he would tell .” This don’t look like poetic license, ordary cks, or Nabokovian game-playg; nor is behavr associated wh bipolar II disorr.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In 2016, midway through the ctn for “The Woman the Wdow,” the thor’s real name was revealed to bidrs. At that pot, most publishg ho dropped out. This move reflected an dtry-wi unease wh Mallory that never beme public, and that did not stand the way of his enrichment: William Morrow, Mallory’s employer at the time, kept biddg, and bought his book.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory had by then spent a publishg, London and New York, and many people the profsn had heard mors about him, cludg the suggtn that he had left jobs unr peculiar circumstanc. Several former lleagu of Mallory’s who were terviewed for this article relled feelg eply unnerved by him. One, London, said, “He exploed people who were sweet-natured.” A lleague at William Morrow told iends, “There’s this guy my office who’s got a ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’ thg gog on.” In 2013, Sophie Hannah, the teemed Brish crime-fictn wrer, whose work clus the sanctned ntuatn of Agatha Christie’s seri of tective novels, was one of Mallory’s thors; she me to distst acunts that he had given about beg gravely ill.</p><p class="paywall">I recently lled a senr edor at a New York publishg pany to discs the experience of workg wh Mallory. “My God,” the edor said, wh a lgh. “I knew I’d get this ll. I didn’t know if would be you or the F.B.I.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Craig Rae tght English lerature at New College, Oxford, for twenty years, until his retirement, 2010. Every sprg, he read applitns om stunts who, havg been accepted by Oxford to pursue a doctorate English, hoped to be attached to New College durg their studi. A or so ago, Rae read an applitn om Dan Mallory, which scribed a proposed this on homoeroticism Patricia Highsmh’s fictn. Unually, the applitn clud an extend personal statement.</p><p class="paywall">Rae, tellg me about the say durg a phone nversatn a few months ago, lled an astonishg piece of wrg that scribed almost unbearable fay sufferg. The say sought to expla why Mallory’s performance as a master’s stunt at Oxford, a few years earlier, had been good but not brilliant. Mallory said that his studi had been dispted by viss to Ameri, to nurse his mother, who had breast ncer. Rae relled, “He had a brother, who was mentally disadvantaged, and also had cystic fibrosis. The brother died while beg nursed by him. And Dan was supportg the fay as well. And the mother gradually died.” Acrdg to Rae, Mallory had scribed how his mother rejected the ia of sufferg whout plat. Mallory often read aloud to her the passage “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ltle Women</a>” which Beth di, wh meek, tidy stoicism, so that his mother “uld sneer at , basilly.”</p><p class="paywall">Rae went on, “At some pot, when Dan was nursg her, he got a bra tumor, which he didn’t tell her about, bee he thought would be upsettg to her. And, evintly, that sort of cleared up. And then she died. The brother had already died.”</p><p class="paywall">Rae admired the say bee “knew was movg but didn’t exaggerate— was wrten lmly.” Rae is the longtime edor of <em>Areté</em>, a lerary magaze, and he not only helped Mallory secure a place at New College; he ved him to expand the say for publitn. “He worked at for a uple of months,” Rae said. “Then he said that, after all, he didn’t thk he uld do .” Mallory explaed that his mother, a private person, might have preferred that he not publish. Instead, he reviewed a llectn of says by the poet Geofey Hill.</p><p class="paywall">Pamela Mallory, Dan’s mother, do seem to be a private person: her Instagram acunt is locked. When I briefly met her, some weeks after I’d spoken to Rae, she cled to be terviewed. She liv for at least part of the year a large hoe Amagansett, near the Devon Yacht Club, where a celebratory lunch was held for Mallory last year. (On Instagram, he once posted a vio clip of the club’s exterr, ptned, “The first le of yacht club is: you do not talk about yacht club.”) In 2013, at a untry club Charlotte, North Carola, Pamela Mallory attend the weddg receptn of her younger son, John, who go by Jake, and who was then workg at Wells Fargo. At the weddg, she and Dan danced. This year, Pamela and other fay members were photographed at a talk that Dan gave at Queens Universy of Charlotte. Dan has scribed travellg wh his mother on a publicy trip to New Zealand. “Only one of will make back alive,” he joked to a reporter. “She’s que spired.”</p><p class="paywall">I told Rae that Mallory’s mother was not ad. There was a pse, and then he said, “If she’s alive, he lied.” Rae unrsred that he had taken Mallory’s say to be factual. He asked me, “Is the father alive? In the acunt I read, I’m almost a hundred per cent certa that the father is ad.” The senr John Mallory, once an executive at the Bank of Ameri Charlotte, also attend the event at Queens Universy. He and Pamela have been married for more than forty years.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Dan Mallory, who turned down requts to be terviewed for this article, was born 1979, to a fay that he has lled “very, very Waspy,” even though his parents both had a Catholic tn and he has scribed himself as havg been a “prec Catholic” childhood. His maternal grandfather, John Barton Poor, was the chairman and chief executive of R.K.O. General, which owned TV and rad statns. Mallory was perhaps referrg to Poor when, as an unrgraduate at De, he wrote a stunt paper that, at the age of ne, he had “slammed the keyboard ver of my grandfather’s Steway onto my exposed penis.” The article ntued, “As I beheld the flhed member pned agast the ivori like the snakelg Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, I immediately feared my uratg days were over.”</p><p class="paywall">Dan and Jake Mallory have two sisters, Hope and Elizabeth. When Dan was ne or so, the fay moved om Garn Cy, on Long Island, to Virgia, and then to Charlotte, where he attend Charlotte Lat, a private school. The fay spent summers Amagansett. In terviews, Mallory has sometim joked that he was unpopular as a teen-ager, but Matt Cloud, a Charlotte Lat classmate, recently told me, by e-mail, that “Dan’s the bt,” and was “a stellar performer” a school productn of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In 1999, at the end of Mallory’s sophomore year llege, he published an article the De <em>Chronicle</em> which purported to scribe events that had occurred a few years earlier, when he was seventeen; he wrote that he was then livg a sgle-parent hoehold. The piece, tled “Take Full Advantage of Sufferg,” began:</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Two grave robbers get feelgs for each other as their shovels touch." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 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18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>From a dim rner of her hospal room I surveyed the patient, who appeared, tucked primly unr the crisp sheets, not so much reupg om surgery as steeped a late-eveng reverie. Her blank face registered none of the priste grimns which so often pervas medil environs; hopeful hts of rose uld be discerned her pale sk; and wh each gentle halatn, her cht lifted slowly but reassurgly heavenward. Me, by ntrast, palpated so furly that I braced myself for rdiac arrt.</p><p>I do not know whether she spied me as I gazed downward, ntemplatg the unjtly lloquial sound of “lumpectomy,” or if some primally maternal stct alerted her to my prence, but a arse, ragged voice, she breathed my name: “Dan.”</p></div></blockquote></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="me3znq"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">His mother, he wrote, urged him “to wre to your lleg and tell them your mother has ncer.” Mallory said that he plied, addg, “I hardly feel I palized on tragedy—rather, I merely squeezed lemona om the proverbial lemons.” In llege applitns, he noted, “I lamented, the sweepg, tragic prose of a Brontë sister, the unsettlg darkns of the master bedroom, where my mother, reelg om bombardments of chemotherapy, lay for days huddled a fetal posn.”</p><p class="paywall">This strategy apparently failed wh Prceton. In the article, Mallory relled wrg to Fred Hargadon, then Prceton’s an of admissns. “You heartls bastard,” the letter supposedly began. “What kd of latter-day Stal ref admissn to someone my plight? Not that I ever serly nsired gracg your godforsaken stutn wh my prence—you should be so lucky—but I’m nohels relieved to know that I won’t be attendg a universy whose admistrators opt to ignore onlogil afflictns; perhaps if I’d followed the example of your prized stunt Lyle Menenz and killed my mother, thgs would have turned out differently.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory end his article wh an exhortatn to his rears: “Make sufferg worth . When the silver lg prov elive, when the suatn nnot be helped, nothg empowers so much as workg for one’s own advantage.”</p><p class="paywall">At some pot Mallory’s teen years, I learned, his mother did have ncer. But the say feels like a blueprt for the manipulatns later exerted on Craig Rae and others: spirg py and furtherg ambn while holdg a pose of souciance.</p><p class="paywall">In the summer of 1999, Mallory terned at New Le Cema, New York. He later claimed, the De <em>Chronicle</em>, that he “whiled away” the summer “polishg” the horror film “Fal Dtatn,” directed by Jam Wong. “We need a young person like you to sex up,” Mallory relled beg told. Wong told me that Mallory did not work on the script.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory spent his junr year abroad, at Oxford, and the experience “changed my attu toward life,” he told <em>De Today</em> 2001. “I disvered Brish youth culture, went out clubbg. . . . I learned was O.K. to have fun.” While there, he published a dispatch, the De stunt publitn <em>TowerView</em>, scribg an enunter wh a would-be mugger, who asked him, “Want me to shoot your motherfuckg mouth off?” Mallory rpond wh wty aplomb, and the mugger, wed, scuttled “down some anonymo alley to reflect on why is Bad To Threaten Other People, pecially phy Amerins who doubt he has a gun.”</p><p class="paywall">Before Oxford, Mallory had been self-ntaed—Jeffery Wt, who tght Mallory a De actg class, and st him a productn of Tom Stoppard’s “Ardia,” said that he was then a “gawky, lanky kd of boy, an Other.” After Oxford, Mallory was bolr. Mary Carmichael, a De classmate and his edor at <em>TowerView</em>, told me that Mallory was now likely to sweep to a room. An article the <em>Chronicle</em> proposed that “beg center stage is a joy for Mallory.” He directed plays, which were well received, and he beme a film cric for the <em>Chronicle</em>. He led that Matt Damon had been “miserably gracels” as the star of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In 2001, Mallory was the stunt speaker at De’s mencement. As his ncer article, he ma a bater’s se for temery, part by ployg temery. He lled himself a “novelist,” and said that he had missed out on a Rhos Scholarship only bee he’d been too cutely ndid an terview: when asked what ma him lgh, he’d said, “My dog,” rather than somethg rarefied. He scribed talkg his way to the this program of De’s English Department, spe not havg done the qualifyg work. He pared his stubborn “attu” on this matter to stggl over civil rights. In llege, he said, “I had honed my personaly to a fe lance, and uld ploy my character as I did my tellect.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">“The Woman the Wdow” is narrated by Anna Fox, an agoraphobic middle-aged woman, livg alone a Harlem brownstone, who believ that she has wnsed a vlent act occurrg a neighbor’s livg room. Early 2018, when Mallory began promotg the novel, he sometim said that he, too, had “suffered om” agoraphobia. He later said that he had never had the ndn.</p><p class="paywall">In an terview last January, on “Thrill Seekers,” an onle rad show, the wrer Alex Dolan asked Mallory about the novel’s Harlem settg. Mallory said that, when scribg Anna’s hoe, he had kept md the uptown home of a fay iend, wh whom he had stayed when he terned New York. After a rare hatn, Mallory shared an anecdote: he said that he’d once accintally locked himself the hoe’s ground-floor bathroom. When he was eventually rcued, by his host, he had been trapped “for twenty-two hours and ten mut.”</p><p class="paywall">“Wow!” Dolan said.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory said, “So perhaps that ntributed to my fascatn wh agoraphobia.”</p><p class="paywall">Dolan asked, “You had the disciple to, say, not kick the door down?”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory, mted to twenty-two hours and ten mut, said that he had torn a brass towel rg off the wall, straightened to a pipe, “and sort of hacked away at the area right above the doorknob.” He ntued, “I did eventually bore my way through , but by that pot my fgers were bloody, I was screamg obsceni. This is the pot—of urse—at which the father of the hoe walked !” After Dolan asked him if he’d rorted to eatg toothpaste, Mallory steered the nversatn to Hchck.</p><p class="paywall">In subsequent terviews, Mallory do not seem to have brought up this bathroom aga. But the exchange giv a glimpse of the temptatns and risks of hyperbole: how, unr even slight prsure, an exaggeratn n bee further exaggerated. For a speaker more vted advantage than accuracy, such fabulatn uld be exhilaratg—and might even lead to the dispatch, by disease, of a fay member. I was recently told about two former publishg lleagu of Mallory’s who lled him after he didn’t show up for a meetg. Mallory said that he was at home, takg re of someone’s dog. The meetg ntued, as a nference ll. Mallory now and then shouted, “No! Get down!” After hangg up, the two lleagu looked at each other. “There’s no dog, right?” “No.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Between 2002 and 2004, Mallory studied for a master’s gree at Oxford. He took urs on twentieth-century lerature and wrote a this on tective fictn. Profsor John Kelly, a Yeats scholar who tght him, told me, “He wrote very challengg and creative says. I said to him once, ‘It n be a ltle florid.’ I always thk that’s a wonrful flt, if is a flt—nstantly lookg for not jt the mot jte, as were, but to give a sp on the mot jte. And his e-mails to me were like that, too; they were always very amg.” Chris Parris-Lamb, a New York lerary agent, siarly imprsed by Mallory’s e-mails, once suggted that he wre a llectn of humoro says, the mo of <a href=">David Sedaris</a>.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Two men watch two other men duel. One man the gun fight has been shot ad." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“I’m feelg a ltle guilty for havg troduced them to each other.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">As Kelly relled, by the end of the two-year urse Mallory was makg equent trips to Ameri, apparently to addrs ser medil issu. Kelly didn’t know the tails of Mallory’s illns. “We talked general terms,” Kelly said. “I didn’t ever prs him.” Kelly also unrstood that Mallory’s mother had a life-threateng illns. “Alas, she did die,” Kelly told me, addg that he rpected Mallory’s “forbearance.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Mallory received his master’s 2004 and moved to New York. He applied to be an assistant to Lda Marrow, the edorial director of Ballante, an imprt of Random Hoe known for mercial fictn. At his terview, he said that he had a love of popular women’s fictn, which rived om his havg read wh his mother when she was gravely ill wh ncer. He later said that he had once had bra ncer himself.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory was given the job. He imprsed Ts Gerrsen and others wh his wrg; he ntributed a smart afterword to a reprt of “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">From Doon wh Death</a>,” Ruth Renll’s first novel. Adam Korn, then a Random Hoe assistant, who saw a lot of Mallory socially, told me that Mallory was “a good guy, lovely to talk to, very rmed,” and already “ser about beg a wrer.” Another lleague relled that Mallory immediately “gave off a vibe of ‘I’m too good for this.’ ” Ballante’s books were too down-market; Mallory’s role was too admistrative.</p><p class="paywall">As if impatient for advancement, Mallory often ed his boss’s office late at night, and worked on her puter. On a few ocsns 2007, after Mallory had announced that he would soon be leavg the pany to take up doctoral studi at Oxford, people found plastic cups, filled wh ure, and near Lda Marrow’s office. The registered as msag of disda, or as terrorial markg. Mallory was spected of rponsibily but was not challenged. No siar cups were found after he qu. (Mallory, through a spokperson, said, “I was not rponsible for this.”)</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="5vrq"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="khror9"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">A few months later, after Mallory had moved to Oxford, his former employers noticed unexplaed spendg, at , on a rporate Amerin Exprs rd. When nonted, Mallory acknowledged that he had ed the rd, but sisted that was error. He add that he was experiencg a recurrence of ncer.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In an terview wh the De alumni magaze last sprg, Mallory said that, as someone who was “very l-nsc,” he found Patricia Highsmh’s reprentatn of Tom Ripley, across five novels, to be “thrillg and disturbg equal measure.” He went on, “When you read a Sherlock Holm story, you know that, by the end, the nocent will be reemed or reward, the guilty will be punished, and jtice will be upheld or rtored. Highsmh subverts all that. Through some alchemy, she persuas to root for socpaths.”</p><p class="paywall">When, a scene partway through “The Woman the Wdow,” Anna Fox thks about another character, “He uld kiss me. He uld kill me,” Mallory is alludg to a pivotal moment “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Talented Mr. Ripley</a>.” On the Italian Riviera, Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf, a dazzlg iend who is tirg of Ripley’s pany, hire a motorboat and head out to sea. In the boat, Ripley nsirs that he “uld have h Dickie, spng on him, or kissed him, or thrown him overboard, and nobody uld have seen him.” He then beats him to ath wh an oar.</p><p class="paywall">Back at Oxford, Mallory has said, he “anoted” Highsmh as the primary subject of his dissertatn. But he don’t seem to have published any scholarly articl on Highsmh, and ’s not clear how much of a this he wrote. An Oxford arts doctorate generally tak at least three or four years; 2009, midway through his send year, Mallory was signg e-mails, untthfully, “Dr. Daniel Mallory.” Oxford recently nfirmed to me that Mallory never pleted the gree.</p><p class="paywall">At Oxford, Mallory beme a stunt-welfare officer. In a gui for New College stunts, he troduced himself wh br, and ved stunts to approach him wh any issu, “even if ’s on Eurovisn night.” Acrdg to Ts Gerrsen, who had drks wh him and others Oxford one night, Mallory mentned that he was “workg on a mystery novel,” which “might have been set Oxford, the world of the dons.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory sometim saw John Kelly, his former profsor, for drks or dner. “They were very, very merry ocsns,” Kelly told me. He relled that Mallory once cled an vatn to a party, sayg that he would be tied up London, supportg a ncer-related anizatn. Kelly was stck by Mallory’s public-spiredns, and by his mosty. “I would have never found out about , except he wrote to me to say, ‘I’d love to be there, but ’s gog to be a long day London.’ ” (When Kelly learned that I had some doubts about Mallory’s acunts of ncer, he said that he was “astonished.”)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">At one pot, Kelly noticed that Mallory no longer rpond to not sent to him through Oxford’s ternal mail system: he had left the universy. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, his doctoral supervisor, recently said of Mallory, “I’m very sorry that illns terpted his studi.” Mallory had begun lookg for work London publishg, scribg himself as a former edor at Ballante, not as an assistant. He claimed that he had two Ph.D.s: his Highsmh-related dissertatn, om Oxford, and one om the psychology partment of an Amerin universy, for rearch to Munchsen syndrome. There’s no evince that Mallory ever unrtook such rearch. A former lleague rells Mallory referrg to himself as a “double-doctor.”</p><p class="paywall">Toward the end of 2009, he was hired as a mid-level edor at Sphere, a mercial imprt of Ltle, Brown. In New York, news of this event ed puzzlement: an edor then at Ballante relled feelg that Mallory “hadn’t done enough” to earn such a posn.</p><p class="paywall">One of Mallory’s London lleagu to whom I spoke at length scribed publishg as “a soft dtry—and much more so London than New York.” Hirg standards London have improved the past , this lleague said, but at the time of Mallory’s hirg “ was much more a se of ‘I like the cut of your jib, you n have a job,’ rather than ‘Have you actually got a Ph.D. om Oxford, and were you an edor at Ballante?’ ”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory was amg, well read, and ebullient, and uld make a memorable first imprsn, over lunch, on lerary agents and thors. He tend to speak almost whout pse. He’d beg wh rapturo flattery—he told Louise Penny, the Canadian mystery wrer, that he’d read her mancript three tim, once “jt for fun”—and then shift to self-regard. He wtily skewered acquatanc and seemed always nsc of his physil allure. He’d say, passg, that he’d molled for Gus jeans—“nway only”—or that he’d appeared on the ver of Rsian <em>Vogue</em>. He mentned a iendship wh Ricky Mart.</p><p class="paywall">This display was at tim profsnally effective. In a blog post wrten after signg wh Ltle, Brown, Penny excedly scribed Mallory as a former “Oxford profsor of lerature.” Referrg to the bond between thor and edor, she add, “It is such an timate relatnship, there needs to be tst.”</p><p class="paywall">Others found his behavr off-puttg; seemed unsued to buildg long-term profsnal relatnships. The London lleague said, “He was so full-on. I thought, My God, what’s gog on? It was performative and lculatg.” A Ltle, Brown lleague, who was ially imprsed by Mallory, said, “He was not most, ever.” The lleague noted that many edors got to trouble by disregardg sal and focsg only on books that they loved, addg, “That certaly never happened wh him.” Ltle, Brown thors were often “sced by Dan” at first but then “beme disenchanted” when he was “late wh his eds or got someone else to do them.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory, who had jt turned thirty, told lleagu that he was impatient to rise. He found iends the pany’s higher ranks. Havg acquired a prcelg stat, he ed to nigrate lleagu. The London lleague said that Mallory would tell his superrs, “This is a bunch of dullards workg for you.” Another lleague said of Mallory, “When he lik you, ’s like the sun shg on you.” But Mallory’s ntempt for perceived enemi was disncertgly sharp. “You don’t want to get on the wrong si of <em>that</em>,” the lleague relled thkg.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="A knight tak off his helmet to reveal a sunburn." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path 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button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Mallory moved to an apartment Shoredch, East London. He wasn’t seen at publishg parti, and one lleague wonred if his extroversn at lunch meetgs served “to disguise cripplg shyns” and habs of solu. On his book tour, Mallory has said that prsn “blighted, blotted, and blackened” his adult life. A former lleague of his told me that Mallory seemed to be driven by fears of no longer beg seen as a “goln boy.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-7 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In the summer of 2010, Mallory told Ltle, Brown about a job offer om a London petor. He was promised a raise and a promotn. A prs release announcg Mallory’s elevatn scribed him as “entreprenrial and a te team player.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="tst44"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">By then, Mallory had ma wily known to -workers that he had an operable bra tumor. He’d survived earlier bouts wh ncer, but now a doctor had told him that a tumor would kill him by the age of forty. He seemed to be sayg that ncer—already intified and unequivolly fatal—would allow him to live for almost another . The claim sounds more like a gobl’s curse than like a prognosis, but Mallory was persuasive; the lleague who was ially supportive of him recently said, wh a shake of the head, “Y, I believed that.”</p><p class="paywall">Some -workers wept after hearg the news. Mallory told people that he was seekg experimental treatments. He took time off. In Ltle, Brown’s open-plan office, helium-filled “Get Well” balloons swayed over Mallory’s sk. For a while, he wore a baseball p, even doors, which was thought to hi hair loss om chemotherapy. He explaed that he hadn’t yet told his parents about his diagnosis, as they were aloof and unaffectnate. Before the office closed for Christmas 2011, Mallory said that, as his parents had no tert seeg him, he would stead make an exploratory vis to the facili of Dignas, the assisted-ath nonprof based Swzerland. A Dignas ath occurs a small hoe next to a mache-parts factory; there’s no tradn of showg this space to possible future patients. Mallory said that he had found his vis peaceful.</p><p class="paywall">Sourc told me that, a few months later, Ursula Mackenzie, then Ltle, Brown’s C.E.O., attend a dner where she sat next to the C.E.O. of the publishg hoe whose job offer had led to Mallory’s promotn. The rival C.E.O. told Mackenzie that there had been no such offer. (Mackenzie cled to ment. The rival C.E.O. did not reply to requts for ment.) When challenged at Ltle, Brown, Mallory claimed that the rival C.E.O. was lyg, reprisal for Mallory’s havg once rejected a sexual proposn.</p><p class="paywall">In Augt, 2012, Mallory left Ltle, Brown. The terms of his parture are vered by a nondisclosure agreement. But ’s clear that Ltle, Brown did not fd Mallory’s rponse about the job offer nvcg. “And, once that fell away, then you obvly thk, Is he <em>really</em> ill?” the once supportive lleague said. Everythg now looked doubtful, “even to the extent of ‘Do his fay exist?’ and ‘Is he even lled Dan Mallory?’ ”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory was not fired. This fact pots to the strength of employee protectns the U.K.—’s hard to prove the absence of a job offer—but also, perhaps, to a sense of embarrassment and dread. The prospect of Mallory’s public antagonism was evintly alarmg: Ltle, Brown was nsc of the risks of “a fantasist walkg around tellg li,” an employee at the pany told me. Another source ma a jokg reference to “The Talented Mr. Ripley”: “He uld e at me wh an axe. Or an oar.”</p><p class="paywall">In protectg his reer, Mallory held the advantage of his own failgs: Ltle, Brown’s reputatn would have been harmed by the knowledge that had hired, and then promoted, a habual liar. When Mallory left, many of his lleagu were unaware of any unpleasantns. There was even a small, awkward dner his honor.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Two weeks before Mallory left Ltle, Brown, was announced that he had accepted a job New York, as an executive edor at William Morrow, an imprt of HarperColls. Publishg profsnals timate that his startg salary was at least two hundred thoand dollars a year. That fall, he moved to an apartment a sixty-floor tower, wh a pool, midtown, and to an office at Morrow, on Fifty-third Street.</p><p class="paywall">He had been hired by Liate Stehlik, Morrow’s wily admired publisher. It’s not clear if Stehlik heard mors about Mallory’s unreliabily—or, to e the words of a former Morrow lleague, the fact that “London had end some sort of ball of flame.” Stehlik did not reply to requts for ment for this article.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-8 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Whereas London Mallory had sometim seemed like a Brish satire of Amerin blter, New York he me off as Brish. He spoke wh an English accent and said “brilliant,” “bloody,” and “Where’s the loo?”—as one lleague put , he was “a grown man walkg around wh a fake accent that everyone knows is fake.” The hab lasted for years, and one n fd a postman, not a mailman, “The Woman the Wdow.”</p><p class="paywall">Some book edors immerse themselv text; others foc on makg als. Mallory was firmly of the latter type, and specialized acquirg tablished thors who had an ternatnal reach. Before the end of 2012, he had signed Wilbur Smh—once a giant popular historil fictn (and now, as Mallory put an e-mail to iends, “approximately four centuri old”).</p><p class="paywall">At some pot that wter, Mallory stopped g to the office. This mystified lleagu, who were given no explanatn.</p><p class="paywall">On Febary 12, 2013, some people London who knew Mallory profsnally received a group e-mail om Jake Mallory, Dan’s brother, whom they’d never met. Wrg om a Gmail addrs, Jake said that Dan would be gog to the hospal the next day, for the removal of a tumor. He’d be havg “plited surgery wh several high risk factors, cludg the possibily of paralysis and/or the loss of functn below the waist.” But, Jake went on, “Dan has been through worse and has poted out that if he uld make through Love Actually alive, this surgery holds no terrors.” Dan would eat “an early dner of sashimi and will then read a book about dogs until bedtime,” Jake wrote, addg, “Dan was treated terribly by people throughout his childhood and teenage years and to his twenti, which left him a very eply lonely person, so he do not like/tst many people. Please keep him your thoughts.”</p><p class="paywall">That e-mail appears to have been addrsed exclively to ntacts the U.K. The next day, Jake sent an e-mail to acquatanc of Dan’s the New York publishg world. It noted that Dan would soon be unrgog surgery to addrs “a tumor his spe,” addg, “This isn’t the first (or even send) time that Dan has had to unrgo this sort of treatment, so he knows the drill, although ’s still an unpleasant and ighteng proposn. He says that he is lookg forward to beg fted wh a spal-fluid dra and that this will renr him half-man, half-mache.”</p><p class="paywall">Recipients wrote back distrs. An edor at a rival publishg hoe told me, “I totally fell for . After all, who would fabrite such a story? I sent books and sympathi.” In time, Jake’s exchang wh this edor beme “quippy and upbeat.” Another rrponnt told Jake that his wrg was as droll as Dan’s.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="nwlpk"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="ngurm"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Jake’s stylg of “” was unual. The next week, Dan wrote to Chris Parris-Lamb, the agent. He began, “Wanted to thank you for your very lovely to my brother.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="A man wh a monkey on his head stands next to his wife who has a scratched and swollen face." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“I want to keep , but my wife hat the way scratch her face.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Given the idsyncrasy of “”—and given Dan’s taste for crafted zgers, and his history of fabritn—’s now easy to suppose, as one recipient put , that “somethg crazy was gog on,” and that “Jake” was Dan. Like Tom Ripley wrg letters that were taken as the work of the murred Dickie Greenleaf, Dan was apparently munitg wh iends a fictnal voice. (Onle impersonatns also figure the plot of “The Woman the Wdow.”)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-9 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Jake Mallory is thirty-five. He’s a ltle shorter than Dan, and don’t have the same lacrosse-player batn of strong ch and floppy hair. The week of Dan’s alleged surgery, while Jake was supposedly by his si New York, Jake’s fiancée posted on Facebook a profsnal “pre-weddg” photograph of the uple. In , she and Jake, who got married that summer, look happy and hopeful. Jake Mallory did not rpond to requts for ment. Dan Mallory, through the spokperson, said that he was “not the thor of the e-mails” sent by “Jake.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">On Febary 14, 2013, a “Jake” msage to New York ntacts scribed overnight surgery—unmon timg for a schled procre— an unspecified hospal. “My brother’s 7-hour surgery end early this morng,” the e-mail began. “He experienced signifint blood loss—more so than is mon durg spal surgeri, so required two transfns. However, the tumor appears to have been pletely removed. His very first words upon wakg up were ‘I need vodka.’ ” I was told that a recipient sent vodka to Dan’s apartment, and was thanked by “Jake,” who reported that his brother roed himself jt long enough to say that the senr was a godss.</p><p class="paywall">The ventriloquism is halfhearted. Dan’s own voice keeps tdg, and the hurried sequence of events suggts anxiety about gettg the patient home, and returng him to a sparer, mythic narrative of endurance and w. While a New York hospal, Dan was a dot on the map, exposed to visors. Reports om the ward would require the clutter of realist fictn: medil vic, doctors wh nam.</p><p class="paywall">“Jake” ntued, “He has been fted wh a ‘lumbar dra’ his back to dra his spal fluid. The pa is apparently que severe, but he is on medice.” (A Brishism.) “He is not great shape but did manage to ask if he uld keep the tumor as a pet. He will most likely be gog home today.”</p><p class="paywall">On Febary 15th, “Jake” wrote an e-mail to Parris-Lamb: “We’re anticipatg a week or so of ncentrated rt, the only trick will be fdg enough readg material to keep his bra occupied.” A week later, Dan Mallory, wrg om his own e-mail addrs, sent Parris-Lamb the note thankg him for the “very lovely ”—which, he said, had “warmed my black heart.” Mallory went on, “Today I start weang myself—I’ll jt let that clse stand on s own for a mute; are you gaggg yet?—off my sweet sweet Vid, so am at last f to rrpond. Feelg que spry; the wound is healg nicely, and I’m no longer wobbly on my feet. Not when sober, at any rate.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory suggted meetg the agent for drks, or dner, a week or two later. Wrg to another ntact, he scribed an impendg trip to London, for which he was packg ltle more than “a motheaten jumper.” On Febary 26th, twelve days after seven-hour spal surgery, Mallory wrote to Parris-Lamb to say that he was Nashville, for work.</p><p class="paywall">Three days later, “Jake” wrote another group e-mail, sayg that “an allergic reactn to a new pa killer” had ed Dan “to go to shock and rdiac arrt.” He went on, “He was taken to the hospal on time and treated immediately and is out of tensive re (still on a rpirator and unr sedatn). While this setback is not wele is not permanent eher, and at least Dan n now say he has had two lucky p the space of two months.” “Jake” went on, “The worst is past and we are hopg he n go back to his apartment this weekend and then pick up where he left off. This would dnt a mere mortal but not my brother.”</p><p class="paywall">At the end of March, late at night, “Jake” wrote aga to London ntacts. Dan was “ cent physil shape,” but was upset about the “paful upheaval” of the prev year—and about an e-mail, wrten by an unnamed Ltle, Brown executive, that seemed to “poke fun at him.” Dan felt “utterly let down” and was “whdrawg to himself like a turtle.”</p><p class="paywall">“Jake” noted that Dan had been “workg wh abed children and fants at the hospal where he was treated.” The prev week, “Jake” had seen Dan “talkg to a ltle girl whose arm had been broken for her,” he wrote, addg, “My brother’s arm was broken for him when he was a baby.” This phrasg seems to stop jt short of allegg parental abe. (The theme of childhood victimizatn, sometim an element of “Jake” e-mails sent to London associat, did not appear the New York e-mails.) “Jake” went on, “He wrote the ltle girl a story about a hedgehog his nict handwrg to show her how she uld rebound om a bad experience. I want for him to do the same, although I unrstand that he is tired of havg to rebound om thgs.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-10 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The same night the “Jake” e-mail was sent, an ex-lleague of Mallory’s at Ltle, Brown received an anonymo e-mail llg her one of the “nastit c*nts publishg.” Mallory was asked about the e-mail, and was told that Ltle, Brown would ntact law enforcement if anythg siar happened aga. It didn’t. (Through the spokperson, Mallory said that he did not wre the msage and “do not rell beg warned” about .) In “The Woman the Wdow,” Anna Fox seeks advice about a threateng anonymo e-mail, and is told that “there’s no way to trace a Gmail acunt.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">A week later, an apparent attempt at a ret, Dan Mallory wrote a breezy group e-mail unr his own name. The ncer surgery, he said, had been “a total succs.” A metal ntraptn was attached to his spe, so he was now “half-man, half-mache.” He noted that he’d jt seen “Matilda” wh his parents.</p><p class="paywall">When Mallory returned to work that sprg, after several weeks, nothg was said. A former -worker at Morrow, who admir him and still has only the vagut sense of a health issue, told me that Mallory “seemed the same as before.” He hadn’t lost any weight or hair.</p><p class="paywall">After his return, Mallory me to work on a highly irregular schle. Unlike other edors, he rarely attend Wednday-afternoon edorial meetgs. At one pot, another -worker began keepg a log of Mallory’s absenc.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory bought a one-bedroom apartment Chelsea, for six hundred and twenty-five thoand dollars. He rated wh imag and mols of dogs, a amed sign readg “Amagansett,” and a reproductn of a seventeenth-century engravg of New College, Oxford.</p><p class="paywall">Morrow executiv eher believed that Mallory’s ncer story was real or cid to live wh the fact that was not. Explag Morrow’s acmodatn of s employee, a former lleague said that Mallory’s foc on ternatnal als protected him, addg, “Nothg’s more important than global thors.” The -worker went on, “There’s a horror movie where all the teachers a school have been fected by an alien parase. The kids realize , and of urse nobody believ them. That’s what felt like.” The -worker scribed Mallory’s “gaslightg, lyg, and manipulatn” the workplace as cel, but noted, “People don’t re, if ’s not sexual harassment.” A Morrow spokperson released a statement: “We don’t ment on the personal liv of our employe or thors. Profsnally, Dan was a highly valued edor, and the publitn of ‘The Woman the Wdow’—a #1 New York Tim btseller out of the gate, and the btsellg but novel of 2018—speaks for self.”</p><p class="paywall">An acquatance of Mallory’s recently said that “there’s not a lot of nontatn” publishg. “It’s a bs based on hope. You never know what’s gog to work.” In the dtry, mors about the “Jake” e-mails were ntaed—perhaps by discretn or out of people’s embarrassment about havg been taken .</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Gulliver is tied up on a hill watchg Sefeld." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 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15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">I recently spoke wh Victoria Sanrs, an agent who reprents Kar Slghter, the thriller wrer. In 2015, Slghter signed a three-book al, for more than ten ln dollars, volvg Mallory and a Brish unterpart. Sanrs viewed Mallory as Slghter’s “quarterback,” addg, “His level of engagement ma him really que extraordary.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="027sd6i"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The edor at a rival publishg hoe who’d had “quippy” exchang wh the Jake persona said of the episo, “Even now seems a bizarre, eccentric game, but not threateng.” “Jake” hadn’t asked for sh, so wasn’t an “jur sm.” The edor said, “This seemed almost performance art.” Chris Parris-Lamb, however, was afonted, part bee someone close to him had recently died om ncer.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-11 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The acquatance who scribed an dtry “based on hope” didn’t see Mallory for a few years, then ma plans to meet him for a work-related drk, Manhattan. Mallory said that he was now well, except for an eye problem. His eye began to twch. Mallory’s pann asked after Jake. “Oh, he’s ad,” Mallory said. “Y, he mted suici.” The acquatance relled to me that, at that moment, “I jt knew I was never gog to rrpond or al wh him aga.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In 2013, Sophie Hannah met Mallory for the first time, over lunch New York. They discsed plans, already set motn London, for Hannah to wre the first official Agatha Christie ntuatn novel. William Morrow would publish the U.S. They also discsed Hannah’s non-Christie fictn, which later also me to Morrow. Hannah, who liv Cambridge, recently said by phone that they quickly beme iends. Mallory “renewed my creative energy,” she said. He had a knack for “givg feedback the form of praise for exactly the thgs I’m proud of.”</p><p class="paywall">Hannah seems to have found, Mallory, a remarkable source of material. In 2015, she pleted her send Hercule Poirot novel, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Closed Casket</a>.” Poirot is a gut at an Irish untry hoe, and meets Joseph Stcher, a character whose role n’t be scribed whout spoilers. Stcher is a charmg young flatterer who has told everyone that he is termally ill, wh kidney disease. Durg Poirot’s vis, Stcher is murred, and an topsy reveals that his kidneys were healthy.</p><p class="paywall">After the murr, Randall Kimpton, an Amerin doctor who is also stayg the hoe, tells Poirot that he’d bee iendly wh Stcher years earlier, at Oxford; he had begun to doubt Stcher’s dire prognosis, while thkg that “surely no one would tell a lie of such enormy.” Kimpton tells Poirot that he was once approached by someone claimg to be Stcher’s brother. This brother, who looked intil to Stcher except for darker sk and a wild beard, had nfirmed the kidney disease, and Kimpton had cid “no man of honor would agree to tell a stranger that his brother was dyg if were not so.” But the supposed brother had then accintally revealed himself to be Stcher, wearg a beard glued to his face.</p><p class="paywall">A sctive man li about a fatal disease, then fends the lie by pretendg to be his brother. The brother’s name is Blake. When I asked Hannah if the plot was spired by real events, she was evasive, and more than once she said, “I really like Dan, and he’s only ever been good to me.” She also noted that, before startg to wre “Closed Casket,” she scribed s plot to Mallory: “He said, ‘Y, that sounds amazg!’ ” Hannah, then, n’t be acced of disurty.</p><p class="paywall">But she acknowledged that there were “obv parallels” between “Closed Casket” and “mors that circulated” about Mallory. She also admted that the character of Kimpton, the Amerin doctor, ow somethg to her former edor. I had noticed that Kimpton speaks wh an affected English accent and— what works as a fe portra of Mallory, mid-flow—has ey that “seemed to flare and subsi as his lips moved.” The passage ntu, “The wi-eyed flar were only sends apart, and appeared to want to nvey enthiastic emphasis. One was left wh the imprsn that every third or fourth word he uttered was a source of light to him.” (Chris Parris-Lamb, shown the sentenc, said, “My God! That’s so good.”) While Hannah was wrg “Closed Casket,” her private workg tle for the novel was “You’re So Va, You Probably Thk This Poirot’s About You.”</p><p class="paywall">A publishg employee New York told me that, 2013, Hannah had bee spic that Mallory wasn’t tellg the tth when he spoke of makg a trip to the U.K. for ncer treatment, and had hired a tective to vtigate. This suggtn seemed to be supported by an acunt, on Hannah’s blog, of hirg a private tective that summer. Hannah wrote that she had lled him to scribe a “weird nundm.” Later, durg a vatn wh her hband Agatha Christie’s untry hoe, Devon, she lled to check on the tective’s progrs; he told her that “there was a mor gog round that X is the se.”</p><p class="paywall">“You’re supposed to be fdg out if X is <em>te</em>,” Hannah told the tective.</p><p class="paywall">“I’m not sure how we uld really do that,” he replied. “Not whout hackg e-mail acunts and thgs like that—and that’s illegal.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-12 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Asked about the blog post, Hannah told me that she had thought of hirg a tective to check on Mallory, and had discsed the ia wh iends, but hadn’t followed through. She had, however, hired a tective to vtigate a graffi problem Cambridge. I said that I found this hard to believe. She went on to say that she had fotten the tective’s name, she had leted all her old e-mails, and she didn’t want to bother her hband and ask him to nfirm the graffi story. All this enuraged the thought that the novelist now wrg as Agatha Christie had hired a tective to vtigate her edor, whom she spected of lyg about a fatal disease.</p><p class="paywall">Hannah—who, acrdg to several people who know her, has a great appete for discsg Mallory at parti—also seems to have ma fictnal e of him her non-Poirot wrg. “The Warng,” a short story about psychopathic manipulatns, clus an extraordarily charmg man, Tom Rigbey, who lov bull terriers. Hannah recently -wrote a mil mystery, “The Generalist”; s plot featur a succsful romance novelist who feels that her publisher has bee neglectful, after wrg a bt-seller of his own.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">An Amerin woman mid-reer, a psychologist wh a Ph.D. and profsnal experience of psychopathy, is trapped her large home by agoraphobia. She has been there for about a year, after a personal trma. If she tri to go outsi, the world sps. She drks too much, and recklsly b alhol and anti-anxiety meditn. Police officers distst her judgment. Onle, she plays chs and ntribut to a fom for strs-sufferers, a place where danger li.</p><p class="paywall">This is the setup for “Copyt,” a spired 1995 thriller, set San Francis, starrg Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. It also scrib “The Woman the Wdow.” In “Copyt,” the psychologist’s fom log- is She Doc. In “Wdow,” ’s <em class="small">THEDOCTORISIN</em>.</p><p class="paywall">“The Woman the Wdow” acknowledg a bt to the film “Rear Wdow,” by makg Anna Fox a fan of noir movi and Hchck. And Mallory has publicly referred a few tim to “The Girl on the Tra,” a well-told story about a boozily unreliable wns, a woman much like Mallory’s boozily unreliable wns. But he hasn’t acknowledged “Copyt”—unls one cis that when, “The Woman the Wdow,” a photograph wh a time stamp s rner downloads om the Inter at a spenseful, dial-up speed, is an homage to the same scene “Copyt,” rather than an dictment of Inter service provirs Manhattan.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="A man stands at a neighbor's door askg for the WiFi password." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“Someone the buildg recently password-protected their Wi-Fi and I’m wonrg if was you.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div 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10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">When I e-mailed Jon Amiel, the director of “Copyt,” about parallels between the two narrativ, he replied, “Wow.” Later, on the phone, he proposed that the bt was probably “not actnable, but certaly worth notg, and one would have hoped that the thor might have noted himself.”</p><p class="paywall">The official orig myth of “The Woman the Wdow” feels unrwrten. In the summer of 2015, Mallory has said, he was at home for some weeks, adjtg to a new meditn. He rewatched “Rear Wdow,” and noticed a neighbor the apartment across the street. “How funny,” he said to himself. “Voyrism di hard!” A story suggted self. Mallory is more gent when reflectg on his shrewdns regardg the marketplace—when he talks about his novel the voice of a startup C.E.O. pchg for funds. “I brg to ‘The Woman the Wdow’ more than thirty years of experience the genre,” he told a crime-fictn blogger last wter. He explaed to a podst host that, before “Gone Girl,” there had been “no brandg” for psychologil spense; afterward, there was vast mercial opportuny. Mallory has said that he favored the psdonym A. J. Fn part for s legibily on a small screen, “at rced pixelatn.” He me up wh the name Anna Fox after lookg for somethg that was easy to pronounce many languag.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="cx9sbaf"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="9vxbhj"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Mallory has scribed wrg a seventy-five-hundred-word outle and showg to Jennifer Joel, a lerary agent at I.C.M., who is a iend of his; she enuraged him to ntue. He has said that he then worked for a year, staed by Adrall, Co-Cola, and electronic mic. Mallory told the <em>Tim</em> that he wrote at night and on the weekends. Former lleagu who had taken note of his office absenc were skeptil of this claim.</p><p class="paywall">Pla Hawks’s “The Girl on the Tra” was published January, 2015. By the summer of 2016, had sold 4.25 ln pi the U.S. Early that September, jt before the release of the film adaptatn, was No. 1 on the <em>Tim</em> paperback bt-seller list. On September 22nd and 23rd, a PDF of “The Woman the Wdow,” by A. J. Fn, was e-mailed to edors New York and London. Mallory has said that he adopted a psdonym bee he wanted publishers to asss the mancript whout “takg to acunt my standg the dtry.” This isn’t te, as Mallory has himself acknowledged some terviews: Jennifer Joel told edors that the thor worked at a senr level publishg.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-13 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The edors started readg: “Her hband’s almost home. He’ll tch her this time. There isn’t a scrap of curta, not a bla of bld, number 212—the st-red townhome that once hoed the newlywed Motts, until recently, until they un-wed.”</p><p class="paywall">The story feels transposed to New York om a more tranquil place, like North Oxford. The nights are dark; the sound of a cello, or a scream, rri. At the center of the plot are two neighborg ho, on the same si of a street, wh si wdows that face each other across a garn. This arrangement is easy to fd most parts of the world that aren’t Manhattan.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory nnily set himself the task of popularizg the already wildly popular plot of “The Girl on the Tra.” His book nsists of a hundred very short chapters, and reads like a film script that has been novelized, on a adle, unr severe vobulary rtrictns: sunshe “bolts ” through a door; eyebrows “bolt to each other”; ey “bolt open”; one character is “bolted to the sofa”; another has “strong teeth boltg om strong gums.” He then gild his text wh referenc to Tennyson, Nabokov, and the Pt Rivers Mm, Oxford. The over-all effect is a ltle like readg the e-mails sent by “Jake”: Anna, the narrator, feels subordate to Mallory’s stttgly sistent voice. It’s much more a Tom Ripley novel than a Patricia Highsmh novel. Instead of Highsmh’s disorientg, erotic disvery of character, “Wdow” is an enactment of Ripleyan manipulatn. It’s a thriller exced about gettg away wh wrg a thriller. In a recent e-mail, Joan Schenkar, the thor of “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Talented Miss Highsmh</a>,” an acclaimed bgraphy, scribed “Wdow” as a “novel of strategi, not psychologi.” It was, she said, “the most self-nsc thriller I’ve ever opened.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The sellg of “The Woman the Wdow” was a perfectly librated manver, and ed the kd of hoopla that happens only once or twice a year Amerin publishg. One publisher offered hundreds of thoands of dollars an effort to preëmpt an ctn. This was rejected, and at least eight publishg imprts, cludg Morrow, began to bid for the North Amerin rights. Meanwhile, offers were beg ma for European edns, and Fox 2000 bought the film rights.</p><p class="paywall">When the biddg reached seven hundred and fifty thoand dollars, Mallory revealed his name. A former Morrow employee relled, “I’d wonred why this person publishg wants to be anonymo. Then: Oh, <em>that’s</em> why!” Mallory has said that “nobody dropped out” at that pot; but many, cludg Ltle, Brown, did. When was announced that Mallory’s employer had won the ctn, one joke New York was “The ll was g om si the hoe!”</p><p class="paywall">Morrow sent out a prs release sayg that Mallory had been “profiled <em>USA Today</em>”—he hadn’t—and quotg Jennifer Brehl, the Morrow edor who had won the ctn. “A. J. Fn’s voice and story were like nothg I’d ever heard before,” she said. “So creepy, sad, twisty-turny, and cunng.” She said that she had not regnized this voice as Mallory’s, and add, “He’s already known as an teemed edor; I predict a long reer as a brilliant novelist, too.” Liate Stehlik, the Morrow publisher, later wrote to booksellers, “I love , and the only thg I thought when I was readg was that Morrow mt publish this book.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory stayed on as an edor at Morrow for another year. He set up a rporatn, A. J. Fn, Inc., g an Amagansett P.O. box. A photograph of him sg and unshaven, taken by Hope Brooks, the olr of his sisters, began appearg stori about his succs.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The Mallory hoe Amagansett is set back om a quiet road; tre le the driveway, jog overhead to form a tunnel. On an overst morng jt before Thanksgivg, I walked up to the hoe, and reached a garage whose doors were open. An S.U.V. was parked ont; two dogs leaped, barkg, om s back seat. (I relled that, acrdg to Dan Mallory, his mother had, on separate ocsns, killed two dogs by backg up over them.)</p><p class="paywall">John Mallory, Dan’s father, me out of the garage, wearg a nim shirt. He is his mid-sixti, and has a handsome, squarish face. He apologized for the panmonium, and joked, “I’m jt the lawn guy.”</p><p class="paywall">I explaed why I was there. “Dan do not want me mentg,” he said. “He’s my son, so I have to rpect his privacy.” But his manner was iendly, and the dogs lmed down, and we stood talkg for a few mut. “He’s a wonrful young man, he tly is,” John said.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-14 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">I said that I’d bee terted Dan’s acunts of ncer—the claim that he’d had a malignant tumor, and that his mother had died of ncer.</p><p class="paywall">“No, no,” he said. He didn’t sound surprised or annoyed—rather, he was obliged to rrect a misapprehensn. When Dan was a teen-ager, he said, “his mother did have ncer. Stage V, so she was next to ath. But, no, Dan didn’t have . He’s jt been an absolutely perfect son. He has his flts, like we all do, he’s jt a tremendo young man.”</p><p class="paywall">Did Dan have ncer later? “No, no,” John said, addg that Dan had told him that “he’d been misquoted several tim, and really bothers him when thgs e out that are negative about him.”</p><p class="paywall">I began to scribe the “Jake” e-mails. “Dan and his brother, Jake, are very close,” John said, addg that “Jake would never, ever say” Dan had fallen ill wh ncer, bee wasn’t te. I wonred if John had been told that such e-mails existed, and uld be explaed as the work of a scurrilo third party. They n’t—Dan saw repli wrten to the “Jake” e-mail addrs, and rpond to them.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Mos holds the ten mandments and talks to God." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“So, basilly, this is all about what <em class="unrle">you</em> want?”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 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ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">When Dan wrote about livg a sgle-parent fay when he was seventeen, was that te?</p><p class="paywall">“No,” John said. “Well, a way I gus was, bee my wife and I were separated.” They were apart for two and a half years, he said. “She ma me e back,” he went on, lghg. “We had our differenc. We didn’t file for divorce or anythg like that.” He add, “Pam was sayg, ‘I thk you ma a mistake. But ’s up to you.’ And then I realized I’m beg an idt.”</p><p class="paywall">I asked if the separatn was difficult for Dan. “Very difficult,” he said. “The fay’s very closely kn and to see the dad not there on Thanksgivg or Christmas—Ian, ’s my flt. I hate to this day to thk they had a Thanksgivg dner whout me.”</p><p class="paywall">He ntued, “Dan went through a tough time, his teen-age years, but he’s really pulled together.” In the past, “a lot of tim, he hid om .” Now “every morng I get a FaceTime om Dan. He jt bought a ltle French bulldog. Oh, my God, Ian—he bought one three weeks ago, the dog has, like, four thoand toys, a ltle blanket. He’s jt an avid dog-lover, as we all are—as you see. He don’t have a mean bone his body.” He said that, as far as he knew, Dan had fished his Ph.D.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="76k3v2"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The dogs started barkg aga. A r me up the driveway. “Here his mother,” John said. “Oh, Lord.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-15 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Pamela Mallory got out of an S.U.V. wh a shoppg bag. I troduced myself. “We’re not dog that,” she said, walkg toward the hoe. “Thank you.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In “The Woman the Wdow,” much of whose plot this article is about to give away, Anna Fox watch a fay move next door. Ethan, the fay’s sorrowful and lonely only child, aged about fifteen, viss Anna. She is filled wh py when he scrib a ntrollg, vlent father, and she is stck by his earntns: he’s prone to tears, and teach swimmg to velopmentally disabled children.</p><p class="paywall">Then Ethan murrs his mother, and— the novel’s climax—appears one night Anna’s bedroom, wh a letter opener as a weapon, and a crazed look, sayg, “Olr women tert me.” In passag that seem more fluent than those which have e before, Ethan acknowledg the matrici, and scrib as “exhilaratg.” Stg on Anna’s bed, playg wh the letter opener, he acknowledg other transgrsns. By impersonatg a iendly grandmother on Anna’s agoraphobia fom, he has tricked her to givg up her passwords. He has pied her hoe key, allowg him to go and out of her hoe. “I e here almost every night,” he says. He forc her to agree that she is “very fuckg stupid.” He mocks her—a child psychologist—for not regnizg him for what he is.</p><p class="paywall">“I know what I am,” Ethan tells her. “Do that help?”</p><p class="paywall">Anna says to herself, “Psychopath. The superficial charm, the labile personaly, the flat affect.” She then tells him, “You enjoy manipulatg others.”</p><p class="paywall">He repli, “It’s fun. And easy. You’re really easy.” He strok the bla agast his thigh. “I didn’t want you to thk I was a threat. That’s why I said I missed my iends. And I pretend I might be gay. And I cried all those fuckg tim.”</p><p class="paywall">Both Ethan’s prsn and his acunt of a vic father were part of a performance—one effective enough to dupe a psychologist and draw the eye away om personaly pathology.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In a Morrow sal brochure, Mallory said that he’d “stggled for more than fifteen years wh severe prsn,” and that, 2015, he had fally been given a diagnosis of bipolar II disorr. This announcement surprised the acquatanc of Mallory’s who spoke to me. Over the years, he had been willg to talk of ncer, near-ath, and a brother’s suici, but he hadn’t mentned mental illns so severe that he’d sought relief electric shocks and ketame.</p><p class="paywall">Speakg Colorado last January, Mallory quoted a passage om Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">An Unquiet Md</a>,” which she scrib repeatedly nontg the social wreckage ed by her bipolar episos—knowg that she had “apologi to make.” Nobody I spoke to remembered a Mallory reckong or an apology. In more recent public appearanc, Mallory seems to have dropped this reference to wreckage. Instead, he has accepted cred for his urage brgg up his mental sufferg, and he has foreground his virtu. Asked, on an Atralian podst, to fe himself three adjectiv, Mallory said, “Inquisive. Kd—I do thk I’m a kd person.” He clicked his tongue. “And I love French bulldogs. I don’t know if there’s an adjective that sums that up.”</p><p class="paywall">Mallory clearly has experienced mental distrs. At Mallory’s requt, his psychiatrist nfirmed to me that Mallory was given a diagnosis of bipolar II. The psychiatrist said that Mallory, bee of his mother’s illns, sometim had “somatic plats, fears, and preoccupatns,” cludg about ncer. But a bipolar II diagnosis do not easily expla anized untths, mataed over time. Nigel Blackwood, a forensic psychiatrist at Kg’s College London, told me that patients wh the ndn may experience “perds of flated self-teem,” but he emphasized that hypomanic episos “nnot acunt for staed arrogant and ceptive terpersonal behavrs.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-16 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Chris Parris-Lamb, the agent, who has a very close fay member who is bipolar, said, “I’ve seen the ravag, the sufferg that the disease n e.” He went on, “If Mallory’s ce is the product of bipolar episos, then they have been sgularly advantageo to his reer, and that is unlike any bipolar person I’ve ever enuntered. And if he is one of the lucky on who has managed to get his disease unr ntrol and produce a bt-sellg novel—if he is stable and lucid enough to do that—then he is stable and lucid enough to apologize to the people he lied to and the people he hurt.”</p><p class="paywall">Carrie Bearn, a profsor of psychiatry at U.C.L.A., who has not met Mallory, said that a patient wh bipolar II disorr nnot attribute to that diagnosis lns, amnia, or “chronic lyg for sendary ga, or to get attentn.” To do so is “very irrponsible,” she said, and uld add to the “already huge stigma associated wh the disorrs.”</p><p class="paywall">On January 30th, a public-relatns firm workg on Mallory’s behalf provid <em>The New Yorker</em> wh a statement om him: “For the past two years, I’ve spoken publicly about mental illns: the fg experience of my life—particularly durg the btal years bookendg my late twenti and mid-thirti—and the central theme of my novel. Throughout those dark tim, and like many afflicted wh severe bipolar II disorr, I experienced cshg prsns, lnal thoughts, morbid obssns, and memory problems. It’s been horrific, not least bee, my distrs, I did or said or believed thgs I would never ordarily say, or do, or believe—thgs of which, many stanc, I have absolutely no rellectn.”</p><p class="paywall">He went on, “It is the se that on numero ocsns the past, I have stated, implied, or allowed others to believe that I was afflicted wh a physil malady stead of a psychologil one: ncer, specifilly. My mother battled aggrsive breast ncer startg when I was a teenager; was the formative experience of my adolcent life, synonymo wh pa and panic. I felt tensely ashamed of my psychologil stggl—they were my srit, most sensive secret. And for fifteen years, even as I worked wh psychotherapists, I was utterly terrified of what people would thk of me if they knew—that they’d nclu I was fective a way that I should be able to rrect, or, worse still, that they wouldn’t believe me. Dissemblg seemed the easier path.”</p><p class="paywall">He ntued, “Wh the benef of hdsight, I’m sorry to have taken, or be seen to have taken, advantage of anyone else’s goodwill, however sperate the circumstanc; that was never the goal.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">A paperback edn of “The Woman the Wdow” was published the U.K. December, and the novel immediately returned to the bt-seller list; the U.S. paperback will appear next month, wh a first prt n of three hundred and fifty-five thoand pi. The movie adaptatn, wrten by the Pulzer Prize-wng playwright Tracy Letts, is schled to be released on October 4th.</p><p class="paywall">Mallory has said that his send novel will be set San Francis. It will have the flavor of an Agatha Christie story, and will be partly set a Victorian mansn. It’s a story of revenge, he has said, volvg a female thriller wrer and an terviewer who learns of a dark past. He hop to turn to a televisn seri. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="kxethe"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2019/02/11" data-reactroot="">Febary 11, 2019</a>, issue, wh the headle “Unreliable Narrator.”</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/ian-parker">Ian Parker</a> has been a staff wrer at The New Yorker sce 2000.</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/a-j-fn" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">A. J. Fn</span></a><a href="/tag/wrers" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Wrers</span></a><a href="/tag/thrillers" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Thrillers</span></a><a href="/tag/the-woman--the-wdow" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">“The Woman the Wdow”</span></a><a href="/tag/books" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Books</span></a><a href="/tag/but-novels" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Debut Novels</span></a></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt jjsHHz newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Weekly</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Your gui to the latt magaze and our biggt stori of the week, pl highlights om podsts, humor, and more.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT laFPCK text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. This se is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google<a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Privacy Policy</a> and<a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Terms of Service</a> apply.</p></span></div></form></div></div></div></div></div><div class="ntent-bottom-anchor"></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-footer" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-footer"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="recirc-list-wrapper viewport-monor-anchor"><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan ContentFooterRelated-kEBiFe kVUuwq"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 SummaryCollectnGridComponent-ktyEog bdTTVU summary-llectn-grid RecircListDefltOverlaySummaryCollectnGrid-AHJhY bEaXiL recirc-list__ems summary-llectn-grid--four-lumns summary-llectn-grid--DenseDktopStack"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm jTGbEO"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR eOCboB hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/02/26/the-domtic-thriller-is-havg-a-moment" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Domtic Thriller Is Havg a Moment" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Books</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2018/02/26/the-domtic-thriller-is-havg-a-moment" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Domtic Thriller Is Havg a Moment</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/02/26/the-domtic-thriller-is-havg-a-moment" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Domtic Thriller Is Havg a Moment" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In A. J. Fn’s “The Woman the Wdow,” an agoraphobic wh a zoom lens thks she se somethg.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joyce Carol Oat</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/12/10/lerary-hoax-and-the-ethics-of-thorship" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Lerary Hoax and the Ethics of Authorship" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">A Cric at Large</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2018/12/10/lerary-hoax-and-the-ethics-of-thorship" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Lerary Hoax and the Ethics of Authorship</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2018/12/10/lerary-hoax-and-the-ethics-of-thorship" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Lerary Hoax and the Ethics of Authorship" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">What happens when we fd out wrers aren’t who they said they were.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Louis Menand</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Novelist Whose Inventns Went Too Far" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Life and Letters</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Novelist Whose Inventns Went Too Far</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Novelist Whose Inventns Went Too Far" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">After the Ao-Cuban wrer H. G. Carrillo died, his hband learned that almost everythg the wrer had shared about his life was ma up—cludg his Cuban inty.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>D. T. 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