The Fact Checker -- Austin Kelley

<p><b>Mirthful, laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly philosophical, <i>The Fact Checker</i> is a brilliant debut novel featuring a missing woman who might be perfectly fine, and a single-minded investigator yearning for meaning, morality, and accuracy in an increasingly post-truth world.</b></p><p><b><i>It's just a puff piece about a farmer's market, I said to myself. It's not going to kill anyone.</i></b></p><p>It started out like any other morning for the Fact Checker. The piece, "Mandeville/Green," didn't raise any red flags. There were more pressing stories that week--it being 2004 New York City and all.</p><p>"Mandeville/Green" was a light, breezy look at a local farm called New Egypt, whose Ramapo tomatoes were quickly becoming the summer's hottest produce. At first glance, the story seemed straightforward, but one line made the Fact Checker pause: a stray quote from a New Egypt volunteer named Sylvia making a cryptic reference to "nefarious business" at the farmer's market. "People sell everything here," she's alleged to have said. "It ain't all green."</p><p>When Sylvia abruptly disappears the morning after an unexpectedly long night with the Fact Checker, he becomes obsessed with finding her. Did Sylvia discover something unsavory about New Egypt or its messianic owner? Is it possible she had some reason to fear for her safety? Or was it simply something the Fact Checker said?</p><p>Striking the perfect balance of humor, wonder, sadness, and poignancy, Austin Kell