Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love with You: The Murky World of Online Romance

Holmes, who posts screenshots of her interactions with scammers on the X account @deathtospinach, dives into the funny and frightening world of online romantic fraud in her eye-opening debut. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Holmes joined X (then known as Twitter, which she still insists on calling it) for the first time and entertained herself by responding to direct messages from men who claimed to be lovesick soldiers or oil rig workers dying to meet her—if only she’d pay their way. She eventually started posting her interactions with these impostors, some of whom claimed to be celebrities like Keanu Reeves, and reproduces many of the conversations here, to hilarious effect (she strung one self-identified Prince William along by sending pictures of the Buckingham Palace gates, claiming she was right outside). After volleying with enough scammers that she’d unwittingly made herself vulnerable a few times, Holmes came to consider the real women who’ve fallen victim to such cons. She includes interviews with several of those women, including a British detective, and even a few scammers (many of them Nigerian teenagers), to highlight red flags readers should be on the lookout for. Equal parts riotous and enlightening, this peek behind the digital curtain underlines the dangers and delights of the Information Age. Photos. (Apr.)