You'll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist

"A captivating, sharp and very funny memoir." New York Times Book Review

The compelling, edgy, compassionate, laugh-out-loud memoir from Kari Ferrell, formerly known as the "Hipster Grifter"

Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari had graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.

New York City’s indie sleaze scene had found its newest celebrity—just as Kari found herself in a heap of trouble. Jail time, riots, bad checks, and an explosion of internet infamy and fetishization put her name in the spotlight. Beyond the gossip and Gawker posts, there’s a side to Kari the media never saw—until now.

By turns rollicking and irreverent, warm and compassionate, You’ll Never Believe Me tells Kari’s story for the first time. A heartfelt narrative of redemption and reconciliation as Kari eventually dedicates her life to activism, social justice, and setting the record straight, this memoir introduces a fresh, hilarious new voice to the literary stage and offers readers a nostalgic, uplifting, and at times unbelievable book that grapples with truth, why we lie, and what it means when our pasts don’t paint the whole picture.

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Published Jan 7, 2025

288 pages

Average rating: 7.2

10 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

ClinicallyBookish
Aug 09, 2025
8/10 stars
"I was on top of the fucking world. I had done it. Fake it until you make it, baby! And hadn't I been doing exactly that my entire life? I faked being white, faked being a good Mormon girl, faked being straight. But those chains were broken, and here the fuck I was. Feeling invigorated, I opened the door to my new possibilities with a swift kick that set the fire alarms off." Not having heard of her before, it was really my thirst for all things grifter/swindler/con artist that drew me to this self-examination by the now-reformed Hipster Grifter, Kari Ferrell. Starting with her adoption by a white couple to her challenges as the only Asian in her Mormon community through her most diabolical of criminal activity, it's pretty clear what her problem was, albeit not to Ferrell herself at the time. She struggled between knowing what she was doing was wrong and thinking that "if you were gullible enough to fall for it, you deserved it," going as far as to declare to one of her friend/victims during a particularly nasty confontation that she didn't know what was wrong with her. She goes into some pretty intimate detail about her experiences in the women's prison system and the difficulties she faced when she was released and tried to reintegrate into society. She zeros in on the glaring lack of support for actual rehabilitation and the obvious double standard in the justice system for people who are of colour and people who are not. It's nothing we don't already know, but it's her perspective. Her aptitude for lying, which facilitated her success as a thief, makes the honesty with which she writes almost ironic. She is brash, both in her language and in her views on the failures of the correctional system. She is self-aware, self-deprecating, and funny.
Barbara ~
Dec 11, 2024
8/10 stars
Before reading this memoir, I had never heard of her. This brutally honest book reveals her as sharp-witted and razor-tongued, with a charm that can both steal your heart and your money. From her life with her adoptive parents in Utah to their unwitting involvement in a cult, her development of skills in writing bad checks for cash, her time in jail, and her many attempts at redemption—her story is a compelling ride. It's fascinating to delve into her memoir.

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