There Is No Ethan

How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish

By: Anna Akbari

Narrated by: Anna Akbari, Justin Price

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Part memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfisher, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them.

In 2011, three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels for the brilliant and charming Ethan Schuman. Unbeknownst to the others, each exchanged countless messages with Ethan, staying up late into the evenings to deepen their connections with this fascinating man. His detailed excuses about broken webcams and complicated international calling plans seemed believable, as did last minute trip cancellations. After all, why would he lie? Ethan wasn't after money—he never convinced his marks to shell out thousands of dollars for some imagined crisis. Rather, he ensnared these women in a web of intense emotional intimacy. After the trio independently began to question inconsistencies in their new flame's stories, they managed to find one another and uncover a greater deception than they could've ever imagined. As Anna Akbari and the women untangled their catfish’s web, they found other victims and realized that without a proper crime, there was no legal reason for “Ethan” to ever stop.

THERE IS NO ETHAN catalogues Akbari's experience as both victim and observer. By looking at the bigger picture of where these stories unfold—a world where technology mediates our relationships; where words and images are easily manipulated; and where truth, reality, and identity have become slippery terms—Akbari gives a page-turning and riveting examination of why stories like Ethan's matter for us all.

©2024 Anna Akbari (P)2024 Grand Central Publishing

wow. smart review that makes me think

if this could happen to these smart women, it could happen to anyone. that this woman is our there and a doctor is disturbing.

Couldn’t stop listening!

This audiobook is fantastic! I loved the use of two voices. It made it sound so real. I couldn’t stop listening and wondering what was going to happen! I also loved how Anna wove in her study of sociology. Highly recommend!!

Excellent and real.

Very interesting and well written about real happenings going on today on the internet. I became part of an international situation that was similar. He was eventually caught and procecuted when several of the women got together. Thankfully I was more savvy than his other victims who lost their money to empty promises after their vulnerability was cultivated.

Compelling Story

Well told and wishing the victims the best as they recover. Interesting experiencing these cons with such a level of detail and honesty.

Not much of a story.

This would have been an interesting article but not enough for a book. I found it repetitive and a little boring.

An instant classic

Brilliantly outlines the calculated emotional abuse of several accomplished, intelligent women by an unrepentant psychopath. It’s baffling, infuriating and deeply disturbing to think that this perpetrator continues to work as a professional in the medical field to this day. Destined to hold a bookshelf spot next to “The Sociopath Next Door” as a classic on the subject of deformed souls who utterly lack compassion. Extremely well written and read by one of the brave survivors.

Amazing Because it's True

I didn't realize this was a true story when I began; I thought, it was just a fictional conversation on an online dating site and I almost quit listening. When you get further in and realize this actually happened, it takes on a whole new meaning. It encourages us to ask ourselves about how hope can motivate us in relationships when all the signs point to how wrong things are going. And it demonstrates how much easier it is to be duped by online conversations. Our default is to think the best of people, which can ultimately be our downfall in online messaging. What an amazing story. It will make you think about your own assumptions and unsupported beliefs and how easy it is to reach unrealistic conclusions. Best of all, the victims in this story figure it out and work to resolve the damage. The ending is stunning.

Engaging

This story is true, but it reads like fiction. It kept my attention and interest throughout. Highly recommend.

Tedious

I would hope I would have smelled something fishy after the third no show from this guy/girl.

This book had me from the very beginning

"There is No Ethan" had me from the start. Anna Akbari does a great job building suspense. Parts of the her story had me on the edge of my seat. I was eager to find out what the heck was going on. Her writing style flows really naturally. It's a book about dating, love, growth, & the evil people you meet along the way.

I highly recommend it.