There Is No Ethan

How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish

By: Anna Akbari

Narrated by: Anna Akbari, Justin Price

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

Bonkers true story

The story is amazing, I am glad I read it. The book itself though, needed serious editing. the first 6 hours of it are repetitive and monotoneous, be warned.

The narrator was driv-een me crazy!

It seemed like an intriguing story, but it was ruined by the narrator’s annoying habit of dropping her final g’s– for example, pronouncing saying like say-een, doing like do-een, etc. I found it so distracting I couldn’t get past the first half hour or so. This sort of thing might not bother you, but if it does, I suggest you get the print version which is what I intend to do. I know the author was reading her own book, but I expect a more professional level of diction from Audible, and I suggest she correct this annoying habit if she wants to do any more reading, or any sort of public speaking in the future,

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!!

A Sucker Born Every Minute!

First, this review will be blunt. I don’t mean for it to be mean spirited, so please don’t interpret it that way. Blunt, not hateful.

Second, I read a lot of books, but review very few, so here goes.

This is a most compelling book and truly holds your attention if you are into “con-man” examination. I am. How some “confidence men” are able to pull the wool over others’ eyes is fascinating to me.

This is a story of a guy who hoodwinked a number of ladies online and caused them to fall “in love” with him without ever actually meeting any of them. According to the three females involved in the writing, the total number of females bamboozled by this dude exceeds ten.

These ladies are very educated, and at least Ms. Akbari (the only one you can find photos of) is VERY attractive. Reasonably speaking, hot! But it proves that education is not a proxy for intelligence. I concede that these events take place in the early days of online dating and that “catfishing” was not a well-known phenomenon at the time. However, I remember what my father said to me many years before Al Gore invented the internet, “If someone who you have never previously met tells you they love you after three hours at the skating rink, that’s not the real thing.” Evidently no one told these women.

This guy was somewhat slick. He really laid it on thick to these women and one woman after the other were IN LOVE with him without ever having met him. They were emotional and love sick (literally) over him. Can’t eat or sleep, etc. It’s ludicrous actually for anyone to be so emotionally attached to someone they have never actually met. I do give credit to Ms. Akbari for putting it out there and bearing the humiliation of this behavior for all the world to read.

Some of these girls actually made me laugh out loud with their heartbreak over this guy. I’m sorry, some people or infinitely gullible.

But, now, here’s the clincher – this guy it is finally discovered, is not ACTUALLY a guy at all! It is another woman posing as a guy! And this WOMAN is a medical student who actually completes her training and is a practicing OB/GYN physician in the United States! Go figure. So, 75% of the way through the book, you learn that this SOB guy (Ethan) who has broken hearts on both sides of the Atlantic, isn’t a guy at all and is a seriously disturbed woman. It’s almost as if these women all deserve each other!

So read it. It’s interesting. It DID hold my attention and I did laugh. And if you are an online dater, the moral of the story is to at least wait until you ACTUALLY meet someone before you give your heart away! I would say that’s solid advice!

This is crazy

I can believe the catfish could get away with so much. honestly this is devastating. I feel sorry for the women that will never get their time back and have to emotionally heal from this. I hope they are better for it...

Terrifying but I couldn’t stop listening!

This book was addicting and my jaw dropped multiple times. Great read. I truly hope these women get further justice for what was done to them.

Very Engaging Story

As a huge fan of true crime, I really enjoyed story. The overall structure is well crafted. The build up of suspense makes this story very engaging. This psychological thriller has deep reaching implications that can be applied to relationships beyond online dating.

Dumb women

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storyline

it was too long could of been told in half of time. the storyline was interesting but ending disappointing as no consequences for such behavior in the professional world.

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.