The Scammer: A Librarian’s Perspective Review

I read The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson with my sister. We both read the audiobook. This was honestly not my favorite book from this author. I loved the premise and the first 40% or so, but it sadly fell apart for both me and my sister.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC. When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa.

But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?

Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers.

When one of Jordyn’s roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery—or become trapped at the center of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE SCAMMER

First, let me say that I have read several Tiffany Jackson books and have loved all of them. My favorites are Allegedly and Grown. 

For The Scammer, I really loved the premise of cults on college campuses. I loved the infuriating, almost cartoonish character of Devonte. While he is almost absurdly devilish, our news stories demonstrate there are plenty of Devontes out there.

I appreciate the inclusion of the scene where the girls at the party wanted to look at Nick’s private parts while he was passed out. This part made me feel uncomfortable, as it should. We mostly think of young women being sexually assaulted on college campuses, but it does also happen to men. I am glad this scene was included as a reminder.

The twist was pretty decent, though my sister saw it coming early in the story. The clues are definitely there, but I bet many teen readers won’t see it as quickly as my sister did.

I understand this book is loosely based on an incident at Sarah Lawrence College that started in 2010. I didn’t know anything about this case, so I did a deep-dive into it after reading this book. So interesting.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE SCAMMER

The audiobook narrator is excellent and engaging, though I did notice a lot of “Seriously?” cried out in the same hysterical way throughout the audiobook. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop noticing it.

I did a search of the ebook, and “Seriously?” as an exclamation of disbelief appears 20 times. The audiobook is 9 hours and 10 minutes, meaning “Seriously?” appears an average of once every 27.5 minutes. For the 368-page book, that’s once every 18.4 pages. I don’t think I would have noticed this from reading the physical book or ebook, but it was hard to not notice it in the audiobook.

There are some loose ends at the end, including a missing college student who was never found.

My main complaint though is how frustratingly dim the characters are, especially the protagonist Jordyn and her three roommates. The whole cult thing happened so quickly. The roommates moved into their college dorm in August, and by October, they were fully under Devonte’s influence. The bathroom scene reminded me of that scene in the movie The Devil’s Advocate (1997) where the demon women surreptitiously show their faces to Charlize Theron’s character.

But the college girls are not demon women. They are impressionable young women who only a couple of months ago were independent, fun-loving, and intelligent.

Maybe it does really happen that quickly, but I wasn’t convinced the girls in this story – bright young women with a lot going for them – would fall under his spell that quickly. I’m not convinced they would fall under his spell at all, to be honest.

When I was in college (mid-1990s), we used the word “poser” to describe someone like Devonte. In the 1970s, he might have been called a “jive turkey.” Prior to that, they were charlatans, snake oil salesmen, phonies, con men, and so on. Today (2026), he might be called “cap” or a “capper.” My point is, these slang terms were created because people recognize that lies, deceit, and imposters exist. Young people use these terms freely to describe other people they don’t like or trust.

That said, I would think many women in college would see through Devonte’s act. Especially all that big talk about working with famous hip-hop and rap musicians. I would think as a group, they would have a giggle over all that and question why, if he’s so connected and talented, he hasn’t called in some favors after he got out of jail. Surely the rich and famous rappers he name drops, some of whom have been in prison themselves, could help him far more than some 18-year old college girls.

I’s like to think young women are more savvy that that these days.

I also didn’t like that no one called the student Housing Authority about an extra man living in the girls’ dorm. Jordyn herself didn’t even call, even though she saw what Devonte was doing early on and wanted him out of the dorm. The love interest, Nick, keeps threatening to call them, but he never does. Devonte was not a student at the school, and he was not supposed to be living in a dorm. He was dangerous to the other students, yet no one – not Jordyn, Nick, any RA, other women living in the dorms, any campus police officer, no one – reported this to the school.

I know I’m probably being too hard on this book and its characters. These are young people on their own for the first time, and maybe they really would fall for Devonte’s nonsense. But as a huge fan of the author, I have come to expect more nuance from our young characters. I expect a tightly-knit plot and at least one twist I don’t see coming.

It’s not a terrible book; it’s just disappointing for such an incredible YA author.

DIVERSITY

All characters are Black except Jordyn’s love interest, Nick, who is white. The story is set at a fictional HBCU in Washington, DC.

LIBRARIANS WILL WANT TO KNOW

• Would adults likeThe Scammer? MAYBE. I am a huge fan of Tiffany D. Jackson, so despite my complaints, I am still glad I read it. I definitely recommend it to fans of the author, and for adults who enjoy reading about cults.

• Would I buy this book for my high school library? YES. The author popularity alone is enough to buy this for high school libraries. Just take note of the mature content listed below.

• Would I buy The Scammer for my middle school library? NO. I think the content is too much for most middle schoolers. There is lots of profanity and mention of sexual activity.

• Would I buy The Scammer for my elementary school library? NO. It’s YA and definitely not appropriate for elementary.

MATURE CONTENT IN THE SCAMMER

• Language: abundant profanity, including f*ck and sh*t

• Sexuality: girls talk about sex and loss of virginity, implied sex, contemplation of sexual assault; nothing is detailed or described. Remember that the characters are freshman college students.

• Violence: assault, protagonist’s brother recently committed suicide

• Drugs/Alcohol: underage drinking at college fraternity parties; drugging of a girl’s drink at a party; one mention of weed found at party

MORE TIFFANY D. JACKSON BOOKS I’VE REVIEWED