Stylistically daring, with jigsaw plotting, lush sensuality, and a tender emotional core, Mike Fu's Masquerade is a subtle and self-assured debut. A book that is as much about the brittle threads of reality that bind us as it is about how easily they are shattered.--Jinwoo Chong, author of Flux

Sensuous, sexy, and at times surreal, Mike Fu's Masquerade paints an unforgettable portrait of a young man standing on the cusp of creative agency. Masquerade is a mesmeric fever dream of a novel about the powers and boundaries of life, love, and art. Through writing that pulses with animus, danger, and--at all times--beauty, Fu introduces hidden, decadent corners of the singular cities of Shanghai, old Shanghai, and New York. A Nabokovian puzzle with a hint of Hitchcock and an altogether original cast.--Juli Min, author of Shanghailanders

Questions of identity, reality, and possibility unfold.
-- "Library Journal"

A surreal, queer, coming-of-age mystery set between New York and Shanghai.-- "TIME, A Best Book of Fall"

A magically realist novel of Millennial friendship and art.
-- "Lit Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of 2024"

Masquerade captures that ephemeral blossom of youth, of carefree days bumming smokes from crushes and spilling cocktails on strangers, as well as the dreaded anticipation of loneliness and self-doubt on the last train home. From here, it provokes the reader to take part in an irresistible mystery. Mike Fu's writing is vivid and cinematic, unforgettably rendering the vibey-cool of diasporic Shanghai and the restless pulsing of New York's heart.--Xuan Juliana Wang, author of Home Remedies

Mike Fu's debut does an excellent job at putting readers on their back foot, making for a surreal journey into the strangeness and beauty of youth.-- "Chicago Review of Books, A Best Book of October"

Sinuous, surprising.... intoxicating... electric ... a novel of illusions and warped reflections worth getting lost in.-- "Foreword Reviews"