Names Have Been Changed unfolds through a first-person podcast confession during the 2020 shutdown, as a woman calling herself Ophir recounts a decade-old crime and her years on the run across the globe. Moving from Singapore to cities around the world, her story is as compelling as it is unsettling, drawing you into her choices and their consequences. She’s a fascinatingly messy protagonist — part anti-hero, part adversary, part spoiled and sympathetic — the kind you may not like but can’t stop listening to.
Names Have Been Changed by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, (List Price: $30, Tiny Reparations Books, 9798217176595, June 2026)
Reviewed by Jamie, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC