50 YA Books We Want Adapted to the Big or Small Screen

Cover to Pretending to be Erica by Michelle Painchaud. Image via Viking Books for Young Readers.

42. Pretending to be Erica

Although YA fantasy and science fiction dominates the landscape, there could and should be room for the thrillers available, too, and not just Pretty Little Liars, even though Pretending to be Erica namechecks it in its own description.  

Violet’s father’s a con man, but that doesn’t mean that she’s managed to avoid becoming embroiled in that life, and she’s about to help him pull off a huge job: the theft of an Old Master painting from the Silverman family.

Her entry point? Erica Silverman, a missing heiress. Violet’s learned everything about her and even physically become her thanks to some surgery and other, deeper transformations. Now it’s time to get herself in and pull off the titular task: pretend to be Erica.

However, it won’t be as easy as it seems. Violet’s still there, too. Adapting this book would require a talented actress who can switch between characters as Violet does, while still portraying the inner conflict and also handling the monologues that would likely be required to make it work as a film — and, like something like Gone Girl, a movie would probably work best here.

This novel is also Michelle Painchaud’s first, and it would be interesting to see how she might be able to improve upon it as part of an adaptation effort.