James Frey
PER
James James Frey Frey
On the day last fall when Oprah Winfrey chose ''A Million Little Pieces'' for her television book club, Mr. McDonald said he knew that Mr. Frey was telling the truth -- because he had personally checked it out. Mr. Frey himself said as much in mid-September at an author's event at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Lower Manhattan, where he and Mr. McDonald discussed their collaboration. Mr. Frey said that they  did a lot of stuff outside of publishing and writing, such as attending social events together and talking about subjects. Mr. Frey added that it had been a very important part of it, because I trusted a friend who's giving me good advice, as opposed to a boss who's giving me an order. If anyone was in a position to know that James Frey was lying about his past in the book "A Million Little Pieces," it was Sean McDonald, his editor, who worked closely with him not only on that book but also on the follow-up, "My Friend Leonard." If Mr. Frey were found to have misrepresented himself during the negotiations, Penguin might have reason to void the contracts. The Smoking Gun first revealed Mr. Frey's deceptions and confronted him with evidence that his book was false. According to the article, Mr. Frey told the Smoking Gun reporters that the encounter had left him so rattled that he went out and hired Los Angeles attorney Martin Singer, who sent a letter to The Smoking Gun threatening to sue if its article falsely states or implies that his client is a liar.