Stephania Taylor loves bats. It’s a little unusual for a teenage girl to be so taken with bats, but Steph is unusual. She rarely makes friends at school, because she and her mom move around so much. She’s never dated. She hasn’t learned to drive. She’s learned to keep to herself and not make waves. Because the truth is, she has a secret.
Steph and her mother move a lot because of Steph’s father. He once tried to burn their house down, and Steph and her mother are deathly afraid of his finding them again.
But while Steph doesn't usually make friends at school, she does have CatNet. On CatNet, she has a group of friends, also teenagers, who live across the country. They chat together in a Clowder (it’s a group of cats), talking about their schools, families, relationships, and anything that’s bothering them. The chat is monitored by admin CheshireCat, who loves to be paid off in cat photos.
For once, Steph likes her new school. I mean, the school itself isn’t great (she has to read The Scarlet Letter for the third time), but for the first time in ages, Steph has a friend. Rachel is an artist, and her sketches in class make Steph notice. As their friendship grows, Steph is more reluctant to pull up stakes and move again. But her mother’s health is worrisome. After an incident in school and Steph’s mother needing emergency surgery, Steph knows that she could be in danger. And when her friends from CatNet start to help her investigate her background, she learns that her mother has been lying to her, maybe even about her own name.
As Steph starts to piece together the puzzle of her past, she learns that she and her friends are in danger. Even with the help of an A.I. (artificial intelligence), Steph barely makes it away from her father. But where can she go to be safe, and who can she trust?
Catfishing on CatNet wasn’t quite the book I was expecting. The word “Catfishing” in the title made me think of the MTV show with its goofy hosts chasing down liars on the internet. But I kept reading, because I truly came to care about these characters, and I’m so glad I did. Author Naomi Kritzer created a fascinating world of reality and internet where teenagers can be the individuals they want to be, even if they change their mind on who that is from one day to the next. Steph’s story is so compelling, I want to keep following her (and I’m really hoping the slightly open-ended ending to the novel means that there is a sequel in the works!).
I loved Catfishing on CatNet, and I hope that people will open their arms to Steph and her whole Clowder and follow their adventures on the internet and in the meatspace.
Galleys for Catfishing on CatNet were provided by Tor Teen through NetGalley, with many thanks.