The ending was a complete shock!! You Can't Catch Me could not be a more perfect title for this unusual novel...just so many surprises as the story unfolds...but the last few pages just turn the story on it's head so be prepared!!! ( )

Suspense

You Can't Catch Me by Catherine McKenzie is an epic thrill ride that had me hooked at every word!

Catherine McKenzie is an author I stumbled upon and fell massively in love with (in reader fashion). The books Catherine writes are thrilling, engaging, fast paced, and always have me glued to the book. Now, this is only the second book I've picked up, but it was love at first sight (or read...). I ended up putting every book she has written on my Wishlist for my Kobo and lucky me... You Can't Catch Me came on sale! I scooped it up like any loyal reader, and then waited for the perfect time... Which was the other day! I had an appointment where I knew I was going to be waiting a while and knew I needed something to read. I was worried I'd lose an actual book so I brought my Kobo, which I could hide away in my purse when I wasn't glued to it. And... what did I do? Not lose it, thankfully, but completely binge this book. Did I intend to? No. Did I do it because the book was far too addicting for my own good? Yes.

Now for the actual book: Jessica Williams is our lead. She escaped a cult years ago thanks to a private detective who worked to get many kids out of the crazy land she was forced to live in. Jessica finds herself a job, but unfortunately gets fired due to an interesting string of events. The lucky part? Her severance package was AMAZING. She becomes rich, which is pretty much everyone's dream. But, that doesn't go too well for her.

She is ready to go on a trip and decides to take a break at the airport bar. There, she meets another woman with the exact same name as her! It's wild when she learns they even have the exact same birthday, down to the year! And just like that, she thinks she has another friend. THINKS being the key word. After this meeting, suddenly all of her personal information is stolen and her newly acquired money is completely drained.

Now, Jessica is a strong cookie. This woman grew up in a cult that was pretty darn hard to live in. So what does she do? Decide to track this lady down, and every other Jessica Williams that this Jessica-Jerk screwed over. The game unfolds, and secrets are uncovered... And maybe, people aren't just what they appear to be...

The drama. The suspense! The mystery! W-O-W. I didn't see the ending coming, which is truly rare for me. I was ready to get up, jump around, and high five the author (who obviously was not in the same room as me, but virtual high fives are good too). The ending was such a great "twist" (I'd hardly call it that, but I don't have a better word at the moment), and made the entire book worth it. The end really fits the narrative and makes you just want to go "Yes... This was the only way to end it. Yes."

This book does have a lot of sad parts, mostly because of the whole cult thing. Cults can be dangerous, and the way Catherine describes Jessica 1's journey... it's tough. It will make you want to give her a hug. And then drama with Jessica and Jessica and Jessica and more Jessicas... What a thought! The whole title alone - You Can't Catch Me - should give you a good idea of the plot of this book. They are going to catch Jessica-Jerk, and there's going to be some difficulty in doing it.

Overall, this book is fantastic and is one of my top reads. Catherine McKenzie will continue to be one of my fave authors and I'm going to have to grab every book I can of hers.

Five out of five stars. And a bonus sixth one! ( )

Jessica Williams has just been fired from her investigative journalism job for plagiarism. She decides to go to a resort in Mexico to escape the press coverage. While waiting at the airport, she finds a woman with the exact same name. After playing a game of twenty questions to see what other similarities they share, they exchange contact information. When Jessica returns home from Mexico, she discovers large cash withdrawals have been made from her bank account and that Jessica Two is the one who took the money. After doing some digging, convinced she's pulled this scam before, Jessica is determined to catch Jessica Two by reaching out to other Jessica's on Facebook. When she gets some responses from other victim's, she sets a plan in motion.

I love when I read the first few words of a book and already know I'm going to love it. Everything this author writes is so good, she has such talent! Everything about this novel is interesting - Jessica's upbringing, all the Jessica's, the outcome.. everything!! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I absolutely loved the big twist. I look forward to reading more from Catherine McKenzie!

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for granting my wish to read an ARC. ( )

The concept of this book about identity theft specific to financial scams (not the ongoing destruction of an individual's credit and future life) had potential, but I found the execution lacking. There is an an added element in that some of the principal characters had been involved with a cult.

The biggest problem for me was inconsistent pacing. Descriptions of some events were dragged out far longer than necessary since they added nothing to the story line or the tension necessary in a psychological thriller, while the big reveal at the end was condensed into just a few abruptly delivered pages.

There were also too many options where it was necessary to suspend disbelief in order for the convoluted plot to move forward. And although the key to the ending was withheld throughout the book, other supposed surprises were pretty obvious to me early on, and fell flat.

Sometimes books that require us to accept unlikely coincidences or seemingly preposterous plots are redeemed by excellent writing or appealing characters. That wasn't the case here.

Rounding up to 3 stars because ... Well, I don't know exactly, except that it wasn't bad enough to be a 2, I guess.

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