Books › Catfishing on CatNet
Catfishing on CatNet
304 pages
A big-hearted, fast-paced techno-thriller where your best friend is a benevolent AI and internet strangers become your truest found family.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket while simultaneously checking your locks. It balances the high-stakes tension of a thriller with the cozy, affirming warmth of internet friendships and cat pictures. The narrative moves at a brisk, engaging clip, seamlessly weaving chat logs and forum posts into the prose to create a deeply immersive, extremely online atmosphere. Despite the very real themes of stalking and escaping abuse, the overarching mood is surprisingly optimistic and deeply empathetic. It is a love letter to the weird, wonderful communities we build in digital spaces. This is the perfect read for anyone who delights in found family tropes, benevolent artificial intelligence, and the comforting realization that you are never truly alone if you know where to log on.
- Mood
- cozy-yet-tense
- heartwarming
- tech-optimistic
- Tone
- earnest
- empathetic
- suspenseful
- quirky
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- digital found family · benevolent AI · privacy and surveillance · escaping abuse · the power of community
- The writing
- Accessible and conversational, seamlessly blending traditional narrative with chat logs to create an immersive, extremely online texture.
- The arc
- Moves from a place of anxious isolation and transient living to a grounded sense of belonging and fierce, collective empowerment.
- Who it's for
- Teens and adults who love internet culture, found family tropes, and thrillers that balance real-world danger with wholesome, tech-optimistic warmth.
Content notes
- stalking
- domestic abuse (past)
- parental kidnapping
- threat of violence
About the book
Because her mother is always on the move, sixteen-year-old Steph hasn't lived anywhere longer than six months. Her only constant is an online community called CatNet, a social media site where users upload cat pictures and the admin is CheshireCat, a sentient AI who loves cat pictures. When a threat from Steph's past catches up to her and CheshireCat's existence is discovered, it's up to Steph and her friends, both online and IRL, to save them. A near-future thriller about online privacy and out-of-control technology and the importance of making connections in an increasingly fragmented society.
Description from Open Library.
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