Review by Booklist Review
The Bachelor--style show The Catch is down to its final four contestants: Vanessa, the sexy villain; Amanda, the car model turned influencer; Lilah-Mae, the Christian; and Renee, who knows she's there only as the token Black contestant. They are all on their way to isolated Otters Island to film the final episodes of the season, along with a handful of crew, one mostly drunken host, and Jeremy, the "catch" they're all competing for. The island, once a getaway for the LGBTQ community, has faded in popularity since the disappearance of four female hikers a decade before. The narrative switches perspective between the four contestants plus Casey, the lead production assistant, and includes blog posts, letters, and message-board threads. This horror-comedy is heavy on the comedy and light on the gore--until the last 50 or so pages, when a lesbian bigfoot reveals herself and begins to terrorize the production. Genuinely funny, surprising, and even--at times--heartwarming. Recommended for fans of Grady Hendrix or Jessica Knoll.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Allen (Real Queer America) debuts with an amusing and jolting look at a dating show gone horribly wrong. Four contestants on the reality show The Catch--think Naked and Afraid meets The Bachelor--converge on an eerie island in the Pacific Northwest. There's the reserved Renee Irons, Christian influencer Lilah-Mae Adams, shrewd model Vanessa Voorhees, and cheerful vlogger Amanda Parker. All face harrowing events as they vie for a spot in the show's finale (and a proposal from entrepreneur Jeremy Blackstone). With only two weeks to go, the women try to advance their goals, which vary from finding true love to boosting their social media brands--but they soon begin to glimpse a mysterious "creature" named Patricia lurking in the shadows. When Patricia finally strikes, the results are grotesque and shocking, laying bare the island's dark history. The characters, however, often feel flat, with insufficient details about the women's lives, and Allen leaves several loose ends dangling. Still, she cleverly explores themes of human connection, social acceptance, and the harms of social media as the contestants vie for what they want and the show's producer takes staggering measures to boost ratings. Despite the flaws, there's enough invention here to keep readers on board. Agent: Leila Campoli, Stonesong. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Reality dating show contestants are pitted against each other and whatever lurks in the wilderness in this genre-defying fiction debut. The Catch is down to its final four contestants, and the penultimate episode is taking place on Otters Island, a formerly famous "LGBTQ getaway" whose popularity declined after three hikers mysteriously disappeared in the 1990s. The women competing to marry smarmy tech company co-founder Jeremy Blackstone largely conform to stereotypes: Lilah-Mae is pro--prosperity gospel and anti--all things sexual; Amanda is an airhead obsessed with maintaining her social media presence; and Vanessa is the too-horny mean girl poised to be this season's villain. Only Renee seems singular from the jump; she's repulsed by Jeremy, coming to terms with her long-repressed attraction to women, and, as the only remaining Black contestant, keenly aware that she hasn't been eliminated already because of optics. Allen pings among each contestant's point of view (along with that of producer Casey) as they fight, film, and contemplate the possibility that there's a dangerous cryptid in the surrounding woods, but most fun are the interspersed experiments in form, including posts from a Catch fan site and secret letters from a teen in 1972 to her girlfriend. The novel's abbreviated length gets in the way of its impressive ambition; the transition from reality TV satire to gruesome horror is a little bumpy, and while Allen is clearly interested in letting her characters expand into complicated human beings, some readers may be left wanting more. A one-of-a-kind queer horror comedy for people who watch The Bachelor and The X-Files back-to-back. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
