The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Starred review from October 21, 2024
Sportswriter Fagan (What Made Maddy Run) makes her fiction debut with the electrifying story of a bestselling author’s secrets. Many have read The Very Last, but few know the identity of its pseudonymous author, Cate Kay. The narrative, framed as Kay’s unpublished memoir, gradually unravels her true story. Raised as Annie Callahan in Upstate New York, she now lives in Charleston, S.C., under the name Cass Ford. When she was a teen, her friend Amanda fell from a zip line while trying to impress her. The accident prompts Annie to run away without knowing whether Amanda survived. She drives aimlessly north and winds up in Plattsburgh, N.Y., where she lives out of her car and works in a coffee shop, afraid to face Amanda and relishing her newfound identity under the name Cass. Eventually, she meets Sidney, a law student who encourages her writing and helps her understand her queer identity. She catapults to fame with the pseudonym Cate Kay and continues to shed her past, leaving Sidney for movie star Ryan Channing, who’s secretly a lesbian, after Ryan is cast in a film adaptation of The Very Last. Fagan fascinates with her enigmatic and shape-shifting protagonist, and the tightly woven plot will keep readers on the edge of their seats. It’s a blast. Agent: Katie Greenstreet, Paper Literary.