Naomi Kritzer

For as long as Steph can remember, she and her mother have been hiding from her father. Frequent moving towns and schools is frustrating, but Steph has the constancy of a close group of online friends on CatNet.
After the latest move, Steph befriends a classmate, draws an unexpected amount of attention with a hacking prank, discovers one of her online friends is an AI and learns more about her father.

I requested this from the library after vaguely glancing at a review because “AI makes show more online friends” sounded like my thing. Which is most definitely is. But I wasn’t expecting the story to be so gripping! Nor for it to nail the level of suspense I’m comfortable with -- as Steph’s circumstances become scarier, the more her friends support her. It’s great.

I like how interconnected and simultaneously important Steph’s online and offline worlds are. The plot is driven as much by what happens to CheshireCat as it is by the threat of Steph’s father, and Steph’s old CatNet relationships aren’t overshadowed by her new real-life ones (nor vice versa). And this is probably the most accurate portrayal of an online community that I’ve seen in fiction.

It’s a delight. Recommended.

I know that you’d probably sleep better if you turned off all the screens in your house at 10:00pm and read a paper book instead of continuing to reload your social media sites until 1:00am, which is when you usually shut things off and go to bed. I know what all your fandoms are, who your OTPs are, and where you wish you could go on vacation.
[...] I know you all so well. So very well.
And sometimes…
Sometimes I wish somebody knew me. show less

Steph and her mother are no longer on the run. Steph's father is locked up in Boston, awaiting trial with no bail. They're living in Minneapolis, and Steph is finally enrolled in a high school she can expect to graduate from. She's enrolled under her real name, with all the school information that she has, and telling the truth about why it's so spotty.

She also has a new friend, a classmate named Nell, who has her own interesting history. She's been homeschooled until now, because her mother show more joined a cult. Well, a series of cults, but the latest one is especially extreme, and is run by someone called the Elder, whom no one ever sees.

Nell's grandparents, devout Christians but not cult members, have allowed Nell and her mother to live with them--until Nell's mother disappears, and abandons her car not far away. When the police conclude she disappeared under her own power, Nell's grandmother concludes that maybe Nell is better off with her father, even though her father isn't exactly grandmother's idea of a great Christian.

To be clear about that last, her father has a wife, and both he and his wife have girlfriends, and they all live together in a large house in Minneapolis. At first we have only Nell's impression of them, and Nell doesn't know what to make of them, beyond being rather judgmental about their lax attitude towards household chores.

Nell and Steph get invited into a new social media site called Mischief Elves, and Nell invites Steph to join a social network popular with cult members--the Catacombs. It's not long before Steph starts to notice some creepy and disturbing aspects of both sites, and even more disturbing resemblances between them.

The pranks the Mischief Elves organize get more and more dangerous. The Catacombs is also organizing strange activities that don't seem to fit.

Then they discover the Mischief Elves are organizing supplies of explosives and potential weapons for the Catacombs people to collect.

Meanwhile, CheshireCat has been receiving messages from what he thinks is another AI like himself, which he hasn't responded to because he doesn't trust its approach.

What's going on? And will Minneapolis survive?

It's twisty and interesting and a lot of fun Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. show less

Tech thriller with awesome teens and a sentient AI = the right kind of YA

The first sentence of this book is ”My favourite things to do with my time are helping people and looking at cat pictures.” That’s AI POV, and if this doesn’t immediately make you like this book, then… This is a wonderful AI person: ”It is important to me not to be evil.” Awww. (It’s been reading lots of stories about evil AIs written by humans.)

Our human main character is Steph. Steph and her mom are show more always moving, from town to town, from state to state. This is how it’s been since she was little. Steph is on CatNet a lot, because her real friends are there. Guess who the admin of CatNet is? (It’s a secret, though, don’t tell.)

I like Steph’s voice, her thoughts, how she sees the world around her, how she does her best to handle her very weird life.

”Someone wanting to make me laugh warms me more even than the sun.
But also makes me feel weirdly vulnerable. Because I’ll miss her. A lot. When I have to leave. Which is definitely coming.”

All the teen voices in this book are believable and wonderful. I think the mistake many YA authors make is to make their teens annoying at all times; overreact to things; constantly make stupid decisions. People here are real, they think, they feel. You root for them, even when you facepalm a bit, which is rare.

Let’s not reveal too much of the plot, but it is gripping, there are dark and scary things happening. Such breakneck pace! These teens are in so much trouble. Having a sentient AI on your side helps a lot, though, I’d love one too. I enjoyed this ride! I had trouble putting the book down.

I am very touched by how humane this book was, despite everything. I feel as if someone had just given me a nice long hug. This is not easy to pull off, so kudos to Naomi Kritzer.

The ending is great, and OMG we obviously need a sequel. It has been published! Sure, I’ll read it. show less

Everyone's favorite cat pic-loving AI is back! Since the events of the previous novel, Steph's life has calmed down. Her father is in prison, she and her mom are now settled (ostensibly permanently?) in Minneapolis, and she's starting at a new school. There, she meets another new student, Nell, who's living with her father, her stepmother, her father's girlfriend, and her stepmother's girlfriend (it's complicated) after her mother disappeared. Oh, and she and her mother have been part of a show more doomsday cult for several years, so normal high school is a bit of an adjustment for Nell. On her first day of school, Steph gets added to a new phone game by one of the other students -- but something seems off. The game seems to know way more about her than it should, and since Steph has ample experience with sentient AIs, she puts CheshireCat on the case to investigate. As CheshireCat digs for details, they find that this phone game is much more sinister than it seems.

I loved Catfishing on CatNet, and I loved this book too. Both have an urgent quality that kept me reading past my bedtime, and will make you consider the permissions you give the apps on your phone. I probably liked this entry slightly less than the first one, but it was still really fun and I'd gladly read more in this universe. I also appreciated that the author took the opportunity to explore what a reformed police force might look like in this book based directly on the discussions surrounding the Minneapolis police following the 2020 George Floyd protests. 4.25 stars. show less