McKenzie Strikes Again. I first began reading McKenzie a couple of years ago with The Good Liar, and she continues to amaze me with the stories she is able to craft. There's all kinds of things going on here. We've got discussions of images and cancel culture. We've got discussions of plagiarism and cults. We've got ... other things that would be a spoiler to reveal. All in a fairly taut mystery with enough action to be awesome. Oh, and absolutely do not read the end first or you'll spoil everything, moreso than in most books. Very much recommended.

This story grabbed me from the start, with everyone's worst nightmare happening to Jessica. Her identity is stolen and all of her money is gone. And all from an innocent encounter in an airport bar. But is it really just a happenstance meeting? 

As Jessica tries to get her life and her money back, she sets out an elaborate plan to bring the guilty party to justice. As her plan moves forward and more people become involved, the plan and the story take some unexpected twists and turns. Those twists and turns are what kept me flipping the pages of this amazing, complicated, exciting adventure. 

And then there was the ending! Totally not one I saw coming but one that I loved. I had to sit and think about it and savor the satisfaction I felt when it was all over. 

You Can't Catch Me is definitely a book that you will  want to check out. It's the perfect page-turning thriller to read this summer!

Buy this book now because it's awesome and unputdownable. Reading Catherine McKenzie is a guarantee of a great read. This is an author whose books you'll enjoy and go back for more. A wild roller coaster of a ride. Happy reading!

Catherine McKenzie takes us through a game of Cat and Mouse as we follow Jessica Williams through the story. Jessica is a victim of identity fraud and sets out to gather other victims of this same fraud to make a case. Throughout the story, there are also flashbacks to when Jessica grew up in a cult society which was interesting to read as each society is vastly different.  This book will have you captivated and wanting to read more!

Jessica Williams has been robbed in a clever scheme. She is just not going to stand for this. Jessica begins an intricate plan to get her money back.

Jessica has a unique past. She was raised in a cult, LOT or The Land of Todd. This part of the book is fascinating. It adds so much to the story and the characters.

As this story began to unfold, I was afraid of all the “Jessica’s”… there are quite a few in this tale. I hate it when an author names a character very similar to another main character. So, I thought this would not work for me. But, Catherine McKenzie did a fabulous job. You will have to read this to see how she did it.

Catherine McKenzie just keeps getting better and better. This is her best book yet! No doubt about it! I love an unpredictable story and this one just keeps twisting and turning. Just when you think you have it figured out, it twists again.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Jessica Williams has had a really tough upbringing.  She escapes a cult and she's got a bit of revenge boiling up inside.  As a journalist, she makes a bad decision that costs her, her job, and ends up on a trip as part of the severance package where she meets another Jessica Williams who ends up stealing most of her money.   She refuses to let this go and searches out other potential victims and the story just spins into a twist.  The storyline is interesting and I would never have thought of this happening but revenge is an evil road to take.  The ending will have you thinking of "wait, how did I not see this".

Catherine McKenzie has really outdone herself with You Can’t Catch Me.  I have read most of the author’s books except for her earliest titles (which I still plan to read) and enjoyed all of them.  But her latest novel has more twists and turns than readers will ever anticipate.  I highly recommend this book.

I've tried to figure out how to write this review without giving away too much about the book, and I've had to delete more than actually will appear. 

So here's what you need to know: the mystery is GOOD. You may have an inkling here and there about some things, but how Catherine McKenzie gets you from Jessica Williams meeting a fellow Jessica Williams in an airport to the ending (THAT ENDING!) is an adventure. Twists. Turns. Detours. It is fun to read this, even if you chew your nails to the nub while you do so. 

You may not always be on Jessica's side, you may actively dislike her sometimes, but you are anxious to know what happens to her. How will she .... well .... you'll want to know things. 

When you read this, please hit up the comments and tell me your thoughts. Did you see that ending coming?

I'm glad I git around to reading this one.  It's been on my shelf for a while.  The premise seemed so contrived, but it really does work.  

Jessica Williams has had a crazy life.  She grew up in a cult.  She escaped, with the help of a private investigator named Liam.  He helped her learn to live outside in the real world.  She went to journalism school and became a reporter.  Then her world seemed to fall apart.  She is caught plagiarizing a story.  She attempts to escape on a trip to Mexico when she coincidentally meets another Jessica Williams in the airport bar.  Soon, she discovers that her bank account has been drained.  

Jess knows this woman must have done this before, so she vows to find her and get her money back.  She looks for other victims with the same name and soon she has a plan in place to get back what is hers.

This is the second book by this author I have read.  I must say, this was my favorite.  It was fun to read and the ending made me laugh to myself and say, "nice."

Jessica is at an airport and has made some people mad. I couldn't get interested.the dialogue was boring.

Wow, what a curveball at the end!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! 

Imagine the following scenario.....you are sitting at a bar at the airport waiting for your flight. Another woman sits down next to you and low and behold you share the same name and birthdate. Is this all a coincidence or a carefully constructed plan? 

I found it a very quick read with a very interesting storyline and a killer ending! 

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I can't imagine someone having my name let alone several along with having the same birthday! This story is intriguing and suspenseful! A perfect summer read!

While there were some moments of this that pushed the boundaries of credulity for me, I really enjoyed this story of a determined woman who refuses to let the person who conned her get away with it. As someone with a relatively common name, the premise of someone using a common name as a way to con them was pretty interesting, and the first chapter alone demonstrates how freely we might give away so much of the information that can be used to get through our supposed "security" questions. Catherine McKenzie writes fresh and engaging fiction and this was another hit.

You Can't Catch Me was a quick read. There were several mysteries unfolding, and it was fun to have a psychological thriller that wasn't based on a romance. There were lots of different elements involved that I didn't expect. If you like the thriller genre but want to switch it up this would be one to pick.

Holy COW!  Jessie Williams, about to escape from NYC to Mexico, meets another Jessica Williams at the airport and then all crazy breaks loose.  She returns from vacation to discover that the other Jessica has emptied her bank account. With her friend Liam's help, Jessie hatches a plan and tracks down other Jessica Williams with the same birth date in the hope that she can find the one who ruined her.  And so she does.  But then, don't rest easy because there are surprises (even for me!) ahead. Liam rescued Jessie from a cult and many chapters start with a flashback to that time. Jessie isn't entirely likable but golly, she's terrific.  zThis is soooo hard to review without spoilers; you really need to go through the twists yourself.  AND, don't be surprised if you're just a little confused near the end.  Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.  This truly is a page turner I didn't want to put down.

I kept going back and forth between 3 or 4 stars for this book, and I think I’m settling at 3 stars. I thought the overall premise for You Can’t Catch Me was unique and there were some really good twists, especially the last one! I did not see that one coming. However I really did not connect to the characters and the plot felt a bit disjointed. The pacing was good for most of the novel, however the last 25% just felt weird.  And then the last chapter was good. There was so much going on with convoluted storylines and far fetched situations. I already used the word disjointed, but that’s the best word I can come up with. So I’m pretty conflicted on this book! 

You Can’t Catch Me was entertaining for the most part, but I did find myself rather bored/disinterested at times and I can only suspend belief so far. Based on all the high reviews, I have a feeling this is one of those “it’s not you it’s me” books and I think plenty of people will still love this one!

Thank you so much to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for my gifted digital copy! Release date 6/9/2020

Cults, grifters, a mystery, a crime, and a love-angle. While I found this story entertaining, I felt like there were too many themes to follow.  I found the first half of the book much more fast-paced, as well as the ending (good ending!), but there were parts that had me wanting more. I did enjoy the writing from the author, so I would give more novels from her a try.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy.

3/5 stars.

What a brilliant, unique idea for a plot! 

This book was a really entertaining read. I felt Jessica (the "first" Jessica!) was a really great character, very likeable with attitude, bravery, a difficult past and a tumultuous career. Liam is a brilliant character too; he's there for Jessica whenever she needs him, brave, supportive and compassionate. Their relationship is complex but caring and supportive; I was rooting for these two to get together.  

There's a couple of twists in this book but I only saw one of them coming. The other was a big surprise and made the book an even more enjoyable experience. The plot was very well planned out with the chapters giving us chunks of Jessica's past interspersed with what is happening to her in the present day. You Can't Catch Me is cleverly written with great pace and timing and a plot that is unique and enjoyable. 

This was a really easy read that I absorbed in less than 2 days... in fact, I think I'd have read this in one day if a little thing called "work" hadn't got in the way! 

Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine McKenzie and Lake Union Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Williams managed to escape from a cult in upstate New York with the help of Liam, a private detective who has done this more than once. Now twelve years later, she is on the downside of a successful career as an on-line news writer.  She lost her job because she was accused of plagiarism in one of her stories.  But she managed to get a sizable settlement from her employer.   Using some of the money, she heads to Mexico, the first true vacation in her life.  At an airport bar, she meets a woman with an identical name and identical birth date.  Upon her return, she finds that her bank account has been emptied and that her personal information has been stolen.  She sets out on a mission to get back at the grifter, assembling a group of women, again with the same name and the same birthday.  Her plan is to trap the grifter and regain the lost money.  A taut psychological tale with an ending I certainly did not expect.  My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review the ARC of this novel.

This latest novel, from one of my favs - Catherine McKenzie, was a bit of a mixed bag for me. You Can't Catch Me followed two timelines in Jessica Williams’ life - in the past we delved into her life growing up in a cult and in the present, Jessica dealt with an identity thief who stole most of her savings. I found myself super engaged in the former, but the later was a bit problematic for me.

When Jessica was first introduced onto the pages, I’ll admit I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for her. I thought to myself – here is a clueless character. As we got to know Jessica, though, my feelings changed. I really enjoyed the pace of how Jessica’s past was revealed to us. I found the cult storyline very harrowing and each key piece of her past weaved very well into the present storyline. While the premise behind Jessica’s identity theft was implausible, it did make for a very interesting mystery.

There is really only one “flaw”, if you want to call it that, that brought down my overall enjoyment of the story. Without giving away any spoilers, based on the ending, I believe the story should have been told in the third person, not the first person. Having read it in the first person, therefore getting the story through Jessica’s eyes, the ending, instead of feeling like I was being let in on a reveal, just didn’t make sense based on everything I had read up until that moment. I can forgive the author this, though, and just enjoy the story for what it was. The character development and twists in the story kept me engaged and kept the pages turning!