The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Verdict: 5 stars, preorder NOW

The Three Lives of Cate Kay

by Kate Fagan (releasing 1.7.25 from Atria)

Publisher Provided Summary:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.

My Thoughts:

I’ve been professionally reviewing books for 12 years and I can say without a doubt that 2024 has been the shittiest year for literary fiction releases, so it gives me extreme joy to report that there is hope on the horizon for 2025…and its name is THE THREE LIVES OF CATE KAY!

Initially, I was skeptical of two things: the cover and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo comparison. The cover is giving me Lessons in Chemistry vibes which I think is one of the worst marketing mistakes in recent years. So many of that book’s target readers passed right over the bright, pulpy cover and I worry that this could be the case here. The image of three rearview mirror reflections hits the mark but I think this should have been a real photograph rather than a graphic. As for the comparison with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I can see the connections, but I found this story to more closely aligned with The Resurrection of Joan Ashby (my favorite book of all time) for its nested structure, Shakespearean themes, and spiraling storyline centered on a female literary phenomenon.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten my petty critiques out of the way, let’s focus on the fact that this book is a true gem. The Three Lives of Cate Kay does not belong with the midlist, basic, contemporary fiction releases. This smart, uniquely detailed, and perfectly paced book gives me the kind of reading high that makes me do a John Bender from The Breakfast Club air punch after reading the last sentence. Kate “with a motherfuckin’ K” Fagan has delivered an absolute “mic drop” fiction debut. Sign me up for the fan club because I’m going to be raving about this one for a while.

Author Bio:

Kate Fagan is an Emmy Award–winning journalist and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Made Maddy Run, which was a semi-finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for literary sports writing. She is also the author of three additional nonfiction titles, a former professional basketball player, and spent seven years as a journalist at ESPN. Kate currently lives in Charleston with her wife, Kathryn Budig, and their dog, Ragnar.