Everyone wanted to know the real identity of Cate Kay, the pseudonym of the author of "The Very Last" trilogy. Snatched from a publisher's slush pile, The Very Last was published to great acclaim, selling millions of copies and eventually becoming a movie, as did each of the sequels. Even her literary agent did not know who she was. It took many years of coming to terms with her life and what she valued to get to the point of writing her memoir and revealing herself. And so the novel begins.
Annie and Amanda were children in upstate New York when they found each other and became closer than best friends. Amanda was the best actress in high school while Annie preferred writing to being onstage. Their plans had always been to go to Hollywood and make it big after high school graduation, but Annie was starting to question her ties to Amanda. A few days before they left, Amanda had a major accident and Annie left town without her, setting the stage for their lives to change in drastic ways. Miscommunication, lies, jealousy, and subterfuge were the results-can redemption follow?
The "memoir" is narrated by several voices including Cass Ford who became Annie's new identity, Ryan Channing, the movie actress who recognized herself in elements of Cass's novel, and Sydney, the spurned lover who set the story in motion. As the reader follows the intricacies of the life of Annie/Cass/Cate, we also see, in her trilogy, the clues she drops to reveal her identity to the one she left behind.
At first, the story line is a little difficult to follow, but the narration soon becomes easier as the characters are fleshed out. Fagan has done a fantastic job of driving this multi-character balancing act to a very satisfying conclusion.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
January 7, 2025
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