Catfish

A darkly compulsive and deliciously disturbing literary thriller about a young woman who is catfishing men online and whose identity is under threat of being revealed by a popular true crime podcast.

Mairead has spent years curating a ‘good’ life: a pensionable job in Dublin, regular calls to her parents, the semblance of a social circle. But something feels hollow. At twenty-four, her only solace lies in her elaborate network of fake social media accounts where she uses her girls to lure and deceive men.
When her latest target ghosts her and reveals her fake accounts on a podcast run by his friend, Mairead starts to unravel. The podcast goes viral, its revelations sparking a wildfire of speculation with the hosts promising to reveal the identity of the true catfish.
As the net narrows, Mairead realises she must do something to avoid her dark secrets becoming exposed. Caught in a spiral of risk-taking, and with nowhere left to turn, a dangerous game for Mairead begins…
Darkly compulsive and deliciously disturbing, Catfish is the provocative debut from Galway-born, Dublin-based Ciara Broderick, and it announces the arrival of a thrilling new voice in fiction.