What do you think?
Rate this book
Catchpenny
A thief who can travel through mirrors, a video game that threatens to spill out of the virtual world, a doomsday cult on a collision course with destiny, and a missing teenager at the center of it all. With the world on the brink of every kind of apocalypse, humanity needs a hero. What it gets is Sid Catchpenny.
"I absolutely loved it. Catchpenny is a brilliant book, full of heart and the language is pitch-perfect. If Elmore Leonard had ever written a fantasy novel, this would be it.” —Stephen King
Sidney Catchpenny has had a bad run. Laid low by a years-long bout of debilitating depression, he’s all but squandered his reputation as one of the most uniquely talented thieves in LA. There aren’t many who can do what Sid does. He’s a sly , a special kind of crook with the uncanny ability to move through mirrors. And the spoils he’s after are equally unusual. Forget jewels and cold cash—Sid steals curiosities— items imbued with powerful mojo , a magical essence gleaned from the accumulated emotion that seeps into interesting, though often banal objects. That spot on the carpet where your old dog used to lay at your feet? The passed-down family heirloom nobody wants but everybody refuses to throw away? These curiosities are full of mojo, which is both the currency of the criminal underground and the secret source of magic in the world.
When a friend from Sid’s past comes looking for his help with an important client, and the chance to pay off old debts presents itself, Sid seizes the opportunity … as best he can. But the case he stumbles into is more complicated than it seems, and it portends a seismic shift in the world, one that will leave no one untouched. As the fog of his depression begins to lift, Sid sees connections everywhere he looks, and the once disparate threads of the case—a missing teenage girl, an entire bedroom saturated with mojo, and Sid’s own long-dead wife—begin to coalesce.
"I absolutely loved it. Catchpenny is a brilliant book, full of heart and the language is pitch-perfect. If Elmore Leonard had ever written a fantasy novel, this would be it.” —Stephen King
Sidney Catchpenny has had a bad run. Laid low by a years-long bout of debilitating depression, he’s all but squandered his reputation as one of the most uniquely talented thieves in LA. There aren’t many who can do what Sid does. He’s a sly , a special kind of crook with the uncanny ability to move through mirrors. And the spoils he’s after are equally unusual. Forget jewels and cold cash—Sid steals curiosities— items imbued with powerful mojo , a magical essence gleaned from the accumulated emotion that seeps into interesting, though often banal objects. That spot on the carpet where your old dog used to lay at your feet? The passed-down family heirloom nobody wants but everybody refuses to throw away? These curiosities are full of mojo, which is both the currency of the criminal underground and the secret source of magic in the world.
When a friend from Sid’s past comes looking for his help with an important client, and the chance to pay off old debts presents itself, Sid seizes the opportunity … as best he can. But the case he stumbles into is more complicated than it seems, and it portends a seismic shift in the world, one that will leave no one untouched. As the fog of his depression begins to lift, Sid sees connections everywhere he looks, and the once disparate threads of the case—a missing teenage girl, an entire bedroom saturated with mojo, and Sid’s own long-dead wife—begin to coalesce.
416 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2024
79 people are currently reading
4486 people want to read
About the author
Charlie Huston
102 books1,298 followersCharlie Huston is an American novelist, screenwriter, and comic book writer known for his genre-blending storytelling and character-driven narratives. His twelve novels span crime, horror, and science fiction, and have been published by Ballantine, Del Rey, Mulholland, and Orion, with translations in nine languages. He is the creator of the Henry Thompson trilogy, beginning with Caught Stealing, which was announced in 2024 as a forthcoming film adaptation directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Austin Butler. Huston’s stand-alone novels include The Shotgun Rule, The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, Sleepless, and Skinner. He also authored the vampire noir series Joe Pitt Casebooks while living in Manhattan and later California. Huston has written pilots for FX, FOX, Sony, and Tomorrow Studios, served as a writer and producer on FOX’s Gotham, and developed original projects such as Arcadia. In comics, he rebooted Moon Knight for Marvel, contributed to Ultimates Annual, and penned the Wolverine: The Best There Is series.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
April 11, 2024
Catchpenny
by Charlie Huston
Science Fiction
NetGalley ARC
Pub Date: Apr. 9, 2024
Knoph, Pantheon, Vintage, Anchor
Ages: 16+
Controlled by severe depression, Sidney Catchpenny is down on his luck, his depression keeping him from living, and because of this his reputation as a talented thief is gone, and now those he owes are coming for payment.
But being a sly, having the ability to move through mirrors, gives him a little forgiveness from payment, (after a good beating), because he is good at finding curiosities, items filled with magical essences called mojo.
Then a friend comes for help, giving Sidney a chance to pay off some of his debts, but combining mirror traveling, a video game, a doomsday cult, a missing girl, and those who hoard mojo, creates a more complicated mystery.
Traveling through mirrors, a video game, and a doomsday cult grabbed my attention when I read the blurb so of course I had to request this book.
There wasn't much traveling through mirrors or video game action, and the magic of this world wasn't really explained in enough detail to make it believable.
I like the idea of mojo, magic created in items that are special to someone. Your favorite shirt, your childhood teddy bear that you passed on to your kid, things like that, and some people can use that mojo for their own uses, like traveling through mirrors. How the mojo was created is explained, but how others used it was not. I get that those who knew how to do it didn't want the secret to get out, but for a reader, knowing is fun, interesting, and a way to want to find out more. But I got bored.
There was a lot of rambling, repetitive internal monologue, and skimming on details of the magic. The dialogue was major rambling. When the video game was being explained, I stopped caring because the character blabbered on and on, as did the creator of said video game when it was his turn. It got boring and I stopped caring. (See how irritating that is. It's boring and you stop caring.)
I loved the idea, but the presentation, rambling, and repetitiveness made it a hard read, and I ended up skimming instead of DNFing only because I was curious about what was going to happen, (which was a little disappointing because it was mostly a summary). There's nothing too graphic, so it's suitable for readers 16 and older.
2 Stars
by Charlie Huston
Science Fiction
NetGalley ARC
Pub Date: Apr. 9, 2024
Knoph, Pantheon, Vintage, Anchor
Ages: 16+
Controlled by severe depression, Sidney Catchpenny is down on his luck, his depression keeping him from living, and because of this his reputation as a talented thief is gone, and now those he owes are coming for payment.
But being a sly, having the ability to move through mirrors, gives him a little forgiveness from payment, (after a good beating), because he is good at finding curiosities, items filled with magical essences called mojo.
Then a friend comes for help, giving Sidney a chance to pay off some of his debts, but combining mirror traveling, a video game, a doomsday cult, a missing girl, and those who hoard mojo, creates a more complicated mystery.
Traveling through mirrors, a video game, and a doomsday cult grabbed my attention when I read the blurb so of course I had to request this book.
There wasn't much traveling through mirrors or video game action, and the magic of this world wasn't really explained in enough detail to make it believable.
I like the idea of mojo, magic created in items that are special to someone. Your favorite shirt, your childhood teddy bear that you passed on to your kid, things like that, and some people can use that mojo for their own uses, like traveling through mirrors. How the mojo was created is explained, but how others used it was not. I get that those who knew how to do it didn't want the secret to get out, but for a reader, knowing is fun, interesting, and a way to want to find out more. But I got bored.
There was a lot of rambling, repetitive internal monologue, and skimming on details of the magic. The dialogue was major rambling. When the video game was being explained, I stopped caring because the character blabbered on and on, as did the creator of said video game when it was his turn. It got boring and I stopped caring. (See how irritating that is. It's boring and you stop caring.)
I loved the idea, but the presentation, rambling, and repetitiveness made it a hard read, and I ended up skimming instead of DNFing only because I was curious about what was going to happen, (which was a little disappointing because it was mostly a summary). There's nothing too graphic, so it's suitable for readers 16 and older.
2 Stars
June 13, 2024
”You’re a sad, pathetic fucker who wallows in misery, Sid.”So it goes for our hero, Sid Catchpenny, a deeply depressed and literally heartless thief with a magical talent, who gets briefly shaken out of his funk when a one-time friend needs help and is out of reliable options. Over the course of a frantic few days, he embroils himself in a soup of mysteries and power plays that are somehow linked to his personal tragedies of decades past.
This is a riveting, breathless, desperate and emotional journey across L.A. and beyond, in the world of “the racket” of mojo, ubiquitous magic tied to emotion and human desire and cultural foci that those in the know can harness in various ways for power, fortune, money, and barest survival.
It feels like way more story than its 400 pages. Huston collides past and current decades and makes it all relevant to the now. There’s a thread of how social media and the internet ruin everything, which is factcheck: true, and I’m unsure whether this is a universal thought or if it’s a spot of curmudgeonliness from the author, who is older but still appears hip, according to I who am also older and decidedly not the other. In any case, it’s a phenomenal tale, with breakneck pacing but allowing the emotional beats space to sink in. Sid’s got to wallow, after all, but he never lets that stop him from being a pain in everyone’s ass, even when he’s on their side. It’s a complex journey, with complex characters, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Killer cover, too.
March 14, 2024
Lots of characters and lots going on in this book!
“Mojo” or magic was everywhere in the world - and like everything, it was for sale to the highest bidders and open to the most cunning thieves. Great concept that just needed more cohesion.
Thanks to Net Galley and publishers for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.
“Mojo” or magic was everywhere in the world - and like everything, it was for sale to the highest bidders and open to the most cunning thieves. Great concept that just needed more cohesion.
Thanks to Net Galley and publishers for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.
September 18, 2023
**I received a DRC from the publisher because I am a librarian and librarians are awesome**
Sometimes, you take a sick day and you just need a book to carry you through the congestion and snorfling.
Last Wednesday, this was that book for me.
I had tried two other DRCs on my Kindle to middling effect, then remembered this. I was immediately and completely absorbed into a world that was a little American Gods, a little Daisy Jones and the Six, and a little Ninth House. I just loved the ride of it. It's not coming out until next year, but I immediately wanted my husband to read it. And because it's not coming out until next year, this Goodreads review will remain spoiler-free until such time as the publication date nears. But hand this to your fans of gritty and twisty modern fantasy when it does, and I hope they have just as much fun with the mirrors as I did.
Sometimes, you take a sick day and you just need a book to carry you through the congestion and snorfling.
Last Wednesday, this was that book for me.
I had tried two other DRCs on my Kindle to middling effect, then remembered this. I was immediately and completely absorbed into a world that was a little American Gods, a little Daisy Jones and the Six, and a little Ninth House. I just loved the ride of it. It's not coming out until next year, but I immediately wanted my husband to read it. And because it's not coming out until next year, this Goodreads review will remain spoiler-free until such time as the publication date nears. But hand this to your fans of gritty and twisty modern fantasy when it does, and I hope they have just as much fun with the mirrors as I did.
January 21, 2024
I really wanted to like this one more than I did. Based on the descriptions and cover blurbs, it hits a lot of my buttons for a good book: a noir story, an urban fantasy akin to Jim Butcher and Neil Gaiman, a thief who can travel through mirrors, a video game that threatens to spill out of the virtual world, a doomsday cult, and a missing teenager at the center of it all. That sounds like a lot…and it is.
I think maybe I was expecting more of a noir mystery story with fantasy elements built in. But this turned out to be more of a lengthy mission of self-discovery. The protagonist, Sid Catchpenny is asked by a friend to look into the disappearance of a missing teenager. We soon find out that the reason Sid has been asked to take on this task is not due to any particular experience he has in solving crimes or understanding the teen mindset. No, it’s because Sid has a certain talent, a way of using a sort of magic called mojo.
I did like the magic system here (even though Sis tells us time and again that he doesn’t do “magic”). The concept of capturing and collecting mojo from certain objects and events and then turn around and channel it in different ways, is really cool.
There is a lot going on here, and a lot of characters to keep straight but I was able to hang with it for the first half of the book. This despite the author’s tendency to jump around in time at the drop of a hat, visiting Sid’s memories as a way to fill in backstory. But as more and more weird plot twists came at me, I started to lose focus. It doesn’t help that Sid is not a particularly sympathetic character, and the rest of the cast is even worse. They particularly like to insult each other. The book started to read like a comic book plot with lots of crazy and weird things happening. Sort of like Umbrella Academy, (which I like). I suppose this is not too surprising given the author’s background in that field.
By the time I was two-thirds through, I found myself not caring too much about the characters or how the plot turned out. I was hoping to hurry up and get to the end so I could move on to the next book. That’s never a good sign.
I fully realize that many readers will love and appreciate this book far more than me. It’s not a “bad” book at all…just turned out not to be my cup of tea. It will probably win awards and accolades across the reading public for its innovative ideas and style. But I, alas, will not be looking to find more books by this author.
Thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley for a free e-copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I think maybe I was expecting more of a noir mystery story with fantasy elements built in. But this turned out to be more of a lengthy mission of self-discovery. The protagonist, Sid Catchpenny is asked by a friend to look into the disappearance of a missing teenager. We soon find out that the reason Sid has been asked to take on this task is not due to any particular experience he has in solving crimes or understanding the teen mindset. No, it’s because Sid has a certain talent, a way of using a sort of magic called mojo.
I did like the magic system here (even though Sis tells us time and again that he doesn’t do “magic”). The concept of capturing and collecting mojo from certain objects and events and then turn around and channel it in different ways, is really cool.
There is a lot going on here, and a lot of characters to keep straight but I was able to hang with it for the first half of the book. This despite the author’s tendency to jump around in time at the drop of a hat, visiting Sid’s memories as a way to fill in backstory. But as more and more weird plot twists came at me, I started to lose focus. It doesn’t help that Sid is not a particularly sympathetic character, and the rest of the cast is even worse. They particularly like to insult each other. The book started to read like a comic book plot with lots of crazy and weird things happening. Sort of like Umbrella Academy, (which I like). I suppose this is not too surprising given the author’s background in that field.
By the time I was two-thirds through, I found myself not caring too much about the characters or how the plot turned out. I was hoping to hurry up and get to the end so I could move on to the next book. That’s never a good sign.
I fully realize that many readers will love and appreciate this book far more than me. It’s not a “bad” book at all…just turned out not to be my cup of tea. It will probably win awards and accolades across the reading public for its innovative ideas and style. But I, alas, will not be looking to find more books by this author.
Thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley for a free e-copy of this book in return for an honest review.
April 24, 2024
This book has a very unique premise. It's a sci-fi detective story and was mostly interesting. The magic in the book was very different from anything I've read before.
It got off to a super fast start and immediately grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, as the story went on, it all became muddled and confusing. There was just so much going on, and so many characters to keep track of that I had a hard time staying invested all the way through.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
It got off to a super fast start and immediately grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, as the story went on, it all became muddled and confusing. There was just so much going on, and so many characters to keep track of that I had a hard time staying invested all the way through.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
February 5, 2024
It was a page-turner, but there was some straight ridiculousness regarding villain plans in the last 60 pages that pulled me completely out of belief in the world–surprising in a book about a thief who travels through mirrors. Combine this with a "here's how everyone ended up" epilogue immediately following an ambiguous ending. I couldn't write this book, but I don't recommend it.
April 15, 2024
I don't care how nice they are otherwise, I'm done listening to writers on Twitter about "the next big book." I'm convinced publishers are somehow goosing smaller writers to hype up books like this, which are (at best) unremarkable genre filler. It's Harry Dresden in Los Angeles. He mainly uses mirror magic (called mojo). There are complicated rules about how it works. There are (way too many) boilerplate bad guys who are Bad because they like being Bad Guys, and their bland, generic henchmen.
Also, every time they mentioned Sid has been hunting for his wife's killer for THIRTY YEARS, I just thought, "What a ridiculous time span..." Thirty years?? And he's only started getting any actual information about it? Also, thirty years means that he has to be at least fifty during the events of the book, and not once did I ever picture him that old. The author himself is 56, so he should have been able to write a plausible hero that age, but instead he's running around in a Sinéad O'Connor T-shirt with bottomless reserves of energy like he's in his twenties.
Also, the cover blurb... either Stephen King didn't read this book or he's never read Elmore Leonard, and I have a solid guess which it is.
Also, every time they mentioned Sid has been hunting for his wife's killer for THIRTY YEARS, I just thought, "What a ridiculous time span..." Thirty years?? And he's only started getting any actual information about it? Also, thirty years means that he has to be at least fifty during the events of the book, and not once did I ever picture him that old. The author himself is 56, so he should have been able to write a plausible hero that age, but instead he's running around in a Sinéad O'Connor T-shirt with bottomless reserves of energy like he's in his twenties.
Also, the cover blurb... either Stephen King didn't read this book or he's never read Elmore Leonard, and I have a solid guess which it is.
August 1, 2024
So good to have Huston back writing books again, and this is a good one. Sid Catchpenny is a "sly," a thief who can use magic to slip through mirrors and steal items full of "mojo," a type of magic his underworld of thieves and hustlers rely on for power and status. Some years before, he was a rising singer-songwriter on the edge of hitting the big time, when his girlfriend was killed by someone who looked exactly like him, a mirror image creation called a manikin. Sid traded in his voice and called in some favors to learn how to navigate the world of magic so he could get his revenge. Now, an old friend has called on him for a job and one of his creditors is leaning on him as well. This fairly simple set-up leads to a very complex web of magic and mystery that reminded me at times of the fantasies of Tim Powers. I'm not sure it all held together as tightly as it could, or should, have, but this was fun, fast-moving story that has me excited about Charlie Huston (Caught Stealing) all over again.
January 5, 2026
Disclaimer - still working out my baseline ratings.
Really cool premise, and definitely crushable but ultimately wanted more from each piece of the story.
Loved the LA setting, the creative style of magic, and the noir detective framing. Wanted more actual magic and less dialogue exposition dumps.
Really cool premise, and definitely crushable but ultimately wanted more from each piece of the story.
Loved the LA setting, the creative style of magic, and the noir detective framing. Wanted more actual magic and less dialogue exposition dumps.
January 20, 2024
Oh I wish I lived in this book! Charlie Huston has created a world where magic can be caught. Magic, or Mojo, remaining emotions, gathered via ritual. In Catchpenny, we meet the anti hero Sidney Catchpenny. He is broke and depressed. Barely living in LA and still grieving the death of his wife. Sidney has the unique talent to move through mirrors which allows him to be a much sought after thief. He hasn't been lucky or working for a while but a friend turns up and forces him into action.
Sydney's voice is unique and his energy carries us through a story that would be convoluted by any other author, where Huston makes it real. Sid needs to locate a missing teen, find a bone and fight off a series of extras - or mannikins that aren't human but sure look like it. Join Sydney in this absolutely fabulous escapade - travel in this beautiful world of magic and hope - you will not be sorry.
I didn't realize how many novels Huston has written (and Marvel Comics too) I will be reading through them all! #knopf #Vintage #anchor #pantheon #catchpenny #charliehuston
Sydney's voice is unique and his energy carries us through a story that would be convoluted by any other author, where Huston makes it real. Sid needs to locate a missing teen, find a bone and fight off a series of extras - or mannikins that aren't human but sure look like it. Join Sydney in this absolutely fabulous escapade - travel in this beautiful world of magic and hope - you will not be sorry.
I didn't realize how many novels Huston has written (and Marvel Comics too) I will be reading through them all! #knopf #Vintage #anchor #pantheon #catchpenny #charliehuston
May 4, 2024
Welcome back, Charlie.
April 7, 2024
“I lived life on the line that bordered stupid and clever. It’s called being sly”.
To be sly is to have a cunning or deceitful nature. To act surreptitiously. To remark, glance, or express something in a way that insinuates one has some secret knowledge that could be harmful or embarrassing.
Catchpenny is a sly novel. It is clever, cunning, deceitful, and it is stupid…if you want to count stupid crazy. That’s probably why I liked it so much.
Urban fantasy noir (which is what I largely categorize this book as) is a subgenre mashup that I never get to read much of but I love a whole lot (just like my enduring love for cybertech noir, another subgenre mashup). When we get down to subgenre mashups I feel we’re hitting full-on speculative fiction territory–we’re entering all-new territory. In books like this, there are rules but also? Screw the rules.
I had a similar experience nearing the end of reading Catchpenny as I did with reading Noah Hawley’s Anthem: In this book the adults are the problem. The youth are the solution. The youth isn’t wasted on the young. It’s the adults who should be ashamed of the way they’ve wasted their lives and traded in all of their promises and dreams for empty lives filled up with selfish wants and needs when they could have had a fuller life and a fuller heart by spreading love, knowledge, and resources around to be used by more people.
It’s a little longer than I thought it needed to be, but Catchpenny is an intricate web of a story that has a large cast of characters and events that are all interconnected. It takes time to establish those strands, get them settled in place, bring the third act to its climax, and then to unravel the web without ripping it and risk a messy dismount from such a carefully constructed plot.
I thought it was a wonderful read. I love out of the box books, and this definitely meets that brief.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under:Amateur Sleuth/Noir/Occult Fiction/Speculative Fiction/Urban Fantasy
To be sly is to have a cunning or deceitful nature. To act surreptitiously. To remark, glance, or express something in a way that insinuates one has some secret knowledge that could be harmful or embarrassing.
Catchpenny is a sly novel. It is clever, cunning, deceitful, and it is stupid…if you want to count stupid crazy. That’s probably why I liked it so much.
Urban fantasy noir (which is what I largely categorize this book as) is a subgenre mashup that I never get to read much of but I love a whole lot (just like my enduring love for cybertech noir, another subgenre mashup). When we get down to subgenre mashups I feel we’re hitting full-on speculative fiction territory–we’re entering all-new territory. In books like this, there are rules but also? Screw the rules.
I had a similar experience nearing the end of reading Catchpenny as I did with reading Noah Hawley’s Anthem: In this book the adults are the problem. The youth are the solution. The youth isn’t wasted on the young. It’s the adults who should be ashamed of the way they’ve wasted their lives and traded in all of their promises and dreams for empty lives filled up with selfish wants and needs when they could have had a fuller life and a fuller heart by spreading love, knowledge, and resources around to be used by more people.
It’s a little longer than I thought it needed to be, but Catchpenny is an intricate web of a story that has a large cast of characters and events that are all interconnected. It takes time to establish those strands, get them settled in place, bring the third act to its climax, and then to unravel the web without ripping it and risk a messy dismount from such a carefully constructed plot.
I thought it was a wonderful read. I love out of the box books, and this definitely meets that brief.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under:Amateur Sleuth/Noir/Occult Fiction/Speculative Fiction/Urban Fantasy
July 6, 2024
4.5 stars, didn't feeeeel like a 5 star just quite so I rounded down. This is a great urban fantasy/LA noir fusion with notable Jim Butcher "Dresden Files" vibes, but with a refreshingly unique magic system. Sid Catchpenny is a smart-mouthed aging punk of an antihero reminiscent to me of Hellblazer's John Constantine. He steals stuff by crawling in and out of mirrors, and the curious things he steals have energy ("mojo") that power all sorts of underbelly players. When he gets pulled into helping a friend search for a missing teenage girl and the pieces of the puzzle start fitting together, he finds that the end of the world might be nigh. Huston's character work really shines here - it's a crazy cast of side characters all revolving around Catchpenny and his entanglements and regrets. It's set in a world that doesn't believe in magic, except for the people who know it to be true, giving it a "down low" feel that grounds the fantasy a bit. It felt to me like more of a mystery/noir, but when they come around, the fantasy story elements are really loud and proud, so it evens out. I know nothing of this author except for this novel, but I would pick something else up based on my enjoyment of this.
EDIT: Looking into the author, it makes sense now why Catchpenny kinda felt like a comic book (and also probably why I liked it so much!)
EDIT: Looking into the author, it makes sense now why Catchpenny kinda felt like a comic book (and also probably why I liked it so much!)
March 8, 2024
Syd Catchpenny lives in a depressive state mourning the death of his wife and child. When a friend requires his unique services to locate a missing teenager, he agrees. He believes this will get him out of debt and hopefully move forward. Syd is a thief who has the ability to travel through mirrors using magic or mojo he acquires through energy coming off certain curiosities. There is a video game that tracks the wishes of a cult leader, evil people who grow their power to dominate society, manikins that are flawed mirror replicas of particular humans and the teenager around whom the mysterious events revolve.
The premise sounded great. I found the story too focused on
Syd as a whiney, selfish, self-absorbed child/man who allowed himself to be a pawn for the powers that be. Eventually he came into his own and the story became better for it. I found the uniqueness of harnessing power from people to try and control outcomes fascinating and the description of nothingness frightening. It was well written and well-crafted; but was not a book I wanted to get back to. I believe others will love the inventiveness.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this advance copy. All opinions are my own.
The premise sounded great. I found the story too focused on
Syd as a whiney, selfish, self-absorbed child/man who allowed himself to be a pawn for the powers that be. Eventually he came into his own and the story became better for it. I found the uniqueness of harnessing power from people to try and control outcomes fascinating and the description of nothingness frightening. It was well written and well-crafted; but was not a book I wanted to get back to. I believe others will love the inventiveness.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this advance copy. All opinions are my own.
August 15, 2024
Okay ...
Time and place? Fact that my back is thrown out and I have nothing to do but wallow in self pity and read a book? Friend recommended effusively so I was ready to enjoy??? Damn fine writing with solid characters and a great narrative voice?? Whatever the reason, loved this book.
This book made me feel like I was reading a bit of Neuromancer, by William Gibson, again with the broken hero who is taking you on a wild journey in a world just outside our normal every day. It reminded me of Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper, with it's grungy Los Angeles that would be apropos in a noir detective novel or a modern day visitor's guide.
The characters are all perfectly imperfect (again ... see Neuromancer or Snowcrash). The fact that you never really know what is happening due to the fact that our guide through this LA-LA land is mired in his own self-pity and is so wrapped up in his own stuff that he can't give you a decent view from behind his shoulder.
The adventure is just mundane enough to feel on the edge of possibility while being outlandish enough to be a fun romp to read. Thanks again to the Author for a fun adventure and to Brettie for recommending the book!
Time and place? Fact that my back is thrown out and I have nothing to do but wallow in self pity and read a book? Friend recommended effusively so I was ready to enjoy??? Damn fine writing with solid characters and a great narrative voice?? Whatever the reason, loved this book.
This book made me feel like I was reading a bit of Neuromancer, by William Gibson, again with the broken hero who is taking you on a wild journey in a world just outside our normal every day. It reminded me of Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper, with it's grungy Los Angeles that would be apropos in a noir detective novel or a modern day visitor's guide.
The characters are all perfectly imperfect (again ... see Neuromancer or Snowcrash). The fact that you never really know what is happening due to the fact that our guide through this LA-LA land is mired in his own self-pity and is so wrapped up in his own stuff that he can't give you a decent view from behind his shoulder.
The adventure is just mundane enough to feel on the edge of possibility while being outlandish enough to be a fun romp to read. Thanks again to the Author for a fun adventure and to Brettie for recommending the book!
November 8, 2024
Well this one hit me like a ton of bricks. This book might not be a 5 for others people. I really only use 5 stars for books that really challenge me or how I think about things. You read the blurb about this book and it doesn't sound that serious at all.
There is a take on power, accumulating power, and the negative impacts of that.
However, I think this book really shines with the main character: Sid. I think selfishness and self-absorption is something that I and many others have indulged too much in a times. Especially, for people who deal with the type of depression that is more self inflcited than anything else. I spent two decades doing that to myself and a few days out of every year I fall back into those bad habits. I feel like this book just completely dismantles that behavior, what purpose it tries to serve for the person doing it, and what it actually serves.
There is a take on power, accumulating power, and the negative impacts of that.
However, I think this book really shines with the main character: Sid. I think selfishness and self-absorption is something that I and many others have indulged too much in a times. Especially, for people who deal with the type of depression that is more self inflcited than anything else. I spent two decades doing that to myself and a few days out of every year I fall back into those bad habits. I feel like this book just completely dismantles that behavior, what purpose it tries to serve for the person doing it, and what it actually serves.
March 14, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. Usually if magic appears in the book’s blurb, I shy away from it unless it’s Neil Gaiman. I am not usually a big fan of magic but I decided to take a chance and I am glad that I did. . This book was a fun, fast paced and difficult to put down. I thought the source of the magic, mojo, was fun and inventive. There was lot going on surrounding magic that was creative. The main character, Sid, is flawed and selfish. Probably not the most likable but you root for him anyway. There is a mystery to be solved and connections abound and everything comes together in the end. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for an advance copy.
January 2, 2024
CATCHPENNY, by Charlie Huston, is the story of Sidney Catchpenny, a thief who has learned the magical art of travelling places through mirrors and who specializes in stealing items imbued with mojo, a magical and powerful essence. Sid is offered a job too good to be true where he can right his debts and make some money, but quickly and adeptly Sid starts to figure out the job he is offered is not the job that he is really supposed to do. Old friends and foes come out of the shadows and Sid can't trust anyone. When simple theft becomes cataclysmic stakes, Sid struggles with doing the right thing for humanity and the right thing to do for Sid.
Wrought with flaws and full of skepticism, Sid is a likeable character who has a dry wit and a good heart. He is being used and/or played the entire book, but somehow keeps besting his opponents. The supportive cast of characters are colorful, unique, and dastardly in all the best ways. The mystery unfolds and everything starts to connect to everything else is an excited way and tension builds as the book moved forward. The mirror travelling and use of mojo is mystifying and confusing to the world the reader is introduced too but also is confusing to the reader. It's a palpable vibe and yet unable to be captured, more like it can be coerced and manipulated. I wanted to understand it better as I was reading, but even without my grasp of it, I still enjoyed the book very much.
I would call CATCHPENNY a mystery/thriller with a sci-fi component. It's uniqueness leaves an impression on the reader and the book ends with a satisfying conclusion.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor publishers, Charlie Huston, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Wrought with flaws and full of skepticism, Sid is a likeable character who has a dry wit and a good heart. He is being used and/or played the entire book, but somehow keeps besting his opponents. The supportive cast of characters are colorful, unique, and dastardly in all the best ways. The mystery unfolds and everything starts to connect to everything else is an excited way and tension builds as the book moved forward. The mirror travelling and use of mojo is mystifying and confusing to the world the reader is introduced too but also is confusing to the reader. It's a palpable vibe and yet unable to be captured, more like it can be coerced and manipulated. I wanted to understand it better as I was reading, but even without my grasp of it, I still enjoyed the book very much.
I would call CATCHPENNY a mystery/thriller with a sci-fi component. It's uniqueness leaves an impression on the reader and the book ends with a satisfying conclusion.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor publishers, Charlie Huston, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
March 3, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up. The premise for this book is so interesting, and there were parts that were really fun to read, but it was not captivating for me. Maybe it's not my style of writing, and someone else will love the story. There were some great unexpected twists in the book that I enjoyed.
April 22, 2024
Liked the general idea here, especially the whole 'depressed musician sells his voice' angle. But the story was a little too jumbled and never really well explained.
August 23, 2024
This was such a trip. I normally never venture into fantasy, but this was more metaphysical than anything. I wasn’t sure about it at first but found myself hooked for the latter half.
February 5, 2024
I do not ordinarily read fantasy, but was talked into reading this novel. It was a mistake. I have unsuccessfully attempted to read Catchpenny on a daily basis for ten days and have finally decided to call it quits. I have finished 19% of it and actually thoroughly enjoyed parts of it but couldn’t get past the fantasy. I am very sure that anyone who enjoys that genre will be delighted by it. But, not me. Thanks to Net Galley and Vintage Books for an ARC for an honest review.
May 3, 2024
This was such a poignant, powerful, fun, yet intimate book. I am now listening to Richard Sterling Streeter to preserve the magic.
January 20, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars
Catchpenny follows Sid Catchpenny as he tries to solve the mystery of a missing teen, while piecing together the events of his wife's death many years ago. This book is pretty far outside my usual tastes, but every once and a while I'm in the mood for a good mystery novel. I'm not sure what to say without spoiling anything but overall I was very entertained and engaged with the story.
I was a little disappointed that the book turned out to be more journey of self discovery than mystery. Particularly because I found the main character to be a bit of a whiny, self absorbed, man child... But somehow that didn't ruin the book for me! The books pace picks up immediately and doesn't ever really slow down, which helped keep me engaged when I wanted to reach into the book and shake Sid. The mystery(s) are predictable, but the end twist totally got me. Catchpenny's bright spot is it's side characters who are well developed, and truly the star of the book. What other book has a stuck in the 80s banker/crime boss, an evil talent manager throwing a nonstop party, a doomsday cult game developer, and snarky but smarter than you teens all trying to control the fate of the world?
Also if this book was a song it would be 'From a World to Another' by Polo & Pan
Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage catalog for the Arc!
Catchpenny follows Sid Catchpenny as he tries to solve the mystery of a missing teen, while piecing together the events of his wife's death many years ago. This book is pretty far outside my usual tastes, but every once and a while I'm in the mood for a good mystery novel. I'm not sure what to say without spoiling anything but overall I was very entertained and engaged with the story.
I was a little disappointed that the book turned out to be more journey of self discovery than mystery. Particularly because I found the main character to be a bit of a whiny, self absorbed, man child... But somehow that didn't ruin the book for me! The books pace picks up immediately and doesn't ever really slow down, which helped keep me engaged when I wanted to reach into the book and shake Sid. The mystery(s) are predictable, but the end twist totally got me. Catchpenny's bright spot is it's side characters who are well developed, and truly the star of the book. What other book has a stuck in the 80s banker/crime boss, an evil talent manager throwing a nonstop party, a doomsday cult game developer, and snarky but smarter than you teens all trying to control the fate of the world?
Also if this book was a song it would be 'From a World to Another' by Polo & Pan
Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage catalog for the Arc!
March 27, 2024
I first discovered Charlie Huston when I fell into his gritty Joe Pitt series. I was completely drawn in by his he writing and that’s probably when I first realized I was a fan of noir. Then I read The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death and it was a five star read for me.
All this to say that I have very much enjoyed some of Huston’s books. They are weird and creative and there is a sense of melancholy that appeals to me.
Catchpenny is no exception. At one point while reading I was wondering about the author’s brain and how he comes up with this stuff. It’s such a crazy cast of characters and a weird world of magic, a suicide cult, a missing girl, a strange video game and a depressed and down and out guy trying to see the connection between these things.
This book isn’t for everyone, but I was happy to go on the ride.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
All this to say that I have very much enjoyed some of Huston’s books. They are weird and creative and there is a sense of melancholy that appeals to me.
Catchpenny is no exception. At one point while reading I was wondering about the author’s brain and how he comes up with this stuff. It’s such a crazy cast of characters and a weird world of magic, a suicide cult, a missing girl, a strange video game and a depressed and down and out guy trying to see the connection between these things.
This book isn’t for everyone, but I was happy to go on the ride.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
April 7, 2024
Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an e galley version of Catchpenny.
Sidney Catchpenny is a damaged, apathetic thief. He is barely existing in the world when unexpectedly, a friend and another previous business associate want assistance from him. Sid operates in a parallel reality where magic is real and objects can contain mojo which fuels his magical abilities. Years ago, Sid's sly skills placed him among the best mojo thieves in the business. Now his talents are in question. The people asking for his assistance keep him in the dark about everything: what they want, why they want it, and what it has to do with shift in mojo.
The estranged friend comes to him for help. There is a missing teenage girl and one trip to her bedroom magically pulls Sid out of his persistent, debilitating depression, Sid decides to help the friend but on his own terms and for his own reasons. Part of his skill is the ability to use mirrors to transport himself to other locations. So Sid decides to find out what is really happening with the teenager, the business associate and the people in their lives.
The story pull you in quickly and you keep turning the pages to find out more about the mystery of these people’s lives. Fantasy isn’t my preferred genre but the mix of fantasy and mystery makes this book worth the read.
Sidney Catchpenny is a damaged, apathetic thief. He is barely existing in the world when unexpectedly, a friend and another previous business associate want assistance from him. Sid operates in a parallel reality where magic is real and objects can contain mojo which fuels his magical abilities. Years ago, Sid's sly skills placed him among the best mojo thieves in the business. Now his talents are in question. The people asking for his assistance keep him in the dark about everything: what they want, why they want it, and what it has to do with shift in mojo.
The estranged friend comes to him for help. There is a missing teenage girl and one trip to her bedroom magically pulls Sid out of his persistent, debilitating depression, Sid decides to help the friend but on his own terms and for his own reasons. Part of his skill is the ability to use mirrors to transport himself to other locations. So Sid decides to find out what is really happening with the teenager, the business associate and the people in their lives.
The story pull you in quickly and you keep turning the pages to find out more about the mystery of these people’s lives. Fantasy isn’t my preferred genre but the mix of fantasy and mystery makes this book worth the read.
January 5, 2024
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but it really sounded interesting, and boy was it. It’ll be a little difficult to say too much as I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that this is somewhat of a voyage of discovery for our main character Sidney Catchpenny as he is in a race to help his friend Francois find a missing girl before the world is destroyed…maybe. There were times where I thought I had it all figured out, but then bam a revelation came along and blew my theory out of the water. This is well-written, has a very detailed and interesting plot, and there are lots and lots of action. While this isn’t actually exactly my cup of tea, I’ll definitely be trying out the next book if there is one. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.
October 27, 2024
IRL. In real life. When the internet was first blossoming, there was a sense of a distinction between what happened “in real life” and what happened in cyberspace. I’m not sure such a distinction makes much sense anymore. In his 2024 novel, Catchpenny, Charlie Huston obliterates the divide, if it does still exist, with a fantasy-punk-magical realism story featuring the power of Sinéad O’Connor, manikins (like mannequins), and mirror travel.
Sid Catchpenny is a thief without a heart (literally) and his beautiful voice (literally), selling both off for revenge, a poison that only seems to be affecting him, as he’s been mired in depression for most of his life. His wife and unborn baby were killed by … himself, or rather, a manikin of himself. In the 30 years since, he’s jumped into the “racket” of accruing (stealing) “curiosities,” i.e. objects and things that have mojo. Mojo is the magic all around us imbued by our passions, wants, hates, and fears. Those within the racket, like Sid, are able to set “courses” to channel that magic to move through mirrors — which assists with the thieving —, to make the manikins, often for security, and to accumulate more power. It’s a loop, or like the book’s cover with the stylized circle in “novel,” a circle. You get into the racket to learn magic to accumulate more power to use more magic to accumulate more power.
The one item Sid has left from Abigail, his love and would-be mother of his baby, is her Sinéad O’Connor T-shirt, featuring the cover art from her debut 1987 album, The Lion and the Cobra, which Huston himself used to get through tough times. Sid’s depression predates Abigail, but it certainly wasn’t helped by her seeming murder. Turns out, according to the manikin, she killed herself instead of dealing with her head-in-the-clouds, aloof husband and the obvious fact that he didn’t want a baby derailing his rocket to stardom.
But that’s all later. First, Sid is thrust by his longtime friend, Francois, into the mystery of Circe, a 15-year-old girl who has gone … gone. That’s a nice bit of clarification from her mother, Iva: She’s not “missing” like your car keys are missing. She’s gone. In the course of the afternoon and night over the length of the novel, Sid will be accosted, beaten, escape de fact custody from the “assholes” who control all the magical power, betrayed, and unravel the mystery of not just the suicide cult that ensnared Circe, Francois, and Iva, but the aforementioned story with Abigail and his manikin.
Real life is not real life; it’s just what we’ve constructed as reality. Through the mirrors is nothing and everything. Reality and not reality. Something and nothing. The internet is supposedly where mojo goes to die, which is why the old timers in the magic racket hate smartphones, the internet, and Big Tech. The mojo can’t be harnessed until it can be because if nothing is real and everything is real, then there being rules and no rules around magic (the two most unbreakable not-rules rules are that magic can’t enable you to time travel or resurrect the dead) is a faulty premise. The child of a suicide cult leader, Carpenter, figures out how to harness, or course, the mojo from an internet game he created. I’m not quite sure what his end game (heh) was with it, but it goes to the point at the top of this review. What we put into the internet — through social media, blogs, video games, etc. — exists. It’s as real as the empty Gatorade bottle sitting next to my laptop as I type this. Why would we ever have made a distinction between these words in cyberspace and the fact of that bottle? We certainly know what comes out of the internet can affect us in the same way something “in real life” can, i.e., words can hurt. Or seeing a sad or happy video while we’re scrolling. Real and not real.
Circe’s aim is not dissimilar to a lot of people on the fringes of politics (left and right). She wants to destroy the world to remake it anew in her vision of the world. Her vision of the world is one in which the magic that has accumulated to the 1 percent, as it were, is disseminated to everyone and used by everyone, with the caveat that to use magic, one must do something selfless. With the help of Sid, who goes through his own character development arc of at first not caring about a seemingly random girl, to caring inasmuch as it’ll allow him access to use her room filled with mucho mojo, to finally helping Cerce because it seems better than the alternative, with no personal motive necessarily in it for him, Cerce achieves her aim. Magic is for everyone. The system is upended, in good ways and bad. Even with fame and magic, Circe still has to advertise lotion on the internet to pay the bills. Heh.
The saddest fact of the book is that Iva, whose father is Francois, tried to shield Circe from magic because of what Francois’s obsession with using magic to protect Iva did to her only for Iva to “imprison” Circe in a similar way and Circe to rebel in a similar way Iva did. Or maybe the saddest fact is that when Francois and Sid needed each other the most (Francois to rescue Circe from the suicide cult and Sid to survive his depression), they couldn’t find the language to help each other. I also thought Huston described Sid’s depression accurately throughout the book. Depression is that force which is reality and not reality, too. It causes “in real life” pain, and is not real as an accurate reflection of our lives.
Huston’s book ends on a cliffhanger. Sid, who is somewhat akin to an antihero, is going back into the nothing (or something) of the mirrors to rescue Francois, which is supposed to be impossible. Impossible and possible. Reality and not. Rules and no rules.
Like Sid being drawn to a mirror, first out of vanity and then out of survival and later, for heroism, I was drawn to Huston’s fantasy-mystery book. He took what at first appeared to be shattered pieces of a mirror, where you sense things are connected while being disconnected, and put them all back together nicely to reflect a well-told, well-developed, and well-paced story, with a healthy balance of heft and levity. There is so much more I can say about the plot and the themes of Catchpenny, but it’s better to be experienced, felt, and surfaced when read.
Sid Catchpenny is a thief without a heart (literally) and his beautiful voice (literally), selling both off for revenge, a poison that only seems to be affecting him, as he’s been mired in depression for most of his life. His wife and unborn baby were killed by … himself, or rather, a manikin of himself. In the 30 years since, he’s jumped into the “racket” of accruing (stealing) “curiosities,” i.e. objects and things that have mojo. Mojo is the magic all around us imbued by our passions, wants, hates, and fears. Those within the racket, like Sid, are able to set “courses” to channel that magic to move through mirrors — which assists with the thieving —, to make the manikins, often for security, and to accumulate more power. It’s a loop, or like the book’s cover with the stylized circle in “novel,” a circle. You get into the racket to learn magic to accumulate more power to use more magic to accumulate more power.
The one item Sid has left from Abigail, his love and would-be mother of his baby, is her Sinéad O’Connor T-shirt, featuring the cover art from her debut 1987 album, The Lion and the Cobra, which Huston himself used to get through tough times. Sid’s depression predates Abigail, but it certainly wasn’t helped by her seeming murder. Turns out, according to the manikin, she killed herself instead of dealing with her head-in-the-clouds, aloof husband and the obvious fact that he didn’t want a baby derailing his rocket to stardom.
But that’s all later. First, Sid is thrust by his longtime friend, Francois, into the mystery of Circe, a 15-year-old girl who has gone … gone. That’s a nice bit of clarification from her mother, Iva: She’s not “missing” like your car keys are missing. She’s gone. In the course of the afternoon and night over the length of the novel, Sid will be accosted, beaten, escape de fact custody from the “assholes” who control all the magical power, betrayed, and unravel the mystery of not just the suicide cult that ensnared Circe, Francois, and Iva, but the aforementioned story with Abigail and his manikin.
Real life is not real life; it’s just what we’ve constructed as reality. Through the mirrors is nothing and everything. Reality and not reality. Something and nothing. The internet is supposedly where mojo goes to die, which is why the old timers in the magic racket hate smartphones, the internet, and Big Tech. The mojo can’t be harnessed until it can be because if nothing is real and everything is real, then there being rules and no rules around magic (the two most unbreakable not-rules rules are that magic can’t enable you to time travel or resurrect the dead) is a faulty premise. The child of a suicide cult leader, Carpenter, figures out how to harness, or course, the mojo from an internet game he created. I’m not quite sure what his end game (heh) was with it, but it goes to the point at the top of this review. What we put into the internet — through social media, blogs, video games, etc. — exists. It’s as real as the empty Gatorade bottle sitting next to my laptop as I type this. Why would we ever have made a distinction between these words in cyberspace and the fact of that bottle? We certainly know what comes out of the internet can affect us in the same way something “in real life” can, i.e., words can hurt. Or seeing a sad or happy video while we’re scrolling. Real and not real.
Circe’s aim is not dissimilar to a lot of people on the fringes of politics (left and right). She wants to destroy the world to remake it anew in her vision of the world. Her vision of the world is one in which the magic that has accumulated to the 1 percent, as it were, is disseminated to everyone and used by everyone, with the caveat that to use magic, one must do something selfless. With the help of Sid, who goes through his own character development arc of at first not caring about a seemingly random girl, to caring inasmuch as it’ll allow him access to use her room filled with mucho mojo, to finally helping Cerce because it seems better than the alternative, with no personal motive necessarily in it for him, Cerce achieves her aim. Magic is for everyone. The system is upended, in good ways and bad. Even with fame and magic, Circe still has to advertise lotion on the internet to pay the bills. Heh.
The saddest fact of the book is that Iva, whose father is Francois, tried to shield Circe from magic because of what Francois’s obsession with using magic to protect Iva did to her only for Iva to “imprison” Circe in a similar way and Circe to rebel in a similar way Iva did. Or maybe the saddest fact is that when Francois and Sid needed each other the most (Francois to rescue Circe from the suicide cult and Sid to survive his depression), they couldn’t find the language to help each other. I also thought Huston described Sid’s depression accurately throughout the book. Depression is that force which is reality and not reality, too. It causes “in real life” pain, and is not real as an accurate reflection of our lives.
Huston’s book ends on a cliffhanger. Sid, who is somewhat akin to an antihero, is going back into the nothing (or something) of the mirrors to rescue Francois, which is supposed to be impossible. Impossible and possible. Reality and not. Rules and no rules.
Like Sid being drawn to a mirror, first out of vanity and then out of survival and later, for heroism, I was drawn to Huston’s fantasy-mystery book. He took what at first appeared to be shattered pieces of a mirror, where you sense things are connected while being disconnected, and put them all back together nicely to reflect a well-told, well-developed, and well-paced story, with a healthy balance of heft and levity. There is so much more I can say about the plot and the themes of Catchpenny, but it’s better to be experienced, felt, and surfaced when read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2024
My first DNF for an author whose previous works I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve read the majority of Charlie Huston’s novels and I honestly don’t recognize this as being written by him. I understand that authors sometimes experiment with different styles, but this has none of the hallmarks of classic Charlie Huston, namely a dark edge, tight storytelling and sardonic humor. This is a boring, bloated, rambling mess full of unlikeable characters and confusing time jumps. It’s also his longest novel to date, which tells me that he needs a better editor.
Huston is known for his cool antiheroes, but Catchpenny is pathetic, unsympathetic, ineffectual and downright annoying. Fuck that guy.
I hope this is just a blip on the radar, not the beginning of a new series and that the author returns to form with his next project.
Huston is known for his cool antiheroes, but Catchpenny is pathetic, unsympathetic, ineffectual and downright annoying. Fuck that guy.
I hope this is just a blip on the radar, not the beginning of a new series and that the author returns to form with his next project.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews