Lean Cat, Savage Cat

by Lauren John Joseph

A Talented Mr Ripley for contemporary Berlin: a twisting, sensual, heady and razor-sharp exploration of creativity, fame, desire and the divided self

Charli has finished art school and now has no idea what to do with her life. She's broke, disillusioned and her flatmates hate her. One night at a bar in Soho, however, everything changes when she first encounters the charismatic musician Alexander Geist. Androgynous, glamorously handsome, mysterious and just a little sinister, he feels something like a soul mate; and so when he heads off to Berlin, Charli follows.

There, at the centre of the city's febrile party scene, Charli and Alexander embark on their great project: to make Alexander into the biggest star since David Bowie. But Alexander is elusive, mercurial; and Charli is in over her head before she realises just how self-destructive her life has become under his spell.

A story of obsession and excess, doppelgängers and disassociation, fame and the terrible things we do to feel loved, Lean Cat, Savage Cat is an unforgettable novel from one of the most exciting writers at work today.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Adult, Music

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2026

Reviews

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lean Cat, Savage Cat is a novel about a woman who moves to Berlin after art school and falls for a musician in a world of parties, drugs, and obsession. Charli meets Alexander Geist, charismatic up-and-coming musician, in London and decides on a whim to move to Berlin with him. There, she falls in with old friends, but becomes increasingly obsessed with Alexander as they move between parties, and as Alexander's success grows, Charli finds herself losing herself to him.

Having read Lauren J. Joseph's previous novel, I would've read this one regardless of what it was about, but in fact, the summary was right up my street: Berlin, rock stars, and a comparison to The Talented Mr Ripley that I should've remembered whilst reading. The novel has a faded glamour updated for the 21st century, with Charli the party girl who, as someone in the novel remarks, talks like a character in The Secret History, and who is fascinated by Berlin of the 1970s, Bowie and Romy Haag. You are immersed in the world as you would be in an Isherwood novel, but at the same time, there's a concurrent narrative that gives hints that things aren't all quite right. It's hard to talk more about the plot without giving anything away, so I won't.

There's so much about queerness, sex, gender, fame, and the self in this book, but the reading experience is a rollercoaster of parties, gossip, and a hint of danger. I love how the real life figures of David Bowie and Romy Haag hang over the novel, all part of the doubling that takes place throughout. By combining contemporary and 20th century Berlin in this doubling, Lauren J. Joseph makes a book that feels timeless and exciting.

[Kobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren John Joseph is brilliant and hilarious and I loved this and the way she writes. I have questions though, primarily: tell me more about the cat in the freezer...

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I managed to pick up a pre-release copy of Lean Cat, Savage Cat from a book-swap, and so don’t know how different the final version of the book is to the one I read.

It’s a woozy, weird, drinky, druggy, shaggy novel about a woman called Charli who runs off to Berlin with a musician called Alexander. He wants to be the next Bowie, she wants to be his Romy Haag. I was a little unsure when the book was set at first, their are references to Obama’s presidency and Q-Anon, but a trip to the cinema nailed it at 2007 - I don’t know why it became so important to me to know when the book was set, I think because so much of the book is fluid.

Many fluids are drunk in this book. It starts with wine and celery cocktails, these are chased throughout the book with multiple other drinks, cocaine, ketamine, magic mushrooms, heroin, and probably a bunch of other substances I have forgotten. Much of the book takes place with the narrator either drunk, high or hungover and this queasy atmosphere continues throughout. It is also revealed that much of the book consists of reminiscences Charli has whilst drugged up in a hospital after a car accident. It’s the introduction of this frame that deepens the book’s mystery and makes it compelling.

I was unsure of this novel when I picked it up, the first line is very ‘first-liney’ and Charli’s habit of referring most experiences to an element of culture, or a quotation makes her seem pretentious. It’s also one of those novels about twenty-somethings of an artistic nature who live in hedonistic squalor to pursue their dubious art, it’s a milieu that can get very irritating. Luckily, it’s well characterised and the people we meet are at least as interesting as they can be insufferable. The life in Berlin is portrayed as very full-on, vibrant and extremely queer (big call-out to the drag name Fagatha Crusty).

The relationship between Alex and Charli is clearly unhealthy, and this is explored in many ways. I’m not the biggest fan of pages of explicit sex in books, but the sex described in Lean Cat, Savage Cat is probably the clearest way the dynamics of their relationship is explored, changing as they do. It never felt a sex scene was included to be edgy, or to sell the book to book-tok, but were important character moments in the story.

The biggest mystery in the book, and the thing that elevated it beyond just another La Boheme rip-off, is the reliability of Charli as a narrator and Alexander as a person. His surname is Geist, the German for ghost - though it’s implied that’s a stage name. It’s when Charli talks about him in the hospital framing scenes, and no one seems to know who he is (or be hiding something about him) that things get slippery. It turns out Charli had an older brother called Alexander, who died in a car crash, and we are left with he distinct impression that she has been seeing his ghost, or he exists as a shadow side to her. The book doesn’t explicitly have a conclusion to the mystery, but there are enough suggestions to be satisfied, the book may be worth a re-read to see what other clues are in there.

I wasn’t completely sure how I’d take Lean Cat, Savage Cat, having taken it because it was free and intriguing, but I’m glad I did because I found myself caught up in the story and engaged by the mysteries it posed.

[RecycledWords · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had high hopes for Lean Cat, Savage Cat after hearing so much positive feedback on Lauren J. Joseph's debut novel (At Certain Points We Touch) and I was not disappointed.

Charli's descent from slightly chaotic London art student into full member of the Berlin arts and nighlife scene and all of the hedonism and chaos that brings with it was both painful and a delight to read at the same time. Polly felt like a true friend who genuinely wanted to be there for Charli but got frustrated with her own willingness to help herself though she does come through for her at the end. Alexander reminded me of a fairytale wolf somehow in his mannerisms and lack of consideration for others. Whilst there were graphic sex scenes depicted in the novel, the way these were narrated by Charli felt as though she was almost slightly removed from the situation and telling it as something that happened to her rather than something she was actively taking part in.

I find the lack of resolution a little tricky but appreciate that it leaves the ending open to interpretation. My own personal interpretation is that Charli has ended up in a psychiatric facility following an accident and that her breakdown is caused by long-term complex grief over the traumatic loss of her brother.

Thanks to Bloomsbur Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[jay ☆౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so fun. It follows Charli and Alexander on a hedonistic, debauched spiral in Berlin while Alexander is up and coming as a musician. Both Charli and Alexander were extremely vivid characters, acting on their own self-interests while sharing a pretty tragic codependency. I particularly enjoyed the carnal, queer and sometimes discomforting sex scenes which, of course, complimented the Berlin setting. Lean Cat, Savage Cat is ultimately a story of sex, drugs, fame and corruption, and was wildly unpredictable whilst maintaining an overarching sense of doom throughout. In other words, this book felt like watching a horror movie through the slats of my fingers. I enjoyed and I recommend. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

[Franchesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wild ride through Berlins' nightlife as Charli follows the mysterious Alexander Geist in his pursuit of stardom, involving copious amounts of alcohol, drugs, and elicit sex, was not quite what I was expecting, but I enjoyed the journey nonetheless. I like how it was written, going back to this time in her life and ahead to Charli's present circumstance, at times dreamlike and at others more down-to-earth and mundane. As another reviewer stated, I have questions, one in particular that I asked immediately after finishing and closing the book for the final time.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blurred heady whirlwind of a book, sliding in and out of focus, by turns funny and painful and banal and picaresque. It has some very good sex writing, which is always a treat - it's so easy for sex to be horrible to read. Overall, a highly enjoyable read with frequent wincing.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Rebecca Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF, I just lost interest in the plot, the writing was really great though. I think a lot of people will really like this.

[Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

review pending

[Vmndetta ᛑᛗᛛ · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.

The blurb really made me want to read this book. The cover too. It promised a fun, chaotic Berlin journey and a toxic relationship, and I was excited. The writing itself is very neat and polished. You can tell the author knows what she's doing. Too bad, a lot of things in the story were different from what I expected, and not in a good way. Many elements that surprised me weren't mentioned in the blurb, and they changed how I felt about the book. It's not a bad book but I just didn't really like it.

edit: now that this book's released (US), I might give it another try...