Connecting on a dating app can be exciting—but can you really trust who’s on the other end?

He arrives at the bar with an eye out for the tall, luscious brunette. The first date. Drinks, dinner, maybe more. But she’s nowhere to be found. Instead, there’s a petite blonde who sidles up beside him to engage in witty banter and reveals intimate details that only he and the brunette have discussed. Flummoxed and a little creeped out, he leaves. In his wake, Jewel Evans’ heart is pounding with exhilaration. Could it really be this easy to fool someone?

The dating scene in Los Angeles has been hard on her. Single and pushing 40, Jewel has recently become enamored with swiping left and right on a dating app. When she discovers her ex-boyfriend on weConnect, she crafts a plan to catfish him to find out why he suddenly ended their blossoming relationship. While hiding behind the shroud of fake online personas, her compulsion to deceive grows as she draws other men into her web. No one in Jewel’s life, including her best friend Cate and her hunky neighbor Sam, have any idea about the secrets she’s keeping. As the lies pile up, Jewel’s reality—and her best shot at real, honest love—begins to crumble.

As addictively intriguing as it is hilarious and heart-wrenching, Catfish is a gripping novel full of irresistible characters and lively storytelling. Reminiscent of the heady plot twists in The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, debut author Elle Carling’s inventive page-turner takes online dating to a whole new level. Catfish speaks to the length women go to in pursuit of answers that most men never provide.