Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | MYSTERY DIS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | MYSTERY DIS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A frightening, whip-smart adventure through Chicago begins when pop star Molly Metropolis disappears before a major performance and two young women set out to find her. At first, the mystery of her disappearance is a light-hearted scavenger hunt. But then they become ensnared in her secret society. As they follow clues through the dark underbelly of Chicago, they both realise that they're in greater danger than they could have ever imagined.
Author Notes
CATIE DISABATO writes for Full Stop and New York Daily News' book blog Page Views. She has written essays for This Recording, The Millions, and The Rumpus. Her short fiction was recently featured on Joyland. After growing up in Chicago and graduating from Oberlin College, she now lives in L.A.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wrapped in the form of pseudohistorical, multilayered investigative journalism full of footnotes from a skewed world that resembles our own, columnist Disabato's first novel is a paean to the modern urban landscape. In it she relishes questions about pop culture's relationship to intellectual culture jamming, the persistence of the ephemeral under the gaze of the obsessed, and the secrets behind public personas and public transportation. Equal parts unfolding suspense and literary treasure hunt, Disabato's document claims to be her completion of journalist Cyrus Archer's abandoned investigation of the search for Molly Metropolis, a rising pop music diva who disappears suddenly in Chicago while on tour at the height of her popularity. Archer's interviews reveal the story of music journalist Cait Taer, who seeks out Gina Nix, her old friend and Molly's personal assistant, after Molly vanishes. Together they discover Molly's secret notebook and solicit the aid of her Molly's dangerous friend, Nick Berliner, in their search. Archer traces the mystery through journals, maps, and interviews-and underground into the B-sides of personality and art. The net effect is simultaneously breathlessly exhilarating and beautifully haunted. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
As a columnist for Full Stop, Disabato writes about how the line between fiction and nonfiction blurs. Her first novel, formatted as a footnoted account by one Cyrus Archer with editing and epilogue by Disabato, does just that. When pop star Molly Metropolis, née Miranda Young, vanishes on January 9, 2010, just before the second of her two shows in Chicago, a search for her is conducted by Regina Nix, Molly's assistant; Nicholas Berliner, her artistic soul mate; and Caitlyn Taer. After a night of drinking, the trio sets out on Lake Michigan in a stolen boat, an outing that is fatal for Taer and nearly so for the others. Molly's background reveals her fascination with New Situationism, which leads her to construct the Ghost Network, a map in two-dimensional and digital form displaying all actual and proposed versions of Chicago's famed L transit system, intended to unlock the secrets of the New Situationists. Disabato blends pop culture with history to create a fantastic mystery that bogs down with Situationist theory. Original, above all, if not for every taste.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
WHEN YOU START a movement to shift culture away from "the society of the spectacle," who better to push its goals than a pop star? That question, and the action it inspires, is the driving force behind Catie Disabato's "The Ghost Network," a smart and thorny debut novel with a mystery at its heart. On the surface, the story is simple enough. Molly Metropolis is a teen idol with a taste for the postmodern, embracing the Situationist philosopher Guy Debord as her hero and mixing the highbrow and lowbrow with an ease that makes her a natural contemporary to pop queens like Miley and Rihanna. Molly charms her way through music videos and interviews - all the while harboring a secret obsession with the Chicago-area train system, which she catalogs in a so-called ghost network, a physical map with components in the cloud. It starts with the present system and overlays points of abandoned, half-constructed and proposed-but-never-constructed routes and stations. When Molly vanishes, everyone among her friends, employees and fans - especially the shadowy New Situationist movement, which has adopted her as an idol - becomes a suspect. In the same way that Molly's maps bring alternate worlds into a single system, "The Ghost Network" layers alternate realities to construct the truth from disparate angles. The bulk of the narrative is attributed to Cyrus K. Archer, a professor at Oberlin who takes interest after a student in his department joins the search for Molly only to go missing herself. Cyrus grows fixated on Molly and (as lonely professors are wont to do) elevates and academizes her to become the central figure of a book-length discourse. His work, in turn, is finished and finessed by one Catie Disabato, who casts herself as the only person left to sort out the mystery. In following the lives and work of Molly's entourage, first Cyrus and then Catie weave themselves into the story. The depth of the technology-enabled navel gazing is only part of what makes Disabato's story truly contemporary. This is a novel that references pop gossip on Gawker and reviews on Slate by journalists real and invented, and that attributes the creation of the academic journal Molly Skyscraper to the scholar and artist Kate Durbin (who did, in real life, create the academic journal Gaga Stigmata to explore all things Lady Gaga). It leans hard into the dissociative effect of culture on thought, such that the existence of the book itself forms the foundation of a real-unreal network of interviews and blog posts and reviews like the one you are reading now. (Somebody has already snagged Molly's Twitter handle, @MollyMetro, and soon enough may begin churning out another layer on the map.) Teasing the real from the invented would itself be a book-length task, particularly now that the book has entered a culture cataloged by Google. You might rightly feel a sense of information fatigue in considering its scope. This is not to insinuate that "The Ghost Network" is anything less than an excellent story on its own merits; one of the most impressive elements of this deep and probing narrative is the compelling mystery overlaid like the El on the city. Disabato leads her readers expertly through a kind of Wonderland that requires footnotes, walking the balance of tension and action with the same comfort her protagonist would take with an arena crowd. Like the trap doors and hidden hallways of the New Situationist headquarters, "The Ghost Network" presents the maze of modern culture with all its dead ends and truncations, but reveals treasure to those who walk the path. AMELIA GRAY'S latest book, "Gutshot," was published in April.
Kirkus Review
A probing investigation into the disappearance of a rising pop star and the subsequent death of an obsessive fan goes awry in this thrilling debut novel.Journalist Cyrus Archer is in dogged pursuit of the connection among a 1960s anarchist political sect known as the Situationists, a map of a hypothetical transit system underneath Chicago named the Ghost Network, and the disappearances of singing sensation Molly Metropolis and her assistant's lover, Caitlyn Taer. For 15 months, armed with a collage of newspaper articles, interviews, computer files, and journals, Archer attempts to reconstruct the months preceding Molly's and Taer's mysterious fates. He makes several interesting discoveries, but it's hard to tell what he thinks: is he surprised? Is he fascinated or horrified? His voice feels monotonous for someone who's trying to solve a mystery. Then he suddenly disappears himself, leaving his unfinished manuscript to "Catie Disabato," his former writing student, who cleverly inserts herself into the text to verify his research, add her own footnotes, and, though she's conflicted about it, finish his book: "I had begun to face the reality that putting my name on this book would be the end of something for me.What is my role in the narrative supposed to be?" Disabato's engaging, robust voice, though scarce, revives the tale. Ultimately, the novel, with its intricate structure and agile pacing, adds up to a layered, well-executed story within an inventive story. Artistic ambition, cultural critique, and a revolutionary philosophy drive the mysteries underlying this complex, charismatic novel. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Victims in Chicago are little more than statistics for the rest of the country. When famous, ostentatious pop star Molly Metropolis, or "Metro," goes missing, however, the world takes notice. Journalist Cyrus Archer finds links between Molly's disappearance and that of another young woman, Caitlin Taer, and subsequently vanishes himself. He sends all of his journals, interviews, and research documents about the cases to former student Catie Disabato who then continues Archer's quest to find the pop star and Taer. Disabato includes footnotes to detail her own conclusions and opinions as she polishes and produces Archer's complete research. Betrayal, lust, violence, and conspiracy enshroud the disappearances, but will the question be answered: Where is Molly Metropolis? This debut novel is both ambitious and methodical in its metafictional techniques; the journalistic-style prose adds originality but may be off-putting to some readers. In this smart read that also feels like a well-written crime novel, the intense combination of researched information and creative input sets this title apart from more commercial fare. VERDICT Adventurous readers and mystery fans looking for something different will enjoy discovering a new writer. [See "New LGBT Fiction: Titles To Consider Before June, LGBT Pride Month," LJ 4/1/15.-Ed.]-Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
