A Touch of Jen

DEBUT The first novel by current MFA student Morgan follows Remy and Alicia, millennials who live in an apartment in New York City. Remy is cynical, and Alicia is insecure; both work unfulfilling food service jobs and bond over critiquing others, particularly their perfectly nice roommate. Their sex lives include role-playing based on Remy’s beautiful ex-coworker Jen, whom they obsessively follow on social media. Alicia meets Jen for the first time when she and Remy run into her at an Apple store. They accept Jen’s offhanded invitation to a surfing weekend at her rich boyfriend’s house in Montauk, where fantasy and reality begin to mix, and Remy’s and Alicia’s obsession with Jen expands. After a tragic twist, oddities increasingly appear in the narrative until it transforms from comedy to horror. Morgan’s straightforward prose is propulsive, providing continuity to this shape-shifting story.