Liar, Dreamer, Thief

Dong’s twisty debut follows Katrina Kim, who struggles with obsessive-compulsive tendencies and an unhealthy fascination with her coworker Kurt. Katrina doesn’t think of herself as a stalker, but even so, she searches through Kurt’s desk and is sure they have a special connection. When she finds a cryptic message implying that he’s aware of her surveillance, she panics. Things get much worse when Kurt apparently dies from suicide and blames Katrina for it. Katrina’s world starts to implode, and everything she once thought she knew seems suspect. It is challenging to follow Katrina as her sanity unravels. She is equally frustrating and heartbreaking—the perfect example of an unreliable narrator who actively destroys her relationships and delivers varying versions of the truth, even to herself. Narrator Hannah Choi brings Katrina’s story to life with outstanding characterizations and superb pacing. The intimacy of the first-person narration further draws listeners into Katrina’s increasingly unsettled mind.