Plume (Trade Paperback), ISBN 0-452-28429-5

Kathryn Cheet believes she has her life under control. Somehow she manages to juggle her life as a London cab driver as well as five lovers who know nothing of each other. She develops a system and sticks to it -- a different colored cell phone and a different variation of her name for each lover. Thus Kathryn strings everyone along famously until a late night pick-up turns her world upside down.

Craig Summer manages to worm his way into Kathryn's life. He convinces her to drive him and his very drunk friend Henry home. After Henry gets sick in her cab, she helps Craig drag the unconscious man up to Craig's flat, and she dozes while Craig cleans out the vehicle. Only after she drives away does she realize she left one of her cell phones in Craig's apartment.

In exchange for returning the phone, Craig convinces her to meet him for dinner. And then again. And again. And now Kathryn debates getting a sixth phone to keep Craig separate from her other lovers. But as she gets closer to Craig, her world begins to tighten around her like a net. While out with one of her lovers, Amy, she runs into another, Richard. Then Joel vanishes. And then she spots Craig on the doorstep of Stef's flat. Perhaps Kathryn, liar extraordinaire, finally met her match. But just what secrets does Craig hide?

Kathryn's juggling act makes for a hilarious read. Anna Davis writes Kathryn as a very real person, and grants the same sense of reality to all of Kathryn's lovers and other figures in her life. The biggest downfall to the book comes at the very abrupt ending. It feels like there should be another chapter or two of resolution. Otherwise, Cheet makes for a very good read.

Jen Foote

Jen Foote recently moved to central Florida, where she is a copy editor and page designer at a small daily newspaper. She is ecstatic to live an hour away from the ocean.

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