Katzenjammer

Written by Francesca Zappia

Narrated by Lauren Fortgang

American Horror Story meets the dark comedy of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis as Cat searches for a way to escape her high school. A tale of family, love, tragedy, and masks—the ones others make for us, and the ones we make for ourselves. Katzenjammer will haunt fans of Chelsea Pitcher’s This Lie Will Kill You and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.

Cat lives in her high school. She never leaves, and for a long time her school has provided her with everything she needs. But now things are changing. The hallways contract and expand along with the school’s breathing, and the showers in the bathroom run a bloody red. Cat’s best friend is slowly turning into cardboard, and instead of a face, Cat has a cat mask made of her own hardened flesh.

Cat doesn’t remember why she is trapped in her school or why half of them—Cat included—are slowly transforming. Escaping has always been the one impossibility in her school’s upside-down world. But to save herself from the eventual self-destruction all the students face, Cat must find the way out. And to do that, she’ll have to remember what put her there in the first place.

Using chapters alternating between the past and the present, acclaimed author Francesca Zappia weaves a spine-tingling, suspenseful, and haunting story about tragedy and the power of memories. Fans of Marieke Nijkamp’s This Is Where It Ends and Karen McManus’s One of Us Is Lying will lose themselves in this novel—or maybe in the treacherous hallways of the school. 

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063161672

Francesca Zappia

Francesca Zappia lives in central Indiana. When she is not writing, she’s drawing her characters, reading, or playing video games. She is also the author of Made You Up and Eliza Mirk’s favorite, The Children of Hypnos, a biweekly serial novel posted on Tumblr and Wattpad. She also blogs about writing at francescazappia.com

Reviews for Katzenjammer

[Amelia Volkova · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an odd book, too real and surreal at the same time. I hated my school years and this story made me hate education system even more. Kids are cruel, people and schools are evil, and if you think it's not like that, then I'm glad you've had the good experience. I'm not good at writing reviews, but I wanted to say something. Somehow, I don't want to read this kind of book again, ever. It was artistic and brutal, and even knowing it didn't have happy ending, and somehow predicting how it would end, I was still sad, but also happy that it was exactly that.

[Katherine Kelley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really got sucked in and enjoyed it for most of the time but I have mixed feelings about the ending. It was equally too much explaining and also confusing. I don’t really get the point. But I enjoyed the ride so what can I say. It’s also super weird but I honestly expected weirder.

[jonez-6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.75

I figured fairly early on where this was going, which I was actually happy for. Because the reading gave me time to find the deeper meaning and symbolism Zappia weaved in throughout the alternate storline. This was a sad and difficult read, but it was so well written. This is definitely a new favorite for me.

Warning: There are several triggers you need to look at before reading this.