Foxman and the Cat Burglar

Blurb:

A stagehand and an aspiring actor are drawn into a masked rivalry, never suspecting that hiding behind the mask is a familiar face.

Cassandra’s life flashes before her eyes when she gets trapped in a subway door. It’s a disappointing life: she never landed the big role and she may be engaged to the wrong man. Rescued by a kind-eyed stranger, Cassandra gets a second chance to make good on her Broadway dreams, straighten out her love life, and deliver some karmic justice to the city in the guise of a slinky Cat Burglar. So long as she can shake off that pesky Foxman and the bungling police detectives on her tail.

Wilfredo’s skateboarding fox costume is a hit on Halloween. But an unexpected tussle with a fleeing thief in a Cat Burglar suit leads to a spectacular wipeout. He has no clue his mishap has been recorded in a soon-to-be viral video. Nor does he recognize his masked opponent as the green-eyed girl whose number he lost a month ago. Reveling in his every blunder is Captain Pete, the ventriloquist dummy from his childhood, whose snarky comments leave poor Wilfredo clinging to his sanity by his fingernails.

Thoughts: 

The main protagonists of this book, Cassandra and Wilfredo, were ordinary people with unique quirks and hence, very relatable. It was wonderful to see them get a few lucky breaks. They shed their insecurities, followed their hearts’ desires, and achieved some of their goals.

Even Gregory and Ruby, the characters with negative shades, were not nasty or devious. It was heart-warming to see them also ending up relatively happy.

Captain Pete, Toby, and the detectives Molina and Garcia were all quite entertaining.

Initially, I had pegged this as a sweet, funny, uncomplicated story. Yet, Delas Heras made me think about the lives of junior artists, stagehands, secretaries, assistants, and the numerous other staff members who help maintain the glamour and glitz of the show business and its stars.

The title and cover reminded me of comic books. The situations were slightly hyperbolic. Both were fitting as the characters were prone to dressing up as ‘Cat Burglar’ and ‘Foxman’ and roaming around committing or preventing crimes.

I am glad this is one of the books I read towards the end of 2021, which turned out to be a rather rough year.

Note: I received an advance review copy from BookSirens for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.