Thank you again to the publisher and author for this opportunity! I actually read this novel around the time of its release earlier this year and really liked it. It was my time reading work by this author, but it certainly won't be my last. This was such a good thriller read for me, filled with plenty of suspense, high stakes, and an intricately woven web of mystery and crime. I don't want to give too much away in order to avoid spoilers, but I will say that I think this is a book best gone into blind like I did (which we all know is very rare lol). I thoroughly enjoyed the wild whiplash of an adventure this story took me on (because trust me: it's a RIDE™ lol) and would definitely recommend this out to anyone who loves thrillers/mysteries or is just interested in reading something outside of their usual comfort zone!

This is an excellent and interesting story, it is quite clear that the author has carried out a great deal of research. It is very much plot-driven, you only learn information about the characters that is necessary for the story. There are many twists and turns in the story, which add to the tension.

Lindsay Kramer, known as Dogboy because of his affinity with all dogs has few friends at university. However he is an excellent businessman and is soon very, very rich. Katherine Kelly Fisher, known as Catfish Kelly, is a very smart woman with a seven year old daughter. She is used to the finer things in life! Her first husband Darren went on a short business trip to Bangkok when his daughter was two, and died there in mysterious circumstances. Catfish grieved for a while, and when her daughter was five years old she met Lindsay when she was looking for premises to open a high end boutique. Soon they were married, and for a while travelled the world, living the high life. Then he started working late and going away on long business trips, and she was sure he was cheating on her. Catfish visits one of the best family lawyers in town to start divorce proceedings. Katherine is unaware that Freya Keogh is a friend of her husband’s, and her outburst saying that she will do and say anything to win does not go down well! Freya gives her a list of all the financial information she needs before proceedings can begin, assuming that it will take weeks or even months before anything can happen, but Katherine has already sorted it all out, or thinks she has.

In Australia, when people have been married for at least eighteen months the father not only has to pay maintenance for any children until the age of eighteen, plus the wife is given the house and two-thirds of any assets. Freya really doesn’t want to be involved in this obvious gold-digger’s efforts to fleece her friend, and after she is contacted by the police to be asked why she was the last known person Lindsay contacted by e-mail before he disappeared (it just said ‘Thank you’ and she had assumed it was a wrong number), she contacts Michael Kaynes, also a lawyer, to see if the police had contacted him as well. Michael was best man at Lindsay and Katherine’s wedding, and is executor of Lindsay’s will.

From there we see a lot of the police work, they are not only searching for Lindsay they are looking into the circumstances of the death of Katherine’s first husband. They discover various things that cause them to watch her as well. Many surprises are uncovered, and the story gets very exciting. The author has completely stuck to the plot, there is no padding out of the storyline, so when all the secrets start to be exposed there is an excellent build-up of tension. Lindsay is proved to have been a great deal more clever than his wife!

This is a really good read, I highly recommend it!

I enjoyed reading this short book. I felt quite emotional upon reading the author’s note at the end as to what inspired the story. I am so glad that the author was there for his friend, Dogboy when he received the call on that fateful night. I do not agree with the author’s view that the Family Court in Australia is heavily weighted toward women. I say this as someone who’s seen so many women lose badly and being left destitute after protracted Family Court proceedings.

This is my first Luke Gracias novel. The story is divided into three parts: Part 1: Greed v Trust, Part 2 : Power v Justice, and Part 3: Dogboy v Catfish. Lindsay Kramer, aka Dogboy goes missing. We are introduced to him and his friends from University days and an event is described which explains why he’s called Dogboy. Dogboy marries Catherine fisher, aka Catfish. We read about the highs and lows of their relationship.. Catfish is a player and has a dubious talent of exploiting weaknesses and ‘taking’ people!

After Dogboy goes missing, Catfish does her utmost to get her greedy hands on his substantial assets very quickly. She elicits social media sympathy and very effectively plays the poor me card with everybody that she encounters. Some people become suspicious of her hurry to gain possession of his assets. He is, after all, apparently a missing person; this is not a murder investigation .

We read about the police investigation into the missing Dogboy. Finlay and Green, who are the investigating officers, soon realise that this is not a common and garden missing persons investigation. They have to interview many people as the parameters of the investigation widen.

There are a number of voices in this heavily plot focused book: Dogboy’s childhood friend, the police, Catfish, and other characters. There are many twists and turns in the plot and suspense is maintained. We visit a number of locations : Thailand ( where Catfish’s first husband died), Australia, and Portugal.

The book focuses upon crime, greed, love, manipulation, and abuse. The story is well told and the ending is a good one; all is explained. This is a book that I would recommend to others who enjoy reading mysteries.

My thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

Thank you so much NetGalley, for my advanced reader copy and the opportunity to review Dogboy versus Catfish by Luke Gracias, I was drawn to this book by the cover and title, this is the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed the story, it’s twists and turns, delving into the seedier side of town nestled in amongst the glitz and glamour of Catfish Kelly's exclusive designer handbags.
From money laundering, drug dealers, sparkling diamonds, the markets of Bangkok, Gracias's web of deceit and wheeling and dealing heats up amongst shots being fired, with bullets ricocheting off the tree’s at close range.

Katherine thinks she's smart, so much smarter than Lindsay, as the saying goes ‘dogs are such good judges of character’ –
let the dogs decide 🐶

Dogboy vs Catfish by Luke Gracias. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this mystery.
Dogboy and Catffish get married and after just eighteen months, just as Catfish is preparing to file for divorce, Dogboy disappears.
Catfish is caught scurrying to get her hands on the money, not a simple thing when your husband is a missing person.
The police follow the trail and discover a murky world of counterfeit goods, drugs and money laundering. But just who is responsible and is Dogboy dead?
Lots of twists and turns and speculation keep this rolling along nicely and will keep readers intrigued.

This was really interesting, and it started out incredibly gripping, but ultimately this missed the mark for me. It's a different and fresh take on the domestic thriller. However, some of the twists and turns were just not for me.

one of the best books I have read lately. it was different and for some reason just impressed the hell out of me.

Lindsay Kramer, Dogboy, was a very successful entrepreneur in Australia. He made the mistake of becoming the second husband of Katherine Fisher, Catfish. Her first husband died in Thailand and was suspected of being a suicide. One day, Lindsay disappears. Katherine, being Katherine, immediately starts proceedings to attempt to gain his estate. The story is about her attempts to gain everything as his grieving wife and the Australian Police along with his friends attempting to prevent her from doing this and hopefully locating Lindsay. It deals with money laundering, fabricated designer goods, drugs, criminals of all kinds and a very successful finale that, if one did this for a novel, deserves applause. Thanks to Net Galley and the Author for an ARC for an honest review.

‘Each time she approached the glass panel doors Katherine admired her reflection.’

Meet Katherine Kelly Fisher, known as ‘Catfish’. Lindsay Kramer, known as ‘Dogboy’ is her second husband. Dogboy is Catfish’s second husband: her first husband, and father of her daughter Emma, apparently took his own life in Bangkok. Not long after, Catfish married the wealthy and reclusive Dogboy. And, on the day they married, she set the date for their divorce. Catfish was aware that after eighteen months of marriage she could claim half of their combined assets and receive maintenance payments until her daughter turned eighteen.

We first meet Catfish at a family law firm in Melbourne, Australia where she is seeking to initiate her separation from Dogboy. Alas, sadly for Catfish, Freya Keogh ultimately declines to take her case. And then Dogboy goes missing.

The police start investigating Dogboy’s disappearance and Catfish tries hard (using social media and various contacts) to get her hands on Dogboy’s assets.

What an awful person Catfish is! I nearly didn’t read this novel because of the title, but once I started, I found it hard to put down. The police investigation into Dogboy’s disappearance takes them to Bangkok where they find the circumstances surrounding the death of Catfish’s first husband are suspicious. But how is Catfish involved and where is Dogboy? A missing person case becomes far more complex when the police uncover connections between counterfeit designer goods, money laundering and drug smuggling.

The novel is divided into three parts: Greed v Trust; Power v Justice; and Dogboy v Catfish. There are more than a few twists in this story, and I would hate to spoil the read for those yet to undertake it. A complex plot which is an intriguing blend of thriller and police procedural with plenty of suspense and more than a little intrigue.

‘All you need is the head of one snake and the endless knot will unravel.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Many thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliantly written thriller full of mystery and suspense. Gripping and a must read.

When Lindsay Kramer - Dogboy married Kath Fisher - Catfish, he married for love but she married with an eye on his fortune. That is the premise of the book but as the story unwinds you find that it is much more than that. A very interesting tale set in Australia concerning counterfeit goods, drugs and the criminal underworld. The solid police investigations uncover surprises and twists at every turn.
Thank you to NetGalley and Luke Gracias for the chance to read this book.

This was a really great riddle to solve. Kept me focused the whole way through. Somer well described characters and a storyline that said true the whole way to the end. I loved the conclusion.

This was a very unusual police procedural book full of details about counterfeit goods and illegal activities with a twist or two thrown in for good measure. A completely different read from the usual books by this author, I absolutely loved every page. Thanks to the author and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this fabulous book.

Thanks for providing a free copy of this for me to read and review.

Very enjoyable, well written, intriguing and gripping.

I'm not going to tell you all about the story as too many previous reviews have already done that but if you like a good mystery/thriller and a story you'll want to keep reading then get this.

It certainly kept me up late to reach the conclusion.

Very enjoyable read. Two very clever minds at work, one conniving, the other astute. Mix them with lawyers, detectives, and a cast of criminals, the web is spun. Exploiting Australian family law rarely figures in crime & mystery thrillers but is masterfully laid out in this tale.

I came across Luke Gracias as an author, back in 2016, with his first book, The Devil’s Prayer. That was a really good story and I would recommend that to anyone who has not read this, or indeed his follow up book, No Shadow Without Light. Although Dogboy v Catfish is a completely different tale, this is another book I would recommend. We first meet Dogboy with a group of friends from the University of Melbourne under his real name of Lindsay Kramer. He gets his nickname because of his amazing control over dogs, even those he has never seen before. This skill comes to fruition when he and the group of friends are attached by a bunch of thugs, who are themselves attacked and chased away by a pack of dogs that arrive out of nowhere to support Dogboy and his friends. Years later we find Lindsay married to Katherine Fisher, another character with a nickname. For her it is Catfish, from the shortening of her name. By now a very wealthy man, Lindsay had offered to set up Katherine with her own luxury good shops in a building he already owned. We then learn that Katherine’s first husband had died in mysterious circumstances whilst on a business trip to Bangkok. We come back to that mystery later. The next thing that really gets the main story line started is about 18 months into Katherine’s second marriage, when she gets in touch with a divorce specialist (who happened to be one of the old group of Lindsay’s Melbourne University friends from years ago). Katherine’s claim was that Lindsay had been cheating on her and she was therefore after a huge divorce settlement from this very wealthy man. As the story line develops further, we learn that the innocent Lindsay had already recognised that Katherine was very much a gold digger, whom he had found had been spending his money outrageously. Lindsay then makes his own move by disappearing, thus preventing Katherine from getting access to any of his assets until he is declared dead (which could be after a considerable number of years). The story then settles down with attempts by the police to find Lindsay. The police then find out that Lindsay had already hired a private investigator to track down what had happened to Katherine’s first husband in Bangkok and they make good use of this information. Luke Gracias now shows his attention to detail, as it emerges that Katherine had been involved in the sale of high-level counterfeit goods, through her shop, and had connections with money laundering and drug dealing too, and Luke shows us in detail how this all works. I have probably revealed too much of the story line already, for which I apologise, but I can assure you that the overall story has much more to come (including the later use of Dogboy’s skill with dogs) and much much more to enjoy. All in all, I found this a fascinating story in a book in which I always wanted to read the next chapter to find out what was happening. Many thanks go to Net Galley for providing me a copy of this book for review.

This book is action packed, fast paced, giving moments of tension and anxiety. Dogboy v Catfish by Luke Gracias is one such book that is sure to give that thrill and suspense that is expected from a thriller.
The aspect that I liked less was the informative way that the author used to talk about the laws and the divorce procedures. Taken that out it is am amazing thriller.

#dogboyvcatfish, #LukeGracias, #netgalley, #thriller

Has anyone on here actually read this book? The reviews read as fake to me. I couldn't make it past 9%. There was just something wrong with the writing. I'm not sure if this is a bad translation or what, but it's certainly not any English I've read before. And yes, I've read many books by Australian authors and based in Australia. Unless this book is re-written, I don't think many people will actually finish/read it.

I thank NetGalley and the author for providing me an ARC copy of the novel which I freely chose to review.
I have read Luke Gracias’s previous novels, full of adventures, mysterious documents, and threats to humanity, and I was intrigued when I heard about his new one, especially as it promised to be a totally different kind of story. And it is, although, like the previous ones, it is not easy to categorise.
The novel is divided into three parts: Part 1 (Greed v Trust), Part 2 (Power v Justice), and Part 3 (Dogboy v Catfish). After a brief introduction to one of the main characters (Lindsay Kramer, the ‘Dogboy’ of the title) through the narrative of an episode involving him and some of his friends that took place when they were university students in Melbourne —where we also meet some of the other characters who play a part in the story and discover the reason for his nickname—, we move on to the mystery which drives the novel: a man, Lindsay Kramer has gone missing. OK, so this is a missing person story, you’ll think. And you’d be right. But it is much more. Throughout the book, we get to learn about Dogboy’s relationship with his wife, Katherine Fisher (known as ‘Catfish’, for reasons you’ll learn if you read the book), the ups and downs of that relationship, the dubious reasons for Catfish’s marriage to Kramer, her manoeuvring to get hold of his many assets (he is a very rich man) soon after his disappearance, and how that raises suspicions from everybody she gets in contact with. She milks the social media attention and sympathy, trying to get what she wants without having to wait the requisite time required by Australian law. There are parts of the novel that read like domestic noir, and Catfish is a fascinating character with a great capacity for reading people and exploiting their weaknesses.
Other parts of the novel focus more on the investigation by the police, who are trying to locate the missing businessman, and the readers get to follow Detective Finlay and Inspector Green, who soon discover that matters are much more complicated than they seemed at first sight. Initially, the disappearance pointed to a possible suicide, but the death of Catfish’s first husband in Thailand made them start to unravel a complex web of deceit, crime, and murder. The amount of detail about their investigation, the difficulties they find at every turn, and the many people they have to follow, interrogate, and collaborate with turns this part of the book into a police procedural novel, and one that is gripping and fascinating. Like most people, I have come across counterfeit luxury goods (mostly pretty bad fakes), but I never gave much thought to the huge industry behind that, the money it moves, or where this money comes from. Here, the complex net involves also money laundering and drug smuggling, and the factual information and the sheer amount of research evident when reading the novel are staggering. I am sure readers of police procedural novels, especially those interested in complex and twisted plots and unconventional crimes will have a great time reading this novel.
There is an actual trial as well (I am trying not to give too much of the plot away) but it does not occupy a big part of the book, and it is fairly slim in details.
The book, which is written in the third person, is told from different points of view: sometimes one of Dogboy’s childhood friends, sometimes the police, sometimes Catfish, and some of the other characters, although we hardly ever see or hear anything directly from Dogboy, other than through documents or statements he has left behind. He is a bit like Laura from the movie of the same name by Otto Preminger: Laura goes missing and the rest of the characters give their versions of her, which say more about each character than about the real Laura. The writing is functional and serves the story well, with plenty of detail to help readers understand the nature of the crimes (and once we get to see how it all works, we also appreciate the significance and the symbology behind the cover), but not so excessive that it slows the story down.
The novel talks about love, greed, crime (counterfeit designer goods, drug smuggling, and money laundering), manipulation, legal and illegal pursuits, loyalty, friendship, success, media use, and abuse. Its ending is satisfying, and it works especially well for readers who prefer not to have any loose ends or any questions left hanging when they close a book. Everything is explained, and I think most readers will be happy when they get to the end.
Would I change anything? This is a book that focuses mostly on the plot, which, as I said, is complex. There are plenty of twists and turns and quite a few surprises along the way. There are many adventures in a variety of locations (in Australia, Thailand, Portugal...) and a lot of things take place in this novel, but I missed learning more about the protagonists. Although we spend a lot of time investigating Catfish and her actions, there are only brief snippets of what she actually thinks or how she feels, and the same (but to a greater extent) applies to Dogboy Kramer. Although the rest of the characters play smaller parts, we learn very little about them as well, even those we spend a fair amount of time with (like Green and Finlay). Such a complex story and the planning involved made me curious to learn more about the people behind it, but that would probably have slowed it down, and turned it into a different kind of narrative.
A great story, complex, full of fascinating detail about counterfeit designer goods and the illegal activity behind them (a mind-boggling world), and some of the most manipulative and memorable characters I’ve come across in a while. Unmissable for those who love unusual police procedural novels with a twist or two.

What a complete change of direction from the previous two books!! This deals with scams within the high end fashion industry and involves a gold digging female and a man who loves and understands dogs.
Dogboy is a nickname given to Lindsay Kramer whilst at University, he had a reputation for always showing great affection to stray dogs, a sort of dog whisperer. Catfish is the name his wife is known as, Katherine Kelly Fisher, a boutique owner and a social influencer.
After eighteen months of marriage, Katherine wants to sue for divorce. This is where all the fun and scheming starts which amazes and disillusions in equal parts.
Most people will root for Dogboy, he married for love and followed his heart. He made money to support his wife and step daughter, and was always loyal to his oldest friends. He is a character you really care about, a person you want to hold and reassure, he is worthy of so much more than the hand he has been dealt.
Catfish deserves all she gets, it is slightly unsettling that such deception and scheming go hand in hand with cold heartedly marrying for money, but both parties are calculating, ruthless in business dealings, yet one seems more deserving in the end.
The research is phenomenal and I have learnt so much about the high end fashion industry, and it doesn’t cover itself in glory.
The tension in this novel is really ramped up, it was so realistic, cunning and so emotional, the pace leaves one breathless in so many ways!
Absolutely intriguing and deeply engrossing story, real seat of the pants action, a real page turning thriller! A five star read , no doubt about it, and what a film this would make! Anybody who loves dogs, cannot be all bad.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, AuthorsUpFront for my digital copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review.
I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK.