A darkly funny, low-stakes caper set in early-2000s Seattle—featuring a stolen BMX bike, a clapped-out Celica, and a ferret named Milo.
After a rough breakup, Keith crashes with old friends at a dilapidated Ballard house. He quits his job, buys a rusty Celica for $400, and starts dating a Swedish nanny. But when one of the sketchier roommates steals his younger brother’s prized BMX bike, it sets off a slow-motion train wreck of epic proportions.
Soon Keith finds himself living in a guest house behind a mansion and working as a personal assistant to a shady tech bro named Chad, whose startup might be porn-adjacent. There’s also drunken bowling, putrid corporate bathrooms, grow lamps, a reunited grunge-turned-rockabilly band, a houseboat, a flare gun, and eventually, a shootout.
Set in a city where flannel had just given way to fleece, Kato is a deadpan, slacker comedy about revenge, roommates, sibling rivalry, and trying to grow up without a plan.
Praise
“Devoured this in 1 sitting.”
— Goodreads reviewer
“Like watching one of my favorite 90s movies.”
— bookswithgregg on Instagram
From the Author
I wrote this novel shortly after moving to Seattle in 2000. For years it existed only on a floppy disk, half-forgotten in the back of my desk drawer. It is presented here in its original form—a time capsule from a bygone era.
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