[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]

Strange Horizons, August 25, 2025

“The Capture” by Raja’a Khalid

Reviewed by Francine Taylor

In “The Capture” by Raja’a Khalid, we are introduced to a glamorous model whose life is a dead-eyed whirl of flashing cameras and cocaine—always posing for the crowd, always giving her body to whoever is deemed necessary for her career. At a party, she is accosted by a mysterious girl, whom the narrator dubs “Alley Cat” for her twitchy, scarred mien. Alley Cat follows her into a bathroom to issue a cryptic warning: “Go back home before it’s too late.”

The warning is dismissed as the ramblings of a crazy stranger, but in time the unnamed misfortune does arrive. The narrator’s reflection can no longer be captured on camera. It has been stolen. In the midst of her anguish and panic, Alley Cat reappears—not as an enemy, but as the one who offers sympathy and support.

For all the narrator’s avarice and her willingness to sell herself for any advantage, there lingers a strange innocence—or perhaps only emptiness. She has bartered away too much for too long, and nothing remains. The story becomes a gripping window into the soul-shredding life of a model, its lack of graphic detail lending it a dreamy, unreal quality that only intensifies the horror.