Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Book Review | Follow Me by Kathleen Barber

Follow Me is a new thriller from Kathleen Barber.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46408162-follow-me

From the author of Are You Sleeping—soon to be an Apple TV series—comes a cautionary tale of oversharing in the social media age for fans of Jessica Knoll and Caroline Kepnes’s You.

Everyone wants new followers…until they follow you home.

Audrey Miller has an enviable new job at the Smithsonian, a body by reformer Pilates, an apartment door with a broken lock, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to bear witness to it all. Having just moved to Washington, DC, Audrey busies herself impressing her new boss, interacting with her online fan base, and staving off a creepy upstairs neighbor with the help of the only two people she knows in town: an ex-boyfriend she can’t stay away from and a sorority sister with a high-powered job and a mysterious past.

But Audrey’s faulty door may be the least of her security concerns. Unbeknownst to her, her move has brought her within striking distance of someone who’s obsessively followed her social media presence for years—from her first WordPress blog to her most recent Instagram Story. No longer content to simply follow her carefully curated life from a distance, he consults the dark web for advice on how to make Audrey his and his alone. In his quest to win her heart, nothing is off-limits—and nothing is private.

Kathleen Barber’s electrifying new thriller will have you scrambling to cover your webcam and digital footprints.

Follow Me includes an introduction by the author regarding cyber stalking. The thought of someone watching you through your computer is terrifying. Kathleen Barber set the stage for what kind of stalking can take place in the digital age. Cover your webcams, folks.

The main character in Follow Me is a famous Instagrammer with over 1 million followers. As far as I can tell, Audrey is famous for just being on Instagram. What she does and what she posts sounds pretty average to me, but in the world of Follow Me, she's Instagram famous.

In the beginning of Follow Me, Audrey moves to Washington, DC to take a museum job as the social media manager. Her best friend, her ex-boyfriend, and her internet stalker all live in DC so that makes for a hot bed of conflict for Audrey.

The chapters are told through the alternating viewpoints of Audrey, her best friend Cat, and her stalker "Him". I really liked this setup and change of perspective. It kept the pace moving, and since everyone had secrets from Audrey, I enjoyed all of the perspectives.

Unfortunately, I had trouble believing most of Follow Me. Why was Audrey *that* famous? Why was every man *that* obsessed with her? How did the personality traits of "him" even co-exist in the same person?

That being said, I enjoyed the writing, and I enjoyed reading Follow Me. I have a copy of Barber's Truth Be Told, and I'm looking forward to picking that one up next.

⭐⭐⭐★★

Review copy provided by publisher


17 comments:

  1. This doesn't sound bad and I admit books featuring social media in some way have recently caught my attention. However, like you, I think I'd be questioning what made her so famous. This book might make people question what they put out there in the cyber world though. Great review.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm really interested in the social media aspect right now, too.

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  2. Just reading the blurb about how famous the MC is, I also felt like, how does a person who doesn't do anything special get to be so famous? I probably won't read this, but I'm still curious.

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    Replies
    1. Right? People who are just really good at their niche don't get follower counts that high.

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  3. Yeah it sounds like the author could have made the character's fame more convincing. I'm still curious to read this, hope I can start the audiobook soon.

    ~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

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    Replies
    1. I can't wait to hear how the audio goes! It should be interesting with the POV changes.

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  4. Sounds sort of decent. I don't understand that whole instagram fame thing so I'm not sure how I'd end up feeling about this one. I'll probably listen on audio if I stumble across a copy.

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