Follow Me

by Kathleen Barber

• ISBN10: 1432879634
• ISBN13: 9781432879631
• Publish Date: 3 June 2020 (first published 25 February 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Thorndike Press Large Print
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 546
• Language: English

Reviews

[bearley]

Despite the plot twist about the guy’s identity being spoiled for me, it was a really creepy and disturbing concept. There also was another twist that I wasn’t fully expecting though.

The CREEPINESS of the main guy was so terrifying and really gets under your skin cause you know it’s not fiction at all there are so many people in the world like that just lurking in the dark. The story highlights the dangers that follow social media, especially when it comes to having a public presence.

At moments it was hard to feel bad for the main character because she was such a narcissist. It gave me the same internal conflict as “People Like Her” where the main character isn’t a great person and you wish they weren’t famous, but you also want them to realize there’s dangerous people out there and not get harmed. It gave me the heebie jeebies imaging the terrible stuff that could potentially happen to real life instagrammers and anyone that puts there presence out there.

[Linda]

*I received a free copy of Follow Me from Gallery Books. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review which is honest and unbiased.*

Follow me started out fairly strong, with chapters from HIM, Audrey and Cat. I enjoyed the creepy feel of the story and even if I found Audrey to be extremely self-absorbed I still liked her.
The main draw for me was the danger of social media - especially for a female influencer. And when Audrey moved from New York to Washington DC, one of her followers was very happy indeed.
While I found Follow Me to have a lot of promise, it didn't fully live up to its potential in my opinion. It was very slow paced, and the mystery HIM wasn't that difficult to figure out.

This was a buddy-read with Jennifer which made reading the book better, as we sent e-mails back and forth for a few days sharing our thoughts.

[chymerra]

I had to take a few minutes to process what I had read when I finished Follow Me. The entire story chilled me. I should have known that the book was going to be creepy when I read the author’s foreword about the RAT’s and the whole secret community that envelopes it. Talk about scary!!

Follow Me had a medium-paced plotline. For the type of book it was, I was expecting the plotline to be a little faster. But, then again, if it did go more quickly, some of the smaller clues (about who “Him” was, Cat’s mental state…etc) would have been passed over.

I liked the flow of the book too. Usually, I don’t like it when there are more than two POVs’ in a book. The flow of the book is often thrown off. Not in this case. The author was able to switch between Cat, Him, and Audrey effortlessly. That made for a better reading experience for me.

I didn’t like Audrey. Her preoccupation with her Instagram, followers, filters, and brand was almost too much at times. She drove away her friends because of that. Even Cat wanted nothing to do with her by the end of the book. But, as much as I didn’t like her, I did feel bad for Audrey. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.

I didn’t know what to think of Cat at first. But, as the book went on, I began to understand her character. In her way, Cat was just as obsessed with Audrey as Him was. Her deteriorating mental state was apparent in the latter half of the book. I do wish that Cat’s secret was discussed earlier in the book. But, I can see why the author held it back until the last half of the book. It made sense.

I loved that the author kept Him’s true identity a secret until almost the end of the book. It made his chapters scarier to read. Him was completely obsessed with Audrey. It sickened me how easy it was for him to track her. He was able to use spyware to watch her at home. He knew everything about her. What scared me even more about Him was that he was unhinged. He imagined killing his family and decorating the house with their intestines. I wish that the author spent more time on that, but at the same time, I am grateful she didn’t.

The suspense/mystery angle of the book was wonderfully written. The author did a great job of keeping Audrey off balance and showing Him and Cat’s deteriorating mental states. She also did a great job of keeping Him’s real identity under wrap until the end of the book. Four people were on my list, and it was the last person I thought it would be.

The end of Follow Me was chilling. I did figure what happened between Him and Audrey was going to happen. Not to the degree, it happened, but I guessed that basic. But I wasn’t expecting Cat to do what she did. That threw me for a loop. But, it was the very end of the book that chilled me to the bone.