Copycat

by Alex Lake

[Leah]

Copycat only came to my attention when I was invited to take part in the blog tour, but man, am I glad I read it because it was incredible. I love books that feature social media in a clever way, because let’s be honest, the vast majority of the world live their life on social media these days. So the idea of using Facebook to try and unsettle someone, to make someone feel like they’re losing their head a little bit, is intriguing. I was so interested in the concept that Sarah had two Facebook pages and whether that meant she a) had a stalker or b) it was all in her head, especially since it becomes more than just a second Facebook page - it’s handwritten notes that look exactly like Sarah’s hand-writing and books delivered from her Amazon account. It gets to you.

I trusted Sarah implicitly - she’s a Doctor, she’s got a stable family, and even when Ben was starting to doubt Sarah, when he was questioning if it was her, I was still on her side. I still believed that none of this was her doing. Sometimes you just get a feeling, you know? And while I could see Ben’s logic (even Sarah could), there was something that told me that this wasn’t what this was. Now, I never would have guessed how it all ended, that came as a complete shock, but the rest of it I was on Sarah’s side. #TeamSarah. But the plot was so clever that I can see people who will think Sarah is having some kind of mental breakdown, that someone else can’t possibly have gotten into Sarah’s home to take a picture without Sarah knowing, or used HER Amazon account or imitate her hand-writing perfectly.

I honestly loved every page of Copycat. I was reading the pages as quickly as my eyes could manage, to get to the end, to see how it all panned out because it was that slick, that palpable, that good a tale. It’s my first Alex Lake book but it won’t be the last because Alex is a brilliant writer (and I don’t know what her pronoun is, because it’s a pseudonym and doesn’t say if Alex is a woman or a man) - really getting into the nitty gritty of a story and making you questions all kinds of things. Making you flip pages incredibly quickly because you just need the answers NOW. Especially those drip-fed bits talking about fishes on hooks.

This was such a well done thriller. I’m a picky thriller reader, but as soon as I picked this up I was enthralled. I really liked Sarah, and her family. I really wanted some kind of “good” outcome, but I was never sure where the plot was going to go. Copycat is a top-notch thriller, right up there for me on what makes a good thriller, a gripping thriller. I can’t wait to go and read Alex’s other books now - what a treat I have in store because if they’re even half as good as Copycat, I’ll be in for some brilliant reading.