BOOK REVIEW: Follow Me by Kathleen Barber @katelizabee @gallerybooks #bookreview #followme

Social media stalker thrillers are the new buzzy thing this year, and I am soaking up every single one! Kathleen Barber’s Follow Me is actually even better than her last book which got tons of great feedback and became an AppleTV+ series, Truth Be Told (aka You Are Sleeping). Twisty, salacious, and un-put-down-able!

About the Book

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.

Reflection

What is it about stalker fiction that is so compelling? I was thinking about that in the wake of reading (and loving) Follow Me. It isn’t so different from why so many of us become fans of social media influencers. Sure, we might occasionally ridicule their over-the-top lives in ours heads, but for the most part I think it is natural to craft a story around what these people are sharing, and to feel as though we know them on a more personal level. Particularly when they post about things we are interested in, it can be hard not to covet their lives, and to think we know them better than we do.

In Follow Me, Audrey’s Instagram fame is contrasted with her actual life. I loved the way Barber juxtaposes the way Audrey sets up an Instagram-worthy picture and the messy reality of her life. For instance, she might stage a perfect table and flowers, but just off the edge of the frame, she has been living out of boxes rather than unpack. She might post about her amazing job, but then behind it worry about her creepy neighbor entering her apartment uninvited.

Audrey is a character we shouldn’t like. It would be easy to call her fake or superficial (and in fact, some do). But seeing Audrey’s messy side, and the parts of herself that are so far from perfect they are almost shocking compared to her public posts, it humanizes her.

When Audrey accepts a position at the Smithsonian, she moves to the DC area and accepts an apartment sight unseen. And while she tries to prove herself promoting a new true-crime miniatures exhibit at work, she has a number of characters circling her life who may be involved with some of the creepy goings on in her life. Or is it possible it is one of her thousands of followers?

In addition to Audrey’s perspective, we get some chapters narrated by her close friend from college, Cat, who is living in DC and becomes her support system when everything begins, and mysterious chapters from the villain “him”. I love getting to hear from the villain! I had so many theories about who I thought it might be—such a fun guessing game!

A thrilling read that will definitely have you rethinking your use of social media!

Thank you to Gallery Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.