Sunday 31 January 2016

Follow Me - Angela Clarke


LIKE. SHARE. FOLLOW . . . DIE
The ‘Hashtag Murderer’ posts chilling cryptic clues online, pointing to their next target. Taunting the police. Enthralling the press. Capturing the public’s imagination.
But this is no virtual threat.
As the number of his followers rises, so does the body count.
Eight years ago two young girls did something unforgivable. Now ambitious police officer Nasreen and investigative journalist Freddie are thrown together again in a desperate struggle to catch this cunning, fame-crazed killer. But can they stay one step ahead of him? And can they escape their own past?
Time's running out. Everyone is following the #Murderer. But what if he is following you?
ONLINE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM …

What did I think?

This was an amazing debut by Angela Clarke, cleverly utilising the modern day obsession with social media.  I loved the acronyms at the start of each chapter, some I knew like OMG and BTW and others I had never heard of such as FOMO (fear of missing out).  The chapters are quite short and the fast pace of the book means that it falls into the never ending loop of 'just one more chapter'.

Freddie is a journalist who thinks in headlines.  Everything that happens to her causes a headline to jump into her head, especially when she gets caught up in the #Murderer case.  As she gets more involved in the investigation, the headline thoughts stop as she sheds her journalist skin and becomes a social-media advisor to the police.  It was fascinating to see Freddie evolve from a headline grabbing journalist to a compassionate human being.

When she meets up with her old friend, Nasreen, who is now a police officer, there is the added intrigue of what happened when they were younger to make them lose touch with each other.  It was excellent how the social media theme ran throughout the book, as I know all too well about the dangers of Facebook comments being taken the wrong way.

I had no idea who the #Murderer was and, at one time or another, my suspicions fell on almost everybody in the book as I looked at people close to Freddie for any hint or clue that they may have left.  It was a complete surprise when the #Murderer was revealed and I applaud Angela Clarke for successfully throwing me off the scent.

This is a fast-paced modern social media murder tale that had me on the edge of my seat throughout.  An absolutely cracking debut from Angela Clarke and I look forward to reading more from her.

I received this e-book from the publisher, Avon, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:




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