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A review by justinkhchen
Follow Me by Kathleen Barber
3.0
3.5 stars
A timely topic with a lukewarm execution, Follow Me definitely highlights the vulnerability of (over)sharing one's life on social media, as well as the risk of technological invasion, but plot-wise it falls short of actually bringing anything new to the stalker thriller sub genre—a serviceable quick read, but with limited lasting impression.
One strength I enjoy about Follow Me is the depiction of its protagonist; particularly at the constant juxtaposition between the 'living the perfect life' online persona, against what's really happening in real life. It also does a decent job at throwing shades at multiple suspects throughout a good portion of the novel. Unfortunately, not only do I find the final reveal to be very cliché and underwhelming (not to mention leaving all the suspicious activities done by the non-villain unresolved/explained), it also fails to integrate social media/technology in any meaningful way. In the novel's introduction, author Kathleen Barber mentioned she was initially inspired to write this book after hearing about RAT (remote access Trojan)—where victims mistakenly downloaded an programmed file onto their computer for hackers to access webcam/files remotely—but this element only shows up briefly in a couple paragraphs, and is irrelevant in the grand scheme.
Follow Me serves its intent, if nothing more. Its premise is ripe for a twisted, tech-savvy stalker story with a side serving of social commentary, but instead it comes across as if someone just read an essay on influencer culture, calling that research, and wraps an old-fashioned, trite narrative about jealousy and obsession within a superficial overlay of hashtags, sponsored posts, and dark web forum. A decent library loan book, and read it soon because it's already feeling dated with its heavy emphasis on Instagram, and no mentioning of TikTok.
A timely topic with a lukewarm execution, Follow Me definitely highlights the vulnerability of (over)sharing one's life on social media, as well as the risk of technological invasion, but plot-wise it falls short of actually bringing anything new to the stalker thriller sub genre—a serviceable quick read, but with limited lasting impression.
One strength I enjoy about Follow Me is the depiction of its protagonist; particularly at the constant juxtaposition between the 'living the perfect life' online persona, against what's really happening in real life. It also does a decent job at throwing shades at multiple suspects throughout a good portion of the novel. Unfortunately, not only do I find the final reveal to be very cliché and underwhelming (not to mention leaving all the suspicious activities done by the non-villain unresolved/explained), it also fails to integrate social media/technology in any meaningful way. In the novel's introduction, author Kathleen Barber mentioned she was initially inspired to write this book after hearing about RAT (remote access Trojan)—where victims mistakenly downloaded an programmed file onto their computer for hackers to access webcam/files remotely—but this element only shows up briefly in a couple paragraphs, and is irrelevant in the grand scheme.
Follow Me serves its intent, if nothing more. Its premise is ripe for a twisted, tech-savvy stalker story with a side serving of social commentary, but instead it comes across as if someone just read an essay on influencer culture, calling that research, and wraps an old-fashioned, trite narrative about jealousy and obsession within a superficial overlay of hashtags, sponsored posts, and dark web forum. A decent library loan book, and read it soon because it's already feeling dated with its heavy emphasis on Instagram, and no mentioning of TikTok.