I have to admit to being a bit of a Twitter addict and when Avon publishers started a Twitter campaign promoting this book I was immediately hooked. Throughout a day, they tweeted as though the murderer in this book was tweeting – it was rather unnerving but very effective! Freddie is an aspiring journalist but working in a coffee shop, which she hates, until she gets her big break . She bumps into old school friend Nasreen who is now a police sergeant. Sensing the opportunity to get in on a big story, Freddie finds herself at the scene of a rather bloody murder scene. Before long, a photo emerges on Twitter which can only have been taken by the murderer on the account @Apollyon. Before long, @Apollyon has thousands of followers all intrigued by the #murderer and nobody wants to be followed by that account. Freddie is hired by the police investigating the murder, who seem totally oblivious to social media, to use her expertise to help decode the clues and help them trace @Apollyon before another victim is claimed.
It did take me a few chapters to get into the story as initially I found Freddie rather irritating with her outbursts of temper and impatience. However, I soon found that I couldn’t put this book down as I really wanted to find out what was going to happen next. Each chapter had a heading of abbreviations used on social media such as #ICYMI (in case you missed it) and #FWIW (for what it’s worth)- I learned quite a few new ones myself. Along with Freddie, the police team and all the followers, I was waiting anxiously to see what @Apollyon would tweet next and wondering if Freddie would be able to solve the clues. Freddie and Nasreen have been close friends at school but something has clearly happened which has driven them apart. This was another intriguing part of the story as it was alluded to a few times and I wondered what had happened to them as teenagers.
#FollowMe is a gripping thriller and with its use of Twitter, is a very modern twist on a crime novel. It does make you think about how much you reveal on social media and how someone can connect your various accounts to find out more than you perhaps intended! With social media used so widely and so quickly to pass on information about events as they happen, I could see how a murderer’s account would be picked up and passed on by so many. I really hope that the police aren’t as ignorant and inept in their use of social media as they were in this book though. Towards the end of the story it was so fast moving that I felt quite scared for the characters, as Nasreen and Freddie both come close to discovering who the #murderer is. Will this put their own lives in danger? When the murderer was revealed, it was a total surprise but also believable. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this page-turning book and think it will be a huge success, particularly if you love using Twitter.
My thanks to Helena at Avon Books for allowing me to read this via Netgalley. Follow Me will be published in paperback on 31st December and is currently available as an e-book for only 99p. Get your copy here: Follow Me
Follow Me
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 …
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