I'd split my thoughts on the book into two main parts. Firstly, what worked well.... Great premise. Very topical in this day and age with constant debate over online privacy, stalkers, etc. so will hook quite a few in with that. The characters were easy to buy into , where they fitted into the overall picture, their individual personalities, etc.

What I wasn't so much a fan of - (trying to do this without spoilers) I struggled to get on board after the reveal, with the antagonists motivations, and kept asking myself "Why now, after all this time" - the original driver for their actions I can understand, but the ones that finally sparked them into action seemed to pale by comparison. So in summary, a well written book, nicely paced, but that fell short of delivering a real killer ending for me.

When Sarah Havenant receives a friend request from an old school friend she's puzzled to be asked which Facebook profile she uses. She only has one and yet there's it is - a whole profile detailing her everyday life, with pictures she's never seen. Pictures taken of her husband, her children and in her house. At first she thinks its some sort of misguided and sick prank but soon her online copycat begins an insidious campaign against Sarah that threatens her sanity and her family's safety.

So somehow on a busy Sunday afternoon/evening whilst cooking dinner, preparing school and work bags and all the other Sunday malarkey mom's deal with I managed to read this book - once I started reading I was hooked. Somehow the author has managed to make a reasonably unlikeable character quite sympathetic. Sarah is a bit of a pain, frankly if I knew anyone like her I'd give them a good shake. But as her life begins to implode her determination to prove someone is out to get her and that she's not losing her mind is compelling to read and it's easy to sympathise - most of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I did find the ending a bit weak and rushed. For that reason for me this is a four star novel.

I received this novel from Netgalley for an unbiased review.

Addictive thriller - very current with focus on social media. I did want to scream at the book at times, couldn't quite believe that none of her family would trust her!

I really enjoyed this book. Having read one of the author’s previous books I was pleased to get Copycat to review.

The story starts with a friend request on Facebook, but with the request comes a question, which profile is yours?! You look and see that there is another profile in your name with photos of you and your children. Photos inside your house.

If that wasn’t creepy enough other things start happening, things that make you and your husband wonder what is true and what isn’t. Suspiscion falls on everyone and nowhere is safe.

Although I guessed who was behind everything the book was still enjoyable and engaging, especially as you found out about two thirds through and there was plenty still to be found out.

I’d recommend this to fans of thrillers.

Sarah Havenant is content with her life and when an old friend contacts her to say they are moving back to the area she finds herself in a quandary when asked which Facebook profile is hers as Rachel (the friend) was confused. Sarah only has one page but there it is, another with so many of her private details on she can't help but wonder how and why someone would do that? This is just the beginning of Sarah's nightmare as her life begins spiralling out of control, will she ever get to the bottom of who and why seems to hate her so much?
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of the book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟STARS
OMG!!!! I bloody loved Copycat By Alex Lake. It was one of those books that when you pick it up it's practically impossible to put back down.
And this is what actually happened to me, decided to read the first couple chapters at midnight to get a feel for it and Wham!!! that was it, I finished in the early hours of the morning, couldn't put it down, it was such addictive reading. a real page-turner.
So the story is about Sarah Havenant a doctor married to Ben, British and a lawyer living in Maine with their three adorable children, the picture-perfect life.
So Sarah gets a friend request from a girl she used to go to school with and she asks Sarah which is her real facebook profile.
Transpires there is another Sarah Havenant using pictures of her children, her husband and from her own house seriously weird and scary.
As events escalate it turns out this is only the start as Sarah's whole world implodes, people around her including her husband start to doubt her sanity.
Sarah and Ben's marriage buckle's under the strain and poor Sarah has no idea who to trust and where to turn when even her own husband is doubting her.
So this is the sort of Psychological mindtwist I adore and Copycat kept me guessing throughout.
I had absolutely no idea who was stalking Sarah and only just guessed right before the shocking reveal.
And to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement, what a conclusion.
sorry for the vagueness I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free.
I would definitely recommend this to my fellow psychological thriller lovers, this one is super fast, its excellently written and the story just flows brilliantly, with never a dull minute to be had here.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an arc of Copycat By Alex Lake, this is my own honest unbiased opinion.

OK, it was all my own fault … I liked the sound of the social media angle to this story. So I was distinctly underwhelmed when it turned out to be yet another serving of domestic noir.

Sarah Havenant is a doctor in small-town Maine. She’s married to Ben, an English lawyer, and they have three children. It’s all very normal until she gets a friends request on Facebook from someone she was at school with. Rachel Lake has moved back to the area – and wants to know why Sarah has two Facebook pages.

It all gets stranger from there. That other Facebook page – which Sarah knows nothing about – has photos of the children and others taken inside the house. And someone has been waiting for Sarah to find that page.

The book’s main problem is that there’s not much of a sense of menace early on, despite what’s happening to Sarah. Then there’s a clunking big reveal halfway through, which I saw coming over the hill from a mile off, and the race for the line turns into a plod.

The snag, too, is that none of the characters really convince, and the baddy’s motive is on the thin side as well – and they might as well be twirling a pantomime moustache. There’s very little to make you care about Sarah and her family. And I’m getting increasingly bored with writers toying with mental health issues as a clumsy plot device and doing nothing useful with it.

One of the pleasures of good crime fiction is being transported to other parts of the world. Author Alex Lake is apparently from the UK and now lives in north-eastern US. But the book lacks any sense of location, and could have been set in any coastal town anywhere in the world. There’s no American feel to it – and I have a feeling that a native speaker, so to speak, would pick holes in the use of US English. There’s no rhythm to the speech – and again, could be English spoken in a number of parts of the world.

It’s really only the sinister use of social media, which will have you paranoidly changing all your passwords, that sets this book aside from the host of others on this increasingly lukewarm side of the genre.

A riveting read that has the reader intrigued and terrified as the story unfolds. Maybe because I read a lot, I did guess who was the perpetrator long before the big reveal. At times I read with bated breath, but I did think that some sections were drawn out a bit, whereas the last few days were tied up very quickly.An uneasy but worthy read.

Gripping holiday read. Very creepy, frighteningly possible thriller about what happens when technology is turned against us for dark purposes! I raced through this, and although you start to sense the culprit at a certain point, the ending is so twisted and extreme that you can't possibly fully see it coming. My only criticisms would be that the culprit's motivations are quite poorly explicated - they could definitely have been given a better, more convincing back story and the ending overall feels pretty rushed.

Thanks to Net Galley & HarperCollins UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. Wow! The pages literally turn themselves in this fast pace psychological thriller.
Sarah is unsettled to learn she has a fake Facebook profile which includes pictures of her, her husband Ben and their 3 children.
Next an Amazon package arrives for her, books she didn’t order, they have however been ordered through her Amazon account and who but her would know her password.
Then a note to her husband Ben, Sarah is adamant she did not write it. She is scared, it seems someone is impersonating her, targeting her .
She has her suspicions who it could be, all she needs is proof.
Ben begins to think that Sarah is mentally unwell and is behind all the odd occurrences. Yet another strange note arrives addressed to him from Sarah, Sarah herself is determined to prove she is not writing these letters and hires a handwriting expert.
Things escalate when Sarah gets a phone call at work to say her friend Jean needs uher to collect her children, Sarah asks Ben to get them and when he gets home he finds another letter from Sarah asking him to leave for a few days with the children and give her space to work out what is happening to her and yet again the story picks up pace.
If you enjoy a psychological thriller then this is a must read,,,

I enjoyed this book. But I feel it had 'something" missing. It seemed to all flow a bit too easy for me as I figured out the plot right from the start.

A scary stalker using modern technology to frighten her victim. A massive twist and scary ending.

This just twists the knife deeper on every page turn. Very believable makes you think who your friends are!

I was hooked from the start. Well constructed an baffling plot.
I really enjoyed the way the character detail unfolded and I ticked off suspects until it became clear, finally, who the stalker was. The pages turned faster as I approached the climax.
This book captivated me and kept me excited throughout.
Good job!

An amazing up to date creepy book, concentrating on the misuse of social media, that puts fear into the reader from the very start. This was a book that I did not want to put down from the very start – it is gripping!
The story is plausible and there are so many red herrings as to who is responsible for trying to push Sarah over the edge as a punishment. Sarah has the perfect life and is well respected in the community but someone wants revenge but until the end the reader , like Sarah herself has no idea why. The characters are so well described, the pace of the story was perfect with short snappy chapters that keep you on our toes, Hopefully this may encourage people to take care on how much personal data that they give out to social media as this book demonstrates how easily it can be misused.

Another gripping read. Psychologically traumatising in the first half as we watch our main character spiral into self-doubt. I was less convinced later in the book, but it didn't stop me wanting to know who was doing this and why!

A creepy start had me hooked from the start. Sarah Havenant is happy with life - lovely British husband, 3 gorgeous children and a successful career as a doctor. Then she receives a friend request on Facebook from an old school friend who is moving back to the area. The only thing is, her friend has asked which account Sarah is using - the one Sarah knows about or the 'other' account for Sarah. Reeling from the information, Sarah finds the second account and there for all to see are pictures of her children, her husband, herself, At first Sarah turns to her husband and her best friend for support, but as parcels start arriving at the house ordered from Sarah's account and letters in Sarah's handwriting, it becomes harder to believe that Sarah doesn't have something to do with this herself. Her husband urges her to seek help, to have counselling and Sarah starts to doubt her own sanity. A gripping read that may make you think again about the information you share on social media.

This is the second book I have read by Alex Lake, I loved After Anna and Copy Cat is another thrilling, captivating and unsettling read which I was gripped by after the first couple of pages.
A superb story with lots of tension and darkness throughout, fast paced, full of twists and turns and ups and downs. My kind of book. Highly recommended.

Imitation is the most terrifying form of flattery…
Which Sarah Havenant is you?
This book will give everyone who uses social media pause for thought!
How many of us use sites like Facebook to put up photos of ourselves, family and daily lives without even giving it a second thought?
Even with all the privacy settings so only people on our friends list can see, this book certainly highlights just some of the risks associated with the digital age we now live in!
And it certainly isn't a slow starter. Our protagonist Sarah Havenant receives a message on Facebook form a girl she went to school with saying that she was moving back to the area and would she like to catch up over a coffee.
Nothing strange or sinister there but at the end of the message Sarah is asked if this is the right account as there are 2 different ones.
It turns out that someone has set up another account 6 months ago in Sarah's name, has photos of her, her husband and kids, even a photo from inside the house of her new kitchen. The account holds information that only Sarah, her family or someone very close to her would have had the opportunity to know.
And this is just the beginning, soon things start to escalate quickly. This is the work of someone more sinister than a random online troll.
Up until the fake Facebook comes to light Sarah is happily married with 3 children, a well-respected doctor in the community and can not think of 1 person who might have even the slightest grudge against her or her family.
So who is responsible for all of this and the big question, Why? Not long after the Facebook account odd things are happening, books arrive from amazon ordered from Sarah's account with a hand written note, in Sarah's own handwriting. Books on depression and bipolar.
Is this a subconscious cry for help? Now her husband is beginning to doubt her. Is Sarah doing this herself in a dissociative fugue, maybe she is suffering with some kind of mental disorder or depression. How can he help her if she won't accept the facts as they seem?
As the book moves on at a fast pace, things only get worse for Sarah until the book reaches its conclusion.
This book is a real page turner and throws its fair share of red herrings into the mix to keep you guessing and intrigued and ultimately racing to reach the end to finally find out the truth.
If you are a fan of psychological thrillers you will really enjoy this book, I loved it. I thought it is a very clever storyline, 1 that isn't beyond the realm's of possibility and has certainly made me think about what information we put out on the internet for the world to see.
This should be on your list of books you must read!

From the outset, this was a chilling thriller. Fast paced and totally absorbing and as the book went on, I was more and more drawn in. It had me guessing right to the end. It's an excellent book and by the time I was halfway through, I was totally hooked and couldn't put it down until I'd finished it as dawn broke.