This book grabbed my interest, as I am someone who frequents social media, and tend to share the highlights of my life for all to see. As does main character Audrey, a self proclaimed, "authentic" influencer. For years she has shared her whole life online, and has gained many followers who have frequent, inside views of her life.
With a cast of characters you will love to hate, from self absorbed Audrey, awkward Cat, and over confident Nick, this book is so easy to devour. It has multiple view points, including one from the mysterious 'Him' - a long time follower of Audrey with an unhealthy obsession. This one definitely gives you 'You' vibes, even though the actual identity of the perpetrator has you guessing throughout the book. There are so many creepy weirdos in this book, you won't know which one to pick - as this book also explores how many women are dealing with constant unwanted advances daily, from men who feel they stand a chance.
The ending will have you mouth agape, and thinking - 'is this really happening!?' just like all thrillers should! This was a very solid 4 stars for me, and I will definitely be reading more books from Barber!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Audrey Miller lives her live publicly on social media broadcasting her every move. When she is offered a new job in Washington, she moves from New York city and reconnects with an old friend.
Audrey has a social media follower who has become obsessed with her and will do anything to become a part of her life.
If you are tied to technology this will definitely have you worried about who is watching you!
Although I enjoyed this book I found it to be pretty predictable. I think I liked Audrey just because she was so unlikable in her self absorption.
A quick read that will be good to pack for your next vacation.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advance preview of this novel

4 🌟


I really enjoyed this mystery/suspense novel. Audrey, Cat and Him, made for 3 interesting POVs. Although I often found Cat to be quite annoying. I saw the ending coming but was still surprised with that final twist at the end.

This book provides and interesting perspective on social media, and the glamorous lives lived on Instagram etc all that aren’t necessarily a true reflection of the lives we live in reality. It also shines a bright light on to some of the dangers that lurk behind the Internet and various social media platforms .

I was very excited for Kathleen Barber’s new book, I loved her debut, Are You Sleeping, so I was anxious for when she’d release her next book. In her last book Barber tackled the rising popularity of true crime podcasts, now in Follow Me she takes on Instagram influencers. Audrey has one million followers & loves to post all about her life. When a dream job opportunity arises she moves from NYC to Washington, the city where her college ex & mousy sorority sister/friend, Cat lives. Little does she know an obsessed fan/follower lives there too & he finally wants Audrey to be his.

First, I enjoy how the author tackles mixing modern technology with suspense. It doesn’t feel forced or like an attempt to be trendy, rather a fresh take on how our world is & the new problems that arise with these changes. It really questions the pros & cons of sharing your life on social media & I liked hearing Audrey’s thoughts about her postings, it showcases well that there can be falsity in an influencers “perfect” life. If you like creepy, binge worthy books than this is for you. I know it’s only February but this really feels like summer/beach read for both it’s subject matter & fast pace.

Barber is a talented writer and though I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Are You Sleeping (that was a pretty great debut novel & a hard one to follow) I still think it’s worth a read. It’s a fast, eerie little thriller & a good example for a story about stalking in current times.

This is the second novel from this American author. Her first one was originally released under the title 'Are You Sleeping?', but with the release of the Apple TV show 'Truth Be Told', which it inspired by the book, it has been re-released under the show title. This new book is a domestic thriller with a touch of romance. Audrey is an online influencer, sharing everything on Instagram. What she doe not know is that she has an online stalker, who has decided they are meant to be a couple. The story is told from three points of view: Audrey, her friend Cat and the stalker. The author was inspired to write this book when she read about how hackers can use remote access technology to gain access to someone's webcam and computer. If you have not already covered your webcam, this entertaining read might prompt you to do that.

Follow Me follows Audrey as she moves to DC to accept a job at the Smithsonian as a social media manger. Her million plus followers on her personal account makes her more than qualified for the position. Things take a dark turn when she finds her front door unlocked, scratching sounds outside her window, and footsteps outside her bedroom door. Someone starts stalking her and she doesn’t know who it could be.

Follow Me will pointedly ask readers to examine their own social media presence and ask some basic security questions. Follow Me is a fictional yet cautionary tale about the internet and the people we let into our lives.

Follow Me has a You by Caroline Kepnes feel. Readers get multiple perspectives with one of them being the stalker. The stalker perspective is creepy and dark, but lacks the charisma and charm that Joe from You has making it hard to sympathize with the stalker. If you’re looking for something similar to You, Follow Me may do the trick but it lacks that creepy charm. Instead, Follow Me is more of your standard thriller/stalker story.

Audrey is only slightly annoying. She’s vapid, egocentric, and off-putting at times. She’s a stereotypical Instagram influencer with little to no spatial awareness. There were times I rolled my eyes at her obliviousness, but I didn’t dislike her.


Overall, Follow Me is another stalker story that isn’t bad, but doesn’t necessarily stand up with the best of them. It’s a quick read that’ll make you question all the characters motivations until the final reveal.

I found this story scary, chilling, edge of my seat novel.
I cannot fathom a life being put on hold, being worried who is watching your every move. I would stay home and never go out.
I know people like to share their every move on social media and the repercussions could be someone putting your life on hold.
What a creepy feeling.
It makes you reevaluate what you share and with whom.
Loved this book and will read anything Kathleen Barber will write.
Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Canada for this great read.

“Everyone wants new followers….until they follow you home”

Audrey is a social media influencer living in NYC who documents just about every aspect of her life on line. When she lands a job as a social media manager at a museum in DC, she packs up and moves. Once there she reconnects with the only two people she knows, her ex boyfriend Nick and her best friend Cat. As she navigates through a new city and job she also has a potential new love interest. Throw in a creepy neighbour and the persistent inkling of being followed and watched and you have an addictive read.

Cat is the complete opposite of Audrey in just about every way. Highly motivated and a workaholic, she is also socially awkward and nowhere near as charismatic as Audrey. She may have some skeletons in her closet, but she also tries to be a good and accommodating friend.

“Him” is a mysterious voice through out the book who is obsessed with Audrey and goes to the extremes to make her notice him because clearly, they belong together.

This book did check all the boxes for me. Interesting characters, stalkers and creeps, good story line and of course hair standing on end feels and a good ending. 4.5 ⭐️

I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book -- a social media obsessed influencer uploads a constant array of posts featuring her seemingly perfect life to her millions of readers. But along with her fame, fans and free products, she's also attracted a stalker.

The story is told by three narrators: Audrey, Cat and the stalker, known only as "Him". These three tell different sides of the story and the switching between them was done well. I particularly liked that this story focuses on the effects of sharing too much on social media and I felt the short chapters kept things moving.

Unfortunately, I found the main characters to be one-dimensional and an unlikable duo. Audrey is a classic, cliched, obnoxious narcissist and Cat is her socially awkward childhood friend who always bends to Audrey's will. We're told these two are friends, but I just didn't buy it and found it hard to sympathize with either one.

Barber provides good red herrings to throw readers off balance and a decent twist which bumped my rating up a bit, but I thought more could have been done with the premise. Instead, the plot gets stuck on mundane issues and repetitive dialogue and finishes with a neat ending that wasn't quite satisfying.

Overall, this was a decent story that gives readers food for thought about their own digital footprint but more tension, creepiness and characters I could root for would have garnered a higher rating from me.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my, this one had me on the edge of my seat!

Audrey Miller is a social influencer. She spends a lot of time curating her life so that it looks as interesting as possible to keep her million Instagram followers happy. She's got a bustling social life, a great job, and a sparkling personality and if she ever gets lonely, she just signs into Insta to interact with the people who watch her. When she moves to DC from New York to accept her dream job, she takes an apartment for lease sight unseen, and so begin her troubles.

The suspense in this one really kept me guessing, although I was fairly certain I knew who the stalker was (and I was right!) I enjoyed the characters, even if Audrey was hopelessly self-absorbed, it was portrayed realistically and I loved the other characters and their flaws and quirks.

In the age we live in, so many people share so much of their lives online, I hope that this book makes people think twice about how much they share with strangers!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the aarc!

What a relevant thriller concept!
Follow Me is told from three points of view - Audrey, who broadcasts her life on social media as an Instagram blogger/influencer; her lawyer and oft-reluctant friend Cat; and "Him" - the novel's unidentified stalker. These characters are easy to get to know (though not necessarily like!) in a readable style.
Just as in life, these character's intentions are a slow boil and not immediately obvious. Some nice twists here and one hell of an ending!
I greatly enjoyed Kathleen Barber's first novel Are You Sleeping and this follow-up did not disappoint. Recommended!
For release on Feb. 25, 2020.

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick, fun, easy read. A bit predictable near the end but then pleasantly surprised with a final twist. While reading, I kept thinking it would be great for a movie and am delighted to learn it is to be made into a TV series.

I gotta say Kathleen Barber does deranged extremely well!
I hope she takes that as the compliment it is.
Her writing is engaging and detailed beyond my expectations.
This was really fun to get sucked into.
Much love to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my DRC.

Follow Me is my first book by Kathleen Barber. It is a psychological thriller/suspense thriller.

The e-book starts with a very interesting author's note which I only read at the end as I dislike spoilers. It includes a very interesting account of why the author chose to write about this subject.

There are three narrators in Follow Me: Audrey (a social media star), her lawyer friend Cat, and HIM (a guy who is obsessed with Audrey). All are first person POVs.

This book is very creepy. If you've read You by Caroline Kepnes HIM reminded me so much of Joe.

The book starts out with Audrey moving to Washington DC to work at a museum. The story is majorly about social media. Audrey has a million instagram followers. And they mostly love her.

I really liked Audrey's job at the museum. And I really liked the social media aspects of her life. But I actually wish that the author had taken this even further. Yes she posted pictures with filters. But I would have liked to see her role as an influencer expanded. And I would have liked to see her even more obsessed with gaining more followers.

The male POV is only listed as HIM because we are not supposed to know who is obsessed with Audrey. There were so many possibilities. So it was definitely fun trying to figure out who would end up being the stalker.

The male narrator was creepy. But I wanted him to be even more creepy. He was fairly lame for much of the first half of the book. He did step up his game a bit in the second half. But I still wanted so much more.

Cat was a shy lawyer who was Audrey's friend in college. It was interesting to get her take on Audrey and what was happening to both women.

I thought that the premise of someone watching another person was a strong one. And I thought that exploring the idea of those on social media sharing too much of themselves was relevant.

The book was full of many short chapters. So it was a quick read. But the book was a bit slow for me. I wanted a lot more to happen.

Overall, I was looking forward to a great reveal at the end. It wasn't bad. It was intriguing. The actual ending was left a bit open-ended. Not sure how I feel about that. It was an interesting choice for the author.

First off I want to thank @netgalley, @gallerybooks & @kathleenbarber for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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This one was in fact a chilling, creepy and intriguing read. Told from 3 different perspectives Audrey, Cat & Him. I have to say I was reading this in the dark and the chapters by him gave me the creeps, I kept looking towards my window. It's such a reality in our world to overexposed ourselves online I have no doubt that this has already happened to internet stars.
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Barber did keep me hooked from the start to keep reading and find out, but I felt the plot predictable and the ending even more. At some point there was questions asked since it could've been a lot of people but quickly I figured out how it would play out. This is in the same genre as You, not a replica but it follows around the same lines. Audrey lacked some depth for me to really connect to her and actually relate to what she was living. It is an enjoyable and entertaining read throughout.
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If you're a fan of social media and you enjoyed You this book might be the one for you ! Remember to always be careful how much of your life you post online.

A thriller for the age of social media.

In a world where it is not uncommon for some individuals to post the minutiae of their daily existence on social media, Barber has written a timely thriller to make people think twice about how much they share on their timelines.

Audrey lives her life on the internet. With a million Instagram followers she carefully cultivates, designs, photographs, and filters things that most of us do by rote. She lives for the "likes" and the comments.

When Audrey accepts a job that combines her two passions - art history and social media, she moves from New York to Washington to become a social media manager for part of the Smithsonian group.

The move brings her closer to her college bestie who for her own reasons lives her life as privately as Audrey lives hers publicly, and her ex-boyfriend who she cannot seem to stay away from. Not everything in her new life is picture perfect though. Her new apartment is not exactly a glamorous insta-worthy backdrop, it has a broken lock and the land-lady's son who lives just upstairs is creepy. Speaking of creepy, there is also some man hanging around her work all the time. After a few happenings, Audrey realizes that she has a stalker, and while her stalker knows everything about her, she knows nothing about them. Audrey is learning that when you share every bit of your life online, there is nowhere left where you can hide.

Follow Me is a thriller centered around social media, now so much a part of our everyday life. This makes it easy for the reader to relate to the basic premise of the story if not the character of Audrey herself. We all have that one friend (or two) that simply shares too much information on their timelines. The story easily captures the reader's attention early on and the reader is soon considering and re-considering characters from page to page. The tension increases in a steady arc resulting in a taut well executed thriller.

A quick and easy read, Follow Me is a gripping and cautionary story that will have you checking the privacy settings on your social media accounts.

Happy Reading,
Christine

Incredible! I'm still thinking about this book months later. Everything about this book is fantastic. The characters, narration, cultural significance. I will pick up anything from Kathleen Barber after this solid read.

This books makes you think a lot about the social media age we are all in. Audrey has a very big following on instagram. Does she really know every person that follows her? No. Does she know if any of those people could be mentally unstable? No. Does she share far too much private information? Yes. Enter perfect stalker material.

For the most part this was a good and enjoyable read but it was not a "knock it out of the park" type thriller either. Parts of the book seemed a bit mundane to me and I didn't really like or relate much to Audrey. The author did a good job with some red herrings and the ending seems to be open for perhaps another book. I enjoyed it enough that I would continue with another one. I would like to know more about, the "stalker" and his background.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected pub date: Feb 25, 2020
Audrey Miller is an Instagram “influencer”, and has recently moved to DC to take on a job as social media manager for a huge new artwork installation at the Smithsonian. However, she also has an apartment with a broken lock, and a creepy stalker. With her entire life online, her admirer is able to follow her wherever she goes. Audrey’s friends and family blame her for putting her entire life online for all to see, and even the police don’t believe her when she reports a supposed intruder. However, her stalker does exist and he is out there. And he will be with her no matter what.
Follow Me by Kathleen Barber is a modern day psychopathic suspense novel, with a hint of “You” by Caroline Kepnes; her second novel after her very successful “Are You Sleeping?” that is a soon to be Apple TV series. Follow Me is downright creepy, even for someone like me who has a barely visible social media presence.
Although utterly shallow, protagonist Audrey is not completely unlikable. A young woman in a modern era, Audrey uses those around her to get what she wants, whether it’s a warm body in the night to fight off loneliness (usually in the arms of her ex-boyfriend Nick), or an offer to hock new product from various companies worldwide. Even her closest friends are used and abused by Audrey, bending to her every whim and catering to her every beck and call. That being said, there is a lot of sympathy for Audrey as she struggles with anxiety and outright fear, an honest emotion that is utterly relatable in the face of a dangerous stalker.
There are many takers in the “whodunit” pool in this novel, but yet I was unable to completely guess the ending. You know there are things “off” with certain characters, and yet there is still enough doubt to keep them off the suspect list. This is what the ending of a perfectly written suspense novel should be; completely believable yet unpredictable.
This novel is my first introduction to Barber and I’m addicted. This novel gets going from page one, and it instantly pulled me into its clutches. Terrifyingly real and honest, it will have you double locking your doors, monitoring your online presence, and questioning every little bump in the night.
“Follow Me” is just the novel for today’s technology-addicted, social media-obsessed generation.

This was a super enjoyable read. I flew through it, it was just so easy to read and so engaging. I couldn't stop trying to figure out who "Him" was and I changed my guess nearly every chapter - I love that. Lately I've been figuring out the whole twist of other thrillers I've been reading way too early making the rest of the book so dull. This was such a great change of pace to actually be all over the place with my predictions! It really makes you pause and think about how much we are sharing with total strangers on the internet and what sinister strangers can do with that information.

Audrey is beyond obsessed with her online persona. Everything for the gram. Constantly thinking of the perfect post and what her followers will think, how they will respond. When she moves to to DC for a new job, as you guessed it, a social media manager for a museum she is all of a sudden finding herself looking over her shoulder and feeling a new sense of unease. Is it all in her head? On top of Audrey's point of view, we're also given the point of view of her DC local, anti-social media, lawyer best friend, Cat. And, of course, the point of view of HIM. Who is "him"? The 'him" POV is pretty darn creepy (it definitely gave me similar vibes as to when I was reading "You"). A few of the scenarios in this story were a little far fetched but isn't that kind of the fun of reading fiction? All in all, this was a suspenseful, creepy and interesting book! If they're not already, I recommend putting your social medias on private and covering your webcams ASAP.