This book was not for me. I love horror and thrillers. But this seemed like it was written more for shock value. It was also a little all over the place for me.

This book was not quite what I was expecting but it wasn't bad. While the characters felt flat the plot creeped me out and kept me intrigued throughout the book. This was a fresh take on social media/app horror so definitely pick it up if you're into that!

There have been a few books that have dived into social media horror but Feeders takes it to a level that is truly nightmarish. The way that Serafini slowly ups the ante and what our main character Kylie is willing to do to impress followers is so grimly logical and horrifying that when we start to get to the real consequences that this app creates, it is all to realistic to think of how many people would be entangled by its web. Horrifying, with some truly unsettling scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC of Feeders.

This was easily the weirdest book I've read all year and I LOVE weird, but this just didn't hit the mark. I was really hoping for a solid horror story but this ended up just being 90% gratuitous gore for shock value and 10% creepy details that actually benefited the storyline. Probably the scariest part of the book was how old AF reading from the viewpoint of a 19 year old social media obsessed teen made me feel 😅 I need to go wash my brain now.

2.5 stars rounded up

Reading FEEDERS is the figurative equivalent of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or of riding an out-of-control bullet train racing toward derailment! Unstoppable race toward destruction as we witness a young life falling apart and scrabbling desperately to hang on. The entirety of the novel I pondered whether events were actually occurring, whether there was some kind of outre input [mind control? Hypnotic manipulation? Supernatural interference? A government covert experiment--shades of FIRESTARTER?] Or was our unreliable, often unlikable, and only rarely eliciting-of-empathy, protagonist, actually experiencing psychic decompensation [breakdown of both the mind and the soul]? Author Matt Serafini does an efficient job of making both protagonist and reader truly fear "losing one's mind and grasp of (what-really-is?) reality."

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This didn't land for me, the characters felt flat and repetitive, and while the premise needed certain lingo to work (influencer/online) it just didn't keep me invested.

This was different and not exactly what I was expecting. Kinda thought it was a metaphor for emotional vampires. Overall a fun read.