The Follower by Koethi Zan is a character driven novel which compared to her first book unfortunately doesn't compare.

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to met a new author. The book deals with the abduction of a young lady and how she deals with the incarceration, how she becomes part of the fanatic that wants to enforce his religious beliefs on her. It reminded me a lot of the ROOM book that became a movie. This book certainly has the potential as well. Recommended.

Dear Random House. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. Unfortunately, due to the large number of titles forwarded to me by various publishers, as well as other Penguin / Random House titles that I still need to get to, I'm not going to be in a position to read this book. Thanks once again and I hope to be in a position to review a number of your other titles shortly. Thanks. Kim. The Buzzing Bookmark

Quite a good thriller that kept me intrigued. I haven't read her first book so I'd quite like to read that at some point

The tricky second novel...

As she is making her way back to university one evening, Julie is abducted. She is kept in a locked room and gradually learns a little about her captors. The man, James, is a fanatic who has created his own distorted religion and for a time had a small group of followers. All have since deserted him except for his wife Cora – a woman he has abused to the point where she is entirely submissive to him. Julie begins to wonder if somehow she can win Cora over, so that she will help her escape.

Alongside the story of Julie's plight, we gradually learn Cora's story – the troubled childhood and adolescence that led to her coming under the sway of the evil James. James himself is given no real backstory, so his motivation is left undeveloped – he's simply a mad monster. The final strand of the book belongs to Adam, an ex-policeman who hunts for abducted women in his own time, as a kind of penance for the loss of his own sister to a predator before Adam was born.

The first third of this book is great and then I'm afraid it all begins to slide downhill, eventually landing with a crash which shatters the last remaining pieces of credibility. The quality of the writing is high and at first it builds a good level of tension. The storyline is very dark – Julie's treatment in her captivity is horrific with repeated episodes of violence and rape, although happily Zan doesn't make us watch the latter – it is implied rather than described. Each of the characters is deeply damaged except Julie, so it's unfortunate that she's so unlikeable. Despite the traumas she undergoes, I found it hard to empathise with her or, indeed, to care much what happened to her.

Cora's story is perhaps more interesting and she is rather more empathetic during her teen years, when she is dragged around the country by her drunken father, never staying in any place long enough to put down roots or make friends. But sadly, her story gradually descends from being dark but credible, going straight past melodrama and on down to ridiculous. Adam never really comes to life as a character and feels rather tacked on, as if he exists only so that he can be around for the denouement – a denouement that regrettably becomes somewhat farcical.

The basic idea is good and the quality of the writing makes it quite readable. At first, the characterisation seems as if it's going to be good too but somehow after a bit they stop ringing true. It all becomes a bit over the top – too many crazy people with poorly developed motivation. I think the problem is that none of it feels psychologically believable, and in the end I'm afraid they all begin to feel cartoonish. A pity, but now that Zan has the notoriously tricky second book out of the way, here's hoping her next one will replicate the much higher standard she reached in her excellent first one, The Never List. 2½ stars for me, so rounded up.

Are we born monsters, or do we became ones?

The Follower plays with the psychology of the abduction and circumstances and - IF - they can lead into the twist of the character towards evil.

Julie is a beautiful and smart student, abducted on her way home. There is never a ransom request or any contact from the abductor/s.
Cora is a housewife in her late thirties - and more, as she is a part of the abductor "team". And her personal story is the strongest here, as she was once an abductee, too.
Adam is a defrocked cop and the one who is living with the emptiness inside, as his older sister was kidnapped before his birth and his family has never recovered. And that's why he is obsessed with his (private) sleuthing - to find Laura Martin, a teenager behind the Stillwater murders 30 years ago.
And their stories got tangled and twisted.

While Ms Zan's previous novel "The Never List" was a better thrille in my opinion, this one is qualitatively better novel in the meaning of the plot twists and psychological views on the mind of the ones who got turned something they weren't supposed to be. Does the length of the abduction matter? Does the age matter? Does the family matter? And how can one get so changed/brainwashed/broken to cooperate in crime? To believe in criminal's agenda? And how much guilt does that one care?

I admire Julie for her strength of character. She is always fighting back, never letting her (horrible) circumstances to break her. She is also quite self-refelective in realizing that once she has had everything, being a privileged girl in every sense, and that that was a gift, too, not her right.
But I am quite heartbroken because of Cora - not because of her present, but because of her past. She truly has been the one without much chances to turn her circumstances. Poor, poor child.
And I understand Adam in his obsession to fulfill the empty places in his heart - and I hope that Deirdre can see that at the end.

But I am also challenged to feel just the compassion - I believe in helping the hurt ones. But I also believe in protecting the society and in honesty as a base for healing.

This novel got me to review some of my opinions about the subject, and I am thankful for that. It is also (and once again) a wake-up call to observe the fellow people better - maybe there is something going on behind the closed doors and maybe I can help, somehow. Maybe the indifference might be the small crime, too. And maybe the small act of kindness can turn the tide. Maybe.

I liked the author's previous title, The Never list, although the characters weren't perfect, it suprised me with it's unexpected twists and turns. I hoped that she would have ironed out the character issues in her second book, but unfortunately this was only okay for me. Although it was suspenseful at times, I never connected with the characters, especially Adam. 2017 seems to be the year of thrillers, and there was nothing in this story that made it stand out. I am sure there are many suspense readers who will disagree with my opinions.

The Story: Julie Brookman has the perfect life. She has many friends, a boyfriend she loves, an affluent family and promising career ahead of her, until one night all that changes. Waiting alone at a deserted train station Julie is kidnapped by James a religious cult leader who believes Julie will bring him his destiny. Locked away in his house Julie struggles to cope and tries her hardest to communicate with James’ crazy “wife” Cora, who could turn out to be more dangerous than Julie first realised.

Well, what a read this has been! The Follower is a pretty quick read, and rather messed up. I do not say that in a disparaging way, you all know how I like a dark, gritty psychological thriller, and I must say that I feel Zan delivered on those fronts.

It takes a while for The Follower to find its rhythm, but when it does, the story barrels along. It maintains a creepy, depressing feeling to it the whole time, even though the actual horrendous parts are mostly glossed over. It is the setting and the snippets of information that we glean as we progress and the repercussions and consequences of actions that highlight the horrors that the characters have faced in the past, and what they are presently up against.

I must be honest and say that I did not like any of the characters in the book really. Adam is supposed to be one of the three main characters, but he just grated on me, and was unhealthily obsessed, and the biggest plot holes came from him without a doubt. Then there is Julie, and you would expect the kidnap victim to be more of a main character in this, but the shining glory all goes to Cora, which makes this book very strange. Julie you sympathise with, you want her to escape and overcome all the awful things that Cora and James are putting her though, but the book spends a large chunk of time focusing on Cora, and the damaged individual she is, and how exactly she got to this place in her life.

There is a lot of religious fanaticism going on here, and I am interested in reading about cults, and the people that get sucked into them. Unfortunately, most fiction in that genre doesn't live up to that and doesn't hold your attention. There is crazy cult like stuff going down here, and it is important, but mostly this book focuses of Cora, and how James and his crazy views have infected her life, and how she has internalised it all. It works though. The book is definitely very character driven.

I found The Follower to be quite a decent read. Not the best in this genre, but it was just fine. It takes a while to get into, but as soon as you get into the flow, it zips by. One of my biggest issues was the end though, but the book worked well enough to override my distaste for that close. Surprisingly, even with characters you either can't relate to or just don't like, the book remains engaging throughout.

Ah, this book... It had such an interesting premise. A victim and two perpetrators. Can she get out of the situation?
Sadly, it didn't work for me.

As we accompany Julie through the time of her confinement, the narrative is interspersed with snippets of Cora's life as she grow up, so it became clear early on that this was as much about Julie's resilience as it was trying to figure out how someone like Cora becomes who she is. That was all well and good.

However, I found it confusing and that it dragged on. I soon grew tired of it as, although Cora's memories were interesting, they just weren't enough to pull me in.

I didn't get Adam's character and to be honest he annoyed the heck out of me. Stupid decision after stupid decision, it was just overwhelming. I found my attention wandering during his chapters and only found solace when the stuff he uncovered met with Cora's account of the past.

On the other hand, what I really wanted to know, which was what made the bad guy be that way and where his religious paranoia came from, was never explained. And although the author tried to justify Cora's descent into James' craziness I for one didn't buy it; one minute she finds him a dangerous nutcase and the next she is following him and slowly after fully believing what she had previously seen as crap.

The ending was beyond rushed and by that time I couldn't stand any of the characters.

Sorry, can't say I recommend this one.

<i>Disclaimer: I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.</i>

Julie has the perfect life. A boyfriend, loving parents and good grades. Cora's life is a nightmare. Her husband is a psychopath, her fathers violent and a terrible secret. There's no way out. Then one night their worlds collide. They are locked in an isolated house together. They need to work out what has happened and who they can trust to set them free.

Julie's life is devastating when she is being kept prisoner. It's gripping, scary and a little twisted. A well written decent read. I quite enjoyed it.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author Koethi Zan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is very character driven. There are three characters (Julie, Cora and Adam) who are the main focus but there was actually one that I felt this novel was really most about and – here’s a surprise – it wasn’t the girl kept captive. Don’t get me wrong, I felt for Julie, the girl that got abducted and locked up in a room with boarded up windows. Her ordeal was horrific and although nothing graphic is mentioned, it doesn’t take much to feel the impact of her situation. Fact is, she gets only a few scraps to eat from Cora turning her into a severely emaciated girl. She certainly isn’t the lively girl from before, her days turned monotone and all she’s able to do is think about the best tactic to escape. I was happy to see that even in the most dire moments she never loses the fire within completely and she’s quite smart too in the way she’s thinking, how she tries different tactics to please her captor. I read her chapters and was very on edge every time because I knew she would only need a moment. I was waiting with her for that break, that opportunity to attack and be free again after all these months. Unfortunately, that moment doesn’t seem to come along as all angles are covered…

No the one I’m talking about is Cora, the woman who brings her food and who Julie tries to appeal to and engage in conversation every day. When I met Cora I thought she was pure evil to let this happen. When her husband James is away she could set her free if she wanted too. Then it became clear that these women share a bond. Even though Cora can move freely, she is just as scared for her husband and after a while it dawned on me that there was a time when she was just a normal kid. The only thing that made her different from you and me was her tragic life and the fact that nobody believed in her, was her friend or lover. I couldn’t help but feel pity and just when that feeling of empathy overruled, I was catapulted back to the present situation. I wanted her to still have some good in her, I wanted to believe in her, but all I saw was someone cold and detached, evil. How did it come to this, how can she be like that? All is explained in chapters in between, going back and fro present and past, working its way slowly up to her encounter with James, her husband and leader of a cult.

James’ voice isn’t very prominent but it was rather horrifying to read that she’s falling for him. It’s clear he kind of brainwashed her, or perhaps she wanted to believe in what he was telling because she never had anyone who believed in her and just wanted to belong. Again, I felt understanding and sympathy with her past self, alternating with anger for her present character. She dreams of living a quiet life on the farm and having a loving family. With a father who never gave her the time of day she finally sees someone who can give her the life she longs for. She starts believing and becomes his follower. They believe that The Revelation will come. What that entails will be revealed slowly, after I already feared the worst.

A final mention is for Adam, an ex-cop with an – unhealthy – obsession for finding missing girls and this case in particular for his own personal reasons. Adam is on a mission to rescue someone but who is he going to rescue exactly? I was a bit confused how Adam got on Cora’s trail because she wasn’t missing and I thought I spotted a few plot holes there in his explanations but nothing that put a downer on my reading experience.

This is Koethi Zan’s second novel and although it wasn’t as mind-blowing as The Never List (which I gave 5 stars) and has a different approach, it was intriguing and played with my feelings brilliantly. The characterization of Cora and Julie was very strong and on point and I could have given it 4 stars but I don’t think I really want to read it again, it’s not a very uplifting story after all, hence my 3 stars.

The Follower by Koethi Zan is a fast-paced thriller about two women brought together by a leader of a cult. One woman was a willing follower while the other one had been abducted. The story begins with this abduction. Julie is a regular girl enjoying her life when she is suddenly kidnapped and locked in a room by a sort of religious, demented couple.

The story focuses more on the two women than on the leader. Julie’s narrations are heart-wrenching. Her life as a prisoner is devastating and sometimes tough to read about. She goes through phases of acceptance and again the resolve to escape. Her narrations had my heart racing a couple of times wondering whether she would make it out alive or lose the fight in that cursed house. On the other hand, Cora’s narrations are given through two timelines. We get to see her life before the cult and after it. Through alternating chapters, the two women tell of the horrors of being in the cult especially with the leader. However, one is struggling while the other shifts between moments of doubts and content. A few chapters are narrated by the cultic leader.

Apart from the two women and the leader, there is a fourth narrator, Adam. He is a former police officer with lots of personal demons. Although, he doesn’t have badge anymore, Adam is carrying out his own investigation which brings him close to the two women. However, it is evident that something is not quite right with him. He is a bit obsessed with the case and not for the reasons that you would guess.

The four main characters are as different as can be. Adam has determination and the drive to solve the case. However, he is obsessed with it and it is heartbreaking to see the lengths that he went to solve it. His frustrations at every dead end made me share in his disappointments. I felt bad for him and really wanted him to succeed. I wasn’t so sure about his mental status though. Nevertheless, unhinged or not, he was brilliant. Julie is easily the most sympathetic character in the book. I can’t imagine what she went through in that cell. Being pulled away from her life and forced into the harrowing experience was tough on her. Cora is the most complex character of the four. I sympathized with her, hated her, pitied her and then went back to disliking her. Her background story and current circumstances make it hard to label her as either good or bad. As for the cultic leader, I just didn’t like him.

The story is mainly set in the house where Julie is being held captive. Only chapters with Adam and the flashbacks take place elsewhere. However, so much take places in that house. The relationship between the two women was so intense and full of drama. There are sections where I had to flip through the pages very fast to see if they would survive each other. The scenes in the house reminded me of an old movie, Panic Room. One house but so much craziness.

The Follower by Koethi Zan is a fast-paced psychological thriller. If you like this genre then this one may be for you. Although, the cult was mentioned, I didn’t feel like it was a major part of the story. However, it still provided a chilling background to the story hence adding to the tension through the chapters. The ending was definitely memorable and unpredictable. The cliffhanger makes me wonder if the author has plans for a second book or if she just decided to end it that way. Either way, the book is definitely worth checking out.

Ah, the dreaded second book! Half of me didn’t even want to read this because I was so worried that I would compare it to The Never List which I recently put in a list of my top 20 books of the last few years. But I tried to put those feelings to the side and read this on its own merits. And while it didn’t live up to, for me personally anyway, her hugely successful and gripping first novel, The Follower was…..okay! For anyone unfamiliar with The Never List then I’m sure they will love this dark and disturbing thriller but fans of The Never List may find it lacking the heart racing suspense and jaw dropping twists they are probably expecting.

The first few pages were actually very promising. Julie is kidnapped from a deserted train station by an unknown perpetrator and taken to an isolated farmhouse. When she gets there, she sees a woman and expecting some sisterhood kindness she asks to help but that woman is Cora and as we find out via flashbacks, Cora’s cold and aloof behaviour has its roots in her unconventional upbringing. Cora tells her present day story interspersed with Julie’s account of her imprisonment as well as Cora’s past. We also meet Adam, an ex policeman with a heart breaking family past, who is devoting his life to tracking down missing girls.

I read this over two days as I really hoped it would start to grab me like The Never List did but sadly it didn’t. There was absolutely nothing definitive I can put my finger on as the plot was well thought out, the characters were intriguing and multi-layered but I didn’t really care about them-they left me cold and I never felt like I was there with them, willing them on. And I really didn’t enjoy The ending either. In fact when I turned the last page, I was shocked that it had finished there as I had been expecting more. And that pretty much sums up my feelings about the whole book-I think my expectations were too high!

Having read Koethi Zan previous book The Never List and loving it I really hoped The follower would be as good. Have to say the book is outstanding and destined to be a best seller.
A great twist on a story told by other authors but not with such brilliance!
Julie had the perfect life and Coral lived in he'll with a husband she would do anything for. Their worlds collide when Julie is abducted.
Gosh such a well written story which not only makes you felt sorry for the victim Julie but also Coral who hides a secret past and has been manipulated all her life. So much more to this book than the blurb tells you but if you love psychologI thrillers with twists turns and writing that creeps you right out then this is for you. Loved it from the start to the unpredictable ending.

The Follower by Koethi Zan
I did find this book hard to get into and found it slow in places. However, I am glad that I stuck it out.
Julie has led, what some might consider a privileged life, who is popular and well liked. Until whilst waiting for a train late one night she is abducted. She is forced into a sound proof van and driven for miles to a remote farm house, where a reasonable looking woman Cora/Laura is waiting for a split-second Julie’s hopes are raised, however those hopes are soon dashed when it becomes apparent that she is just as deranged as her husband.
The book also focus’ on Adam who is a reluctant ex-cop, he has his own demons. Growing up in the shadow of his older sister who went missing before he was born. She too was abducted before he was born and was never found. He now is obsessed with missing women and children, he has a vein hope of being the one to find his sister.
Thanks, NetGalley and Random house for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Follower is a disturbing and dark psychological thriller from the author of the Never List and follows the story of three people. Julie, a happy young woman is kidnapped late at night from a train station. Adam, a disgraced former police officer is trying to trace a woman who disappeared 20 years previously after the murder of three teenagers. Cora, a middle-aged housewife living in an isolated farmhouse and the wife of the kidnapper develops a relationship with Julie. Past and present are intertwined leading to a terrifying denouement. Interesting, believable characters made this a compelling and absorbing read.

Excellent book. Brilliant storyline and characters. I would highly recommend this book.

This book is a really great read. I cant say it was a non stop page turner, so thats why I didnt give it 5 stars. But the characters were interesting and well written and the story was well paced.

It was always going to be a challenge with the 'difficult' second book, there is a challenge in not just meeting the success of 'The Never List' but building on it to establish the audience.
So does 'The Follower' succeed?
On the surface it looks similar, girl is kidnapped by an outsider, with a split narrative between the kidnapped girl and the kidnappers accomplice, and a detective who is looking for patterns in missing girl cases.
None of them are entirely likeable, but that is where the strengths of Ms Zan lie, she creates tonal shades where as much as you want the girl to escape, you also want to find out more about the detective.
What I really liked was that there was no lingering over the abuse the girls suffered, no drawn out 'gore for gore's sake' torture porn or unnecessary details. It is a pure character study in freedom, captivity and how you tackles demons before they become the thing that drives you.
Inevitable comparisons to 'Misery' aside, this will hopefully succeed 'The Never List' and establish Ms Zan as a thriller writer with legs.