I received a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

The great thing about this book is it draws you in immediately. And, I think what's great when it comes to things stories about stalkers, it kind of reminds us to check about how available we're making ourselves with social media.

For me, it was predictable, but I wasn't exactly disappointed by it. I really enjoyed the read and the character development. A solid story.

This reminded me so much of YOU, in a good way! The dangers of sharing too much on social media are so real, especially for those influencers with thousands (or millions) of followers. Part of the ending was slightly predictable, but the build up and the final twist made up for that! This is the perfect thriller to read after you finish binging You!

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow.

I just read that book in one day. I had one day off this week and had so much to do but instead i just spent it reading this book. I was as obsessed as Audreys biggest fan ;)

When Audrey, a social media influencer who shares every part of her life online, moves to a new city, she picks up one follower she wasnt prepared for.

This book was fast-paced and I couldn’t put it down till I found out who was following Audrey!! I trusted no one and suspected everyone! It was suspenseful and creepy and it was even creepier that it takes place in my hometown! I know feel like I should be careful what I post online!

Highly recommend getting your hands on this book on February 25!!

Follow Me made me feel relieved that my personal Instagram is private. 😳 This book will make you think twice before posting something in real time for social media to see. It is told from 3 alternating perspectives and laced with plenty of mystery to keep you hanging on each chapter.

Unrequited love sets off the creep within when the unknown perspective, titled “Him,” becomes obsessed with a popular Instagram influencer named Audrey. He follows her online, and it doesn’t take long for him to do the same in person. Also, I didn’t think it was possible for a character to “shudder” so much, but I’ll say it was warranted.

As a reader, I had fun trying to guess who the unknown stalker character was. There are plenty of options to consider and the big reveal was fun. This was definitely an entertaining read for chicks that want a suspenseful easy-read thriller. Fans of the book, You, by Caroline Kepnes will enjoy this one.

I really enjoyed this book, perfect for biography and memoir enthusiasts. This book was generously provided to me through NetGalley. Highly Recommended!

This book had me thinking long and hard about what I share on social media and how the events that happened in this book could really happen to just about anyone. I found the main character fascinating. The way that Audrey thought and reacted to events and her environment. This author’s character development of Audrey Miller I felt was spot on. The secondary characters were no less intriguing. With so many things going on in this book you’re just not sure who to worry about.

interesting fast read, asking the question who can we trust and if we put ourselves out there, as an image for everyone to comment on, do we deserve what we get, what attention we attract as the goal is to attract attention. to make up for loneliness with strangers approval. interesting how far will each of the characters go

This book was a fast-paced crazy ride. From the very beginning we know we are dealing with an unstable person if the worst kind: one who thinks their actions are totally normal and justified. We only get little glimpses into this person as the focus is more on the two main female characters. Both of these characters reveal internal insecurities that they cope with in various ways. I liked that the POV of “Him” was ambiguous enough that he could’ve been anyone and I did hope lessons would be learned by the end of the book. I pretty much suspected everyone by the end.

I enjoyed the description of the setting and how each character failed to recognize their own flaws- I think that’s human because we all tend to think we are good people and doing the right things. I liked the back story of camp that was subtle, but ongoing, and as a counselor I really wish more could have been done to support the mental health of the characters rather than privileged parents covering it up for the sake of stigma and appearances.

This book will no doubt be compared to the very popular “You” by Caroline Kepnes, but the “Him” of this book is not nearly as likeable as Joe Goldberg. I also want to say that I loved Audrey’s taste in music. We definitely could’ve hung out and listened to albums.

I will stop here because there are many twists and turns that I don’t want to spoil for readers. I enjoyed this book- I read it in 2 days- and I will continue to read this author. Thanks, Net Galley and publishers for approving this ARC for me in exchange for an honest review. I definitely recommend reading the book and also being more aware of what you put out into the world.

Follow Me is a book that will terrify you if you're active on social media. Audrey Miller has hundreds of thousands of instagram followers and she just made a move to Washington, DC. Little does she know, she now lives close to someone who has been obsessively following her since the beginning of her online presence. And with her being so close, he now can't resist consulting the dark web to find a way and make Audrey his forever. The story is completely unpredictable with plenty of twists. Highly recommended to readers who enjoyed Barber's first novel or if you are into thrillers involving social media. Be sure to check out Follow Me asap!

A book definitely for our day and time now. Those that don't have it think they want the life of being famous on the internet with tons of fans and followers. Those that do, know better.

This story had me guessing until the very end.

It’s been a long while since a book held me captive by not letting me figure out who the “bad guy” is.

I quite enjoyed this story and gave up my sleep to read it and then when I was “reliving” it in my dreams. So captivating and twisted! A must read!

Audrey Miller is a woman that has it all including over a million followers on Instagram. She has a carefully curated life that she shares with all of her followers any chance she can get. To say she may be addicted to the attention is an understatement.

"The side effect of only showing the best and most beautiful bits of my life to everyone meant that I felt I couldn't reveal my messier, more complicated emotions to anyone other than a trusted few." <---- that's some first world problems right there, amiright? To say Audrey didn't gain my sympathy is an understatement.

What's the problem with posting every detail of your life you might ask? That information could fall into the wrong hands. Hands that may believe that you are fated to be together.

Having recently moved to Washington DC from NYC for a job change she reconnects with her college best friend, Cat. Cat has always admired Audrey's charm and carefree lifestyle but at the same time it causes her great concern that Audrey isn't more careful and that perhaps she is too trusting of strangers.

Audrey suddenly feels like she's being watched at all times. Is she being stalked or is she being paranoid?

This was a fast paced psych thriller that may be a bit predictable but was still a fun read. I will admit that the ending wasn't exactly how I was expecting it to go and it was also the most disappointing aspect of the book for multiple reasons. 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

FOLLOW ME
BY KATHLEEN BARBER

As soon as I got finished reading this excellent book I went looking for my duct tape to cover up my webcam on my computer. My sons took it from me and until I go to Home Depot to buy some more I used several layers from my lint brush sticky tape. I do not want any creeps spying on me through my webcam from a remote access. It really has me wondering about the smart TVs that I was looking at to replace mine in my bedroom. In the very beginning of the book Kathleen Barber put her authors note upfront which was very clever and seriously raised the creep factor while I was spellbound reading this chilling tale. Kathleen Barber wrote a creepy, addictive suspenseful tale shared that often times as a non practicing lawyer she kills time on the internet visiting the Legal Advice subreddit reading mundane issues such as a neighbor dispute about land division or disputes between landlords and tenants when one day she came across the horrifying creepy poster of a man saying his boss accessing his employees home security cameras. She thought it must be fake until she starting digging around and found references to another subreddit dedicated to controllable webcams. Intrigued she visited it and found post after post sharing links to what appeared to be live footage of restaurants, bars dodgy day cares and more. She turned to the internet trying to discern what exactly a "controllable webcam" was, where they are located and and how these internet inhabitants were discovering them. Could anyone find them? Her research took a turn when she stumbled across an article of what to her and also to me was a chilling headline which said "Meet the men who spy on women through their webcams." Both Kathleen Barbara and I am horrified and chilled as I read more of this author's note. Basically someone with minimal technical knowledge could secretly install a "remote administrative tool," or "RAT" on another person's computer. The RAT gives the RATTER almost complete access to another person's computer. Including files, screen and webcam. Anytime the victim uses their computer a complete stranger unbeknownst to them, observing their activity both digital and physical.

She read that some raters toy with their victims, playing pranks like opening porn on their screens; some steal website credentials and some are a bit more invasive, scouring hard drives for compromising photographs or other blackmail material. Both the author and I find it far more disturbing that the raters who collect "Slaves" their name for the women they've spied on in secret via webcam. In addition to watching their "slaves" in secret, these raters gather in forums to share what they've observed their oblivious "slaves" doing and posting screenshots of the women. When they are bored with a slave they might sell or trade it to someone else on the forum, further perpetuating the violation of privacy. Both the author and my skin crawls at the thought of a stranger invading our homes, sifting through our files and watching us when we thought we were alone. And then for that stranger to be sharing our secrets on a forum with like minded creeps.

Creepy and enlightening? That is what her excellent captivating novel is about. I loved it and read it in one sitting and I will be buying this novel when it becomes available in hardcover for all of my friends and family who love a good creepy rrealistic chilling story that is both fascinating and horrifyingly true in part. The novel is fiction and the main character's name is Audrey moves from New York City to Washington DC to get a job at the Smithsonian museum. She is an Instagram influencers who has a million followers and she is in charge of an exhibit of a dollhouse sized woman who was murdered. Audrey only has an undergraduate degree and lacks the Master's degree needed for this job so she has been promised a promotion if she can get more followers of this exhibition.

Audrey moves into a basement apartment of a creepy adult grandson whom lives upstairs with his grandmother and he spies on her and comes in and out of her apartment. The grandmother whom is living in denial makes excuses when Audrey asks for the spare key. Audrey plays the lawyer card to finally get the grandmother to relent and give her the spare keys. Cat an old sorority sister and new best friend offers Audrey a room in her apartment and for reasons I couldn't understand Audrey declines.

Audrey hooks up with her ex boyfriend often and all throughout the story we have an unknown point of view who is the stalker but we don't know his name or who he is. It could either be a creep she works with at her new job but for professional reasons Audrey never reports him. It could be her new boyfriend or her ex boyfriend or the grandson or the stalker at work---everybody is suspect. This remote administrative tool or RAT gets installed on her computer and she has no idea she is being watched nor do we the reader know who put it there. This is like a good old fashioned Hitchcock movie except for today's audience. The more we read the more scary things keep happening to her. I raptly devoured this book in one sitting because the creep factor was raised after me reading the author's note in the very beginning which I thought was pretty clever than putting it in the back of the novel. This was so fun to read because Audrey has to take a selfie no matter where she is and upload it to her instagram account. This novel has been compared to the Caroline Kepnes book YOU but I liked this one much much better. I would highly recommend this to all thriller fans who love great storytelling with engaging characters.
By the way Kathleen Barber is also the author of the book ARE YOU SLEEPING that Apple TV is soon to release. 5 Glorious Stars plus!

Thank you so much to Net Galley, Kathleen Barber who I will continue to read her books and Gallery Publisher for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. The pleasure was all mine.

Publication date: February 25, 2020

#followme #kathleenbarber #netgalley #gallerypublshing

Frighteningly real. This book kept me turning the pages and astonished by the twists in relationships. Did not see the ending coming at all, and I am rarely stunned. Excellent character development, well written. Will read whatever this author writes next,

Follow Me is a chilling story about how one woman's career on social media connects her to a dangerous stalker. Audrey is a woman with plenty of followers on Instagram and a new job with a museum to help with its social media account. She moves into a new apartment and tries to embrace her new home city. But when her apartment is broken into and she starts to receive strange gifts she realizes that someone might be watching her. This book will make the reader rethink how much he or she posts on social media. It exposes the possibility that being so connected online might not be the best idea. I would recommend this book to other readers.

Wow! What a great story with many twist & turns and a major plot twist that is given several hints throughout book. Very timely too with all the over sharing on social media by people of all ages. After reading is you will wish you didn't have a virtual footprint.

Will leave 5 star review on Amazon under name of Connie

Thanks for granting me access to this book

This book could have been pulled directly from the front page of the newspaper in any city. A young woman, Audrey, spends her time online, sharing her life with anyone and everyone. It's not long before one of her "followers" decides he knows her and he will not stop until she belongs to him. Audrey has no place to hide, she has shared her life so well that there is no place she has not posted about. Kathleen Barber has taken the "what if" and set it into motion, scary motion. Loved it!!!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Follow Me by Kathleen Barber is about a woman named Audrey who is an Instagram influencer who finds herself in a scary situation from all of the information she posts about herself online.

I enjoyed this book very much. My only complaint is that the main character, Audrey, seemed a little dumb and careless to me. There were many creepy situations in this book where I felt that she should have made smarter, more careful decisions. So I guess it's a good thing that it's a work of fiction.

Overall I gave it 4 stars for keeping my interest and for the twisty ending.

This is a good stalker book. So relevant in our times where we put our lives out there and our digital footprints are visible to all.

Plot-
Audrey Miller has an enviable new job at the Smithsonian, a body by reformer Pilates, an apartment door with a broken lock, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to bear witness to it all. Having just moved to Washington, DC, Audrey busies herself impressing her new boss, interacting with her online fan base, and staving off a creepy upstairs neighbor with the help of the only two people she knows in town: an ex-boyfriend she can’t stay away from and a sorority sister with a high-powered job and a mysterious past.

But Audrey’s faulty door may be the least of her security concerns. Unbeknownst to her, her move has brought her within striking distance of someone who’s obsessively followed her social media presence for years—from her first WordPress blog to her most recent Instagram Story. No longer content to simply follow her carefully curated life from a distance, he consults the dark web for advice on how to make Audrey his and his alone. In his quest to win her heart, nothing is off-limits—and nothing is private.

Audrey puts her life out there. On Instagram. for all to view. Every element of her life is there for public consumption. But someone is stalking her now. We don't know who her creepy stalker is but we are afraid for her.
Is it her ex boyfriend? Is it the handsy co-worker? The landlady's weird creepy grandson? Her slightly stiff and jealous best friend? Or her new boyfriend?
It could be all of the above or none. Or someone entirely new.

The reader is left guessing who the stalker could be which makes it an interesting read. In this day and age of social media the references and the story makes one think and wonder if this could happen to us.

Audrey is not the most likeable character. She is very self absorbed, selfish and tad annoying but that adds to the story. The story is told from Audrey, her best friend Cat and the stalker's point.

I found the story quite fast paced, intriguing and was quite vested in it. And the ending was a surprise. Definitely did not see that one coming which was a good one for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest interview.

While I didn't love Barber's last book, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, I think she writes books based on interesting ideas, and I was drawn to this story of a woman who's social media life may be bleeding into her own personal life. The mystery is solid and engaging and the characters, though a bit unlikable, are fun and flirty and you root for them as friends and as women taking back power from terrible no good men in their lives. I read this one a couple weeks ago and already forgot most of the plot, but for those of you looking for a quick thriller to read, this one is for sure worth your time.