Instagrammer Audrey Miller has carefully curated her New York life so that it looks perfect online. She loves Manhattan, and she knows the city well enough that she can find the perfect coffee, the perfect gym, the perfect shoes so that those who follow her want to be her. While she does have some sponsors who provide her with products to share online, she’s not a full-time influencer. But then she gets offered the perfect job and finds herself leaving Manhattan for Washington D.C.
As a social media manager for the Smithsonian, Audrey is tasked with making a new installation the talk of the town. It’s a series of dioramas of the story of a young woman who went to Los Angeles to become an actress, and on finding success, she was murdered by a stalker. Audrey loves the art and immediately starts to post online to build buzz for the museum. And she jumps into life in D.C. like a boss.
She had found an apartment online, and while Audrey loved her landlord, an older woman renting out the basement apartment in her house, the woman’s grandson left Audrey with a creepy feeling. Even after she had the locks changed for the outside gate and her front door, he still found his way into her apartment to leer and sneer and grab a handful of her jewelry and cash.
Luckily, Audrey has an old friend from college, a D.C. lawyer named Cat, who has a safe apartment with an extra bedroom where she can crash from time to time. And Audrey’s college boyfriend Nick stops by her apartment from time to time for a hook-up, so that’s another way she protects herself. But she finds herself on the street sometimes, feeling like someone is watching her. Is it the grandson? The creeper she caught at the museum looking at the new exhibit before it opened? The guy Cat’s had a crush on since law school who hit on Audrey at Trivia Night? Or is it someone else entirely?
When you put your life on the internet for everyone to see, what’s to keep anyone from seeing too much? When you’re making your life look better than everyone else’s, what’s to keep anyone from wanting too much? Are they followers, sheep, fans, or stalkers?
Kathleen Barber’s Follow Me is a twisty, unsettling powerhouse of a thriller that keeps you guessing until the end. With more than enough possibilities for who the stalker could be, this story kept me on the edge of my seat until I got to the end. If you love a good thriller, then check out Follow Me and hold on tight!
Galleys for Follow Me were provided by Gallery Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
