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A review by the_leaving_moon
Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger
2.0
(I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)
So, this book.
If I had reviewed this book when I first finished it, I’m not sure if it would have been a glowing review or a scathing one. Now that I’ve taken a few days, I have to say that I find this book exceedingly mediocre.
Tessa is a superfan of Eric Thorn, and her Twitter account explodes after she posts a fanfic and her hashtag goes viral. This doesn’t escape the notice of Eric’s publicists, and they push him to engage more with his Twitter following. Stuff happens and Eric is angsty, but he ends up developing a relationship with Tessa over DM. And then more stuff happens and it’s supposed to be a thriller. Oh yeah, and Tessa is agoraphobic because of a mysterious traumatic event that is revealed to us over the course of the novel.
I read this book very fast, but the further removed I am from the experience of reading it, the more I realize that it was like junk food more than anything else. I couldn’t get enough, but what was there, really?
First of all, Eric is a fully fleshed out angsty superstar and his thoughts are complex and I liked reading his POV chapters. However, none of this translates to the DM relationship. We get the Twitter transcripts, but I didn’t feel like he came across well on Twitter at all. He seemed like a total creeper to me, and I didn’t understand Tessa’s feelings for him. (I feel it necessary to caveat that I have been in an online relationship and I certainly don’t think all online relationships are composed of creepy people… just this one.)
Tessa, on the other hand, was underdeveloped and so were the characters around her. We have her random starter boyfriend, whom she decides isn’t worth her time once she starts talking to Eric. I think we’re supposed to feel that this starter boyfriend was never ever good enough for her, but we never see Tessa make an effort to connect with him, so it’s hard to feel that way. Also, her relationship with her mother is a rocky one, but her mother isn’t developed enough for us to feel the complexities of this.
In terms of pacing and structure, the last third threw me for a loop. I spent a good chunk of time thinking that the new Threat that was introduced was actually someone else.
The last few pages, as you may have gleaned from other reviews, are tacked on to open the door for a sequel. They basically spit on everything the novel established until then, and they are completely unnecessary. Can’t we just have a stand-alone, for once? ((Also, I really don’t think thrillers should have sequels, but this is a personal preference.))
So, this book.
If I had reviewed this book when I first finished it, I’m not sure if it would have been a glowing review or a scathing one. Now that I’ve taken a few days, I have to say that I find this book exceedingly mediocre.
Tessa is a superfan of Eric Thorn, and her Twitter account explodes after she posts a fanfic and her hashtag goes viral. This doesn’t escape the notice of Eric’s publicists, and they push him to engage more with his Twitter following. Stuff happens and Eric is angsty, but he ends up developing a relationship with Tessa over DM. And then more stuff happens and it’s supposed to be a thriller. Oh yeah, and Tessa is agoraphobic because of a mysterious traumatic event that is revealed to us over the course of the novel.
I read this book very fast, but the further removed I am from the experience of reading it, the more I realize that it was like junk food more than anything else. I couldn’t get enough, but what was there, really?
First of all, Eric is a fully fleshed out angsty superstar and his thoughts are complex and I liked reading his POV chapters. However, none of this translates to the DM relationship. We get the Twitter transcripts, but I didn’t feel like he came across well on Twitter at all. He seemed like a total creeper to me, and I didn’t understand Tessa’s feelings for him. (I feel it necessary to caveat that I have been in an online relationship and I certainly don’t think all online relationships are composed of creepy people… just this one.)
Tessa, on the other hand, was underdeveloped and so were the characters around her. We have her random starter boyfriend, whom she decides isn’t worth her time once she starts talking to Eric. I think we’re supposed to feel that this starter boyfriend was never ever good enough for her, but we never see Tessa make an effort to connect with him, so it’s hard to feel that way. Also, her relationship with her mother is a rocky one, but her mother isn’t developed enough for us to feel the complexities of this.
In terms of pacing and structure, the last third threw me for a loop. I spent a good chunk of time thinking that the new Threat that was introduced was actually someone else.
Spoiler
It wasn’t clear to me for a long time that Blair wasn’t MET, and then I found it very confusing that Eric also thought it was MET when he first saw this person. I think this was supposed to be a suspenseful element to the thriller, but it didn’t “land” with me – it just confused me.The last few pages, as you may have gleaned from other reviews, are tacked on to open the door for a sequel. They basically spit on everything the novel established until then, and they are completely unnecessary. Can’t we just have a stand-alone, for once? ((Also, I really don’t think thrillers should have sequels, but this is a personal preference.))