Influencers Beware: Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth – Book Review

What I Loved:

Phew! Let’s talk about influencers for a second. They put themselves all over social media, inviting people into their homes and lives virtually and they have no idea who all of these people are. What are their intentions, will they begin stalking you, emailing you, trolling you?

Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth took me by surprise! I loved the plot surrounding one Vlogger’s successful social career and a glimpse into the lives of two of her followers. I was captivated by the story and did NOT want to put this book down.

How I Felt:

So, I wasn’t really convinced that Unfollow Me should land in the “Thriller” genre. I think that the term gets thrown on a lot of books and maybe should not be. BUT, I looked up the actual definition of Thriller and here it is:

A thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television whose primary feature is that it induces strong feelings of excitement, anxiety, tension, suspense, fear, and other similar emotions in its readers or viewers—in other words, media that thrills the audience.
https://literaryterms.net/thriller/

So guess what…Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth absolutely falls into the Thriller genre! This book managed to elicit three out of the four feelings in the thriller description!

Excitement ✔️
Anxiety ✔️
Suspense ✔️
Fear ❌

Quick overview of My Thoughts:

* Great overall plot and story
* Lots of twists and turns

* I really want to know if one sub-character is going to be okay and did not get that closure
* One character’s parental neglect really bothered me

The Characters: There are 2 female main characters and a variety of supporting people in this book. I didn’t really like any of the main characters and I’m not sure I was supposed to. My feelings did not, however, negatively impact my utter enjoyment of this book.

The characters are well-built with history and experiences that are revealed as the story progresses. I felt like I had one type of feeling towards each person and as the story progressed and I learned more about them, but feelings changed. It was surprise after surprise about each person.

The Writing: I found Unfollow Me to be a well-written story. I was grabbed right from the beginning with an email from a stalker to vlogger Violet Young. I was immediately grabbed by the story and needed to know more! Charlotte Duckworth did an excellent job of weaving a tale of mystery. She wrote in a way that lead the reader in one direction, thinking they knew what was happening, and then she revealed another piece of information, and everything changed. It was a delight to read.

The Plot: Violet Young a celebrity in the mommy-vlogger circles, has just closed all her social media accounts. No notice was given; she’s just gone. The story follows two of her followers as they process the loss of their YouTube vice. Her disappearance consumes them. Where has she gone? What has happened to her? Is she okay?

The two followers take different approaches to find out what happened to her and as they go begin to piece together the events leading up to Violet’s sudden social media disappearance, we, the reader begin to piece together why each of them are invested.

The Ending: This ending was completely unexpected to me. I did not guess one thing until I was given enough information to do so. I was just along for the ride through this entire book and I enjoyed it so much! I did wish that I had gotten just a bit more information about one character at the end. It was left very open-ended and I think it gave a little more excitement the way it was written, but I did want to know more.

Content Warnings: Child harm, stalking, harassing, late-term pregnancy termination, infertility, alcoholism, addiction to social media (that one’s probably not a trigger, but just in case).

Overall: I really enjoyed Unfollow Me. I loved the numerous mysteries to solve and the way this story had me bouncing from one theory to another.

To Read or Not To Read:

If you are looking for a book that will keep you on your toes and keep you guessing at the true story, you will enjoy Unfollow Me. Don’t go into this book thinking of a thriller in terms of a murderer on the lose. This thriller is focused on suspense, excitement, and secrets! It was completely worth reading!

Where to Find This Book:

Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth publishes on March 10, 2020 and is available at these sites.

Amazon Kindle | Amazon | Goodreads

A gripping domestic thriller examining the terrifying depths of our social media obsessions.

You can’t stop watching her.

Violet Young is a hugely popular journalist-turned-mummy-influencer, with three children, a successful husband and a million subscribers on YouTube who tune in daily to watch her everyday life unfold.

Until the day she’s no longer there.

But one day she disappears from the online world – her entire social media presence deleted overnight, with no explanation. Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to Violet?

But do you really know who Violet is?

Her fans are obsessed with finding out the truth, but their search quickly reveals a web of lies, betrayal, and shocking consequences…

Just the Facts: