Follow Me

December 15, 2019
An Instagram influencer discovers the dangers of social media when she's terrorized by a stalker after moving to a new city. Audrey Miller lives her best life online in Barber's (Are You Sleeping, 2017) second psychological thriller, a cautionary tale about the perils of social media. Audrey has just left her beloved Manhattan for Washington, D.C., to start a new job as head of social media at a Smithsonian art museum. She's got longtime close friend Cat in the neighborhood, and Cat is always available for moral support despite her busy job as an attorney. Audrey also has old college boyfriend Nick, whom she can call when the nights get a little too lonely. But her millions of Instagram followers are what sustain her: "With a million friends at the palm of your hand, how could anyone ever feel truly alone?" Her popular account and active online persona have a downside, though: She's got a stalker, one who is thrilled that she has moved to his town. Unfortunately, this is not the only implausible coincidence you'll find here. Barber does provide a wide range of suspects to keep the reader guessing. Is Audrey's stalker the creepy son of her landlord? An old friend of Cat's or one of Cat's co-workers? Or someone else entirely? Cat, meanwhile, has her own secrets and insecurities to hide. Narrated by Audrey and Cat and occasionally an ominous Him, the novel moves at a swift pace but requires a serious suspension of disbelief. Would a young woman really neglect to call the police when she catches a thief in her apartment? Still, despite such unlikely behavior, Barber invests her readers in the outcome. A sometimes-implausible thriller that still keeps you guessing.

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December 23, 2019
Social media star Audrey, the vivacious narrator of Barber’s so-so sophomore outing (after 2017’s Are You Sleeping), revels in the attention she receives from her stream of Instagram updates to her legion of followers. Though most admirers simply offer their thoughts about Audrey’s photos, one fan wants far more from her. When Audrey posts that she’s leaving New York City for an exciting job in Washington, D.C., as a social media manager, her stalker is delighted: Audrey is now within his reach. Audrey dazzles everyone she encounters in D.C., including her boss and Cat, the socially awkward college friend she reconnects with. The drawbacks of her new life—a dark basement apartment and a creepy upstairs neighbor—are small irritants, but they make good fodder for her posts. But when her apartment is trashed and she finds frightening photos of herself on a friend’s computer, Audrey’s nightmare has just begun, because her stalker knows every move she makes. The outcome will surprise no one. The fast-paced and au courant plot compensates in part for the stock characters and unlikely coincidences. As Barber’s first thriller showed, she’s capable of better. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co.

January 1, 2020
Barber delivers a second social-media themed thriller following Are You Sleeping (2017). Audrey Miller, a well-established social-media presence who details her perfectly curated, perfectly aesthetic life out of a pathological need to share every facet of her existence, lands an enviable job at the Smithsonian. Along with various problems posed by the faulty locks on the door of her Peeping Tom-enabling basement apartment, her landlady's dysfunctional son, a grabby coworker, and a creepy stalker at the museum, she falls prey to an online ratter" (high-tech voyeur), who is asphyxiated by love for her. Audrey is largely a victim of her own making, a young woman fueled by digital hyperconnectivity. When the college-admissions scandal broke, we learned that Lori Loughlin's daughter was an Instagram influencer. Readers who had to look up what an "influencer is will not fancy this book. On the other hand, soul-cycling, Pilates-perfected, media-savvy readers will devour it. Barber's narrative, like social media itself, is as addictive as it is disturbing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)