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A review by betherly
Follow Me by Sara Shepard
4.0
“Hope all is well with you. I bet you’re wondering where I am, huh? I know you’ve been looking.”
When the letter arrives at Maddox’s doorstep, he knows Seneca was right, and the investigation is back underway. I’m going to keep things pretty vague in this review to avoid spoilers of the first book in the series but dang, “Follow Me” is a fantastic follow up to the already pretty high bar set by “The Amateurs”.
Sara Shepard does a great job early in the first pages of the book of giving the reader an up to date account of where our main character, Seneca Frazier, is now, and a very short summary of the events of book one, “The Amateurs”. Having read the first book months ago, with several books having been absorbed in the interim, the refresher was really helpful to have, and yet brief enough that it didn’t become tedious or patronising.
I really like the continuation of the story from the end of The Amateurs into this second book, Follow Me. The characters stay very true to their development from the first in the series, and keep a realistic sense of uncertainty about the conclusions taken from the first in the series. Seneca, as ever, is determined and head strong and confident she has it figured out; whereas Aerin is damaged, uncertain, and questioning of what has happened. Sara Shepard could have gone into this “gung ho” with the gang all out to get the perp and bring him down, but instead the approach from the beginning of the book is far more considered, with the emotions of what has taken place and the personalities of the characters we came to know in “The Amateurs” staying consistent. That is until the letter arrived, part of which is quoted at the beginning of the review, and all bets are off as the team reunite.
Although the character development stays true to that of The Amateurs and is developed further from early on in the book, something I was glad to see after the minimal character development in #1 was one of my gripes, the purpose and storyline to Follow Me takes a very different road to the first book. The Amateurs very much had all the key elements of an armchair murder mystery with enough clues along the way to follow the breadcrumbs and try to guess at what the final twist would be. The initial “solution” was the more obvious one but, without spoiling it too much for those who haven’t read it, the ending twist was one I definitely did not see coming. The twist that then sets up the continued series and takes the reader in a totally different direction from the more typical murder mystery story line. The initial plot line check list starts of traditionally - missing girl, witnesses, assumptions...the difference is we know from the beginning who the kidnapper is and that most likely the woman will not be found alive if the pattern is anything to go by. Rather than taking us down the road of a “whodunnit”, this series explores the psyche of the perpetrator, his relationship with the amateurs sleuths, and the journey they go on to try to bring him to justice.
The author takes us on much more of a journey in this book and takes the time to allow the character personalities to develop further as they mature into their roles, allowing the reader to become more immersed in the story from earlier in the book than was possible in the first book.
An advance warning of reading this book, however. Have the third and final part to this series ready and waiting as the ending is a major cliffhanger and one you will immediately want to dive into to find out what happens next. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading “Last Seen” next.
When the letter arrives at Maddox’s doorstep, he knows Seneca was right, and the investigation is back underway. I’m going to keep things pretty vague in this review to avoid spoilers of the first book in the series but dang, “Follow Me” is a fantastic follow up to the already pretty high bar set by “The Amateurs”.
Sara Shepard does a great job early in the first pages of the book of giving the reader an up to date account of where our main character, Seneca Frazier, is now, and a very short summary of the events of book one, “The Amateurs”. Having read the first book months ago, with several books having been absorbed in the interim, the refresher was really helpful to have, and yet brief enough that it didn’t become tedious or patronising.
I really like the continuation of the story from the end of The Amateurs into this second book, Follow Me. The characters stay very true to their development from the first in the series, and keep a realistic sense of uncertainty about the conclusions taken from the first in the series. Seneca, as ever, is determined and head strong and confident she has it figured out; whereas Aerin is damaged, uncertain, and questioning of what has happened. Sara Shepard could have gone into this “gung ho” with the gang all out to get the perp and bring him down, but instead the approach from the beginning of the book is far more considered, with the emotions of what has taken place and the personalities of the characters we came to know in “The Amateurs” staying consistent. That is until the letter arrived, part of which is quoted at the beginning of the review, and all bets are off as the team reunite.
Although the character development stays true to that of The Amateurs and is developed further from early on in the book, something I was glad to see after the minimal character development in #1 was one of my gripes, the purpose and storyline to Follow Me takes a very different road to the first book. The Amateurs very much had all the key elements of an armchair murder mystery with enough clues along the way to follow the breadcrumbs and try to guess at what the final twist would be. The initial “solution” was the more obvious one but, without spoiling it too much for those who haven’t read it, the ending twist was one I definitely did not see coming. The twist that then sets up the continued series and takes the reader in a totally different direction from the more typical murder mystery story line. The initial plot line check list starts of traditionally - missing girl, witnesses, assumptions...the difference is we know from the beginning who the kidnapper is and that most likely the woman will not be found alive if the pattern is anything to go by. Rather than taking us down the road of a “whodunnit”, this series explores the psyche of the perpetrator, his relationship with the amateurs sleuths, and the journey they go on to try to bring him to justice.
The author takes us on much more of a journey in this book and takes the time to allow the character personalities to develop further as they mature into their roles, allowing the reader to become more immersed in the story from earlier in the book than was possible in the first book.
An advance warning of reading this book, however. Have the third and final part to this series ready and waiting as the ending is a major cliffhanger and one you will immediately want to dive into to find out what happens next. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading “Last Seen” next.