3/5 stars

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Joe Lynch leads an average but happy life with his wife Mel and his young son William and doesn’t have a care in the world, until one fateful afternoon when he sees his wife’s car somewhere it shouldn’t be and decides to follow her. From hereon out, Joe’s life unravels quickly and in spectacular fashion, and he soon finds himself engaged in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, with someone who always remains a few steps ahead of him.

This is one that requires suspension of disbelief – like, a lot of it. But I will say it’s entertaining and fast-paced, as twist after twist is revealed, and I definitely found it worth reading.

I found Joe a likeable albeit slightly naive character. A few of his choices were irritating in the way they often are in this type of novel – like not calling for backup when going into a potentially dangerous situation – but it’s not as bad as some I’ve read in this genre.

The “your modern technology which you’ve come to rely on can betray you” angle was a little heavy-handed, though I do believe that at least most of what transpires in the novel is in fact possible. And it does highlight certain nefarious uses of social media/smartphones/apps that are indeed very real, though here are taken to the extreme.

I really admire the imagination and skill that went into crafting this tale, where almost each chapter reveals a new twist or turn, and it definitely kept me glued to the page. The ending however, was just too hard to swallow. I won’t say anything more than that so as not to spoil it, but it does drag the rating down to a 3 – which is still good, just not as good as I had hoped.

Also – mini spoiler: What was the deal with Adam? I kind of feel like this character was thrown in as an afterthought because Joe ought to have a close friend, but then for no believable reason the friend (best friend of 15 years) just decides to not believe Joe or even give him the benefit of the doubt. This to me stands out as the only thing that wasn’t really explained (within the framework of the story).

Still, it was a fun rollercoaster – but it could have been more.