YOU HAVE SIX SECONDS TO READ THIS MESSAGE…

The body of a 15-year-old is found hours after she sends a desperate message to her friends. It looks like suicide, until a second girl disappears.

This time, the message is sent directly to the Metropolitan Police – and an officer’s younger sister is missing.

DS Nasreen Cudmore and journalist Freddie Venton will stop at nothing to find her. But whoever’s behind the notes is playing a deadly game of hide and seek – and the clock is ticking.

YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO SAVE THE GIRL’S LIFE.
MAKE THEM COUNT.

Today’s review for Watch Me is the first to be written by my book-reading, coffee-loving buddy Lou.

For some time it has pained me that I just don’t have enough hours in the day to read all the books I am given the chance to review – Blogger Guilt is a thing!  So Lou has kindly offered to help me out by sharing her thoughts on some of the books I have just not had the chance to get to yet.  As Angela’s new novel, Trust Me, is just a few weeks away from publication it was time Watch Me got a long overdue review.   Over to Lou…

I have to admit, when I see a book blurb with “compelling!” or “page-turner!” my cynicism kicks in and I assume PR hyperbole; Watch Me fully deserves the accolades. Shorter than I would’ve liked but much better than I expected, Angela Clarke is steadily producing a series based on the concept of social media as a tool for murder.

It starts with the victim of schoolyard bullies, introduces the reader to the idea of Snapchat as a suicide note, then progresses the story’s timeline through the chapter headings (Tuesday 16^th March, Wednesday 17^th March), speeding up until we are counting down the hours, then the minutes.

As a way to build momentum this was somewhat lost on me as I was eagerly flipping the pages already, but for those with a more leisured approach to a new book I can only suppose it would help to ratchet up the tension. (It could also be seen as a nod to social media’s inbuilt time-stamping function, but I have no idea if this was planned or simply a fitting coincidence).

Nevertheless, the story is slick and convincing and I was drawn in by the mystery of DS Nasreen Cudmore’s Big Secret. I was less invested in Freddie Venton’s personal dramas, but if that’s because I’d rather go for a drink with Cudmore than Freddie, I can’t quite decide.

Which, in a nutshell, is the beauty of Watch Me. Relatable characters, a fast-moving plot, and a disturbing imagining of the dangerous potential of a medium deigned for fun.

Watch Me is published by Avon and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watch-Me-Angela-Clarke-ebook/dp/B01D4WO2Y0/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=61PYMCEH5AY81EZJ8K2D