Just Read: FOLLOW ME by Elizabeth Rose Quinn
I’ve been binging cozy thrillers lately—with an unintentional yet observable tendency toward anything that takes a satirical look at the dark side of social media, I wonder why—and FOLLOW ME came up on my list of April First Reads, so I decided to give it ago. Pitched as Heathers meets The Stepford Wives, FOLLOW ME is Quinn’s debut novel, out from Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer. As a fan of Levin’s work, I appreciate the use of hashtag parentheticals as a fun nod to the original Stepford Wives, and Quinn’s unflinchingly scathing rebuke of Instagram #mommieculture (the INTJ-inspired personality quiz of the Mom Squad is especially hysterical) is rather delightful. While the novel is more successful in its comedy than its creep factor with more time devoted to satire than thrills, FOLLOW ME is a romp when you’re in the mood for a fun story, pairing very well with a healthy distaste of toxic social media culture.
After her twin sister, Chiara, goes missing at a mom-fluencer weekend, Adrienne Shaw will find her no matter what it takes. They may have been on the outs, but no one comes for her sister and gets away with it.
It’s been a year, the authorities have no answers, and her brother-in-law is useless in the matter. It’s time for Adrienne to take the case into her own hands. Following in Chiara’s last footsteps, Adrienne goes undercover, infiltrating the same influencer retreat as the last thing she wants to an Instamommy.
The remote ranch in Northern California is certainly welcoming—in a cult-adjacent kind of way. A charismatic leader, communal crafts, fixed smiles—and a lot of dead eyes.
Going on gut instinct and chasing a wild theory—that Chiara came here and never left—Adrienne is determined to uncover the truth before the too-perfect-to-believe women figure out who Adrienne really a threat to be eliminated.
FOLLOW ME is available from Elizabeth Rose Quinn and Thomas & Mercer now.
