By: Emily Shiner
ISBN: 9781837560516
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Publication Date: 12/11/2022
Format: e-book
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
Amanda has the perfect life. But someone wants to end it.
Amanda loves her life. She’s a highly respected doctor, and she lives in a beautiful home in the best neighborhood in town.
But her perfect life begins to crumble when she notices a woman in a red car following her. Then this mysterious person begins an increasingly disturbing campaign – stalking Amanda, even invading her home and office.
Amanda is terrified and feels as if she is under siege. As far as she knows she has no enemies. So who is this strange woman? And what does she want?
As the interloper’s behavior becomes more and more threatening, the conflict between the two women moves inexorably toward a fateful confrontation.
When dangerous secrets and shocking lies are revealed, there’s no turning back. One of them will pay the ultimate price.
I’m Following You – the gripping psychological thriller from the best-selling author of The Secret Wife and Her Perfect Life.
My Review
Emily Shiner's latest psychological thriller, I'M FOLLOWING YOU, is a deliciously wicked game of cat-and-mouse. But who is the cat, and who is the mouse? Trust no one—unreliable narrators.
Shiner will leave you guessing until the very last chapter as two strangers' stories unfold in this riveting tale of deception, obsession, and revenge!
Meet Collette. She wants nothing more than to spend time with her baby sister, Arabella, but she pushes her out the door to get ready for her guy. Arabella has an eight-year-old cat Henry and is not too worried about dating. Collette is sleeping with Mike, a guy down the hall.
Soon after Arabella leaves her sister's apartment, the cops are at her door.
Her sister has been in an accident—a drunk driver. Now she is dead. It is all her fault when she could have stayed there.
As the book starts, Collette suffers from grief and is in a grief support group.
She is obsessed with the woman walking around free that put her Arabella in the ground. Of course, she forgets she pushed her out the door. Her therapist thinks she would benefit from group therapy.
Then the news says Courtney Barrow, age 41, was found unresponsive when facing the upcoming trial where she would face charges for her sister's death—killing her instantly. Due to being unable to live with the grief over the tragedy, she is now dead by suicide.
However, for some odd reason, Collette does not believe Courtney is dead. What if Courtney is alive?
She meets some people in therapy, but Jackson seems to be a good friend since his wife died of cancer. It has been three years for him. For Collette, it has been a little over five months.
Her therapist and the cops tell her Courtney is dead, but she opens up with Jackson to tell him she thinks she is still alive. She will find her. She does not care if people think she is crazy. She needs proof.
Jackson agrees to walk around and get some fresh air after coffee. When they do, Collette sees a woman in a restaurant and swears that it is Courtney. She must find out who she is. She probably changed her name. She knows it is her.
Mind-boggling! From here, things get CRAZY!
From alternating POVs from Collette and Dr. Amanda Morgan— (woman she thinks is Courtney).
The woman is named Amanda. She is a well-known oncologist, Dr. Morgan. She has a perfect life, a great job, and a beautiful home in a safe neighborhood. She is divorced after the death of their baby girl years ago who died in her sleep. The grief still gets to Amanda, and she still visits her grave.
Collette sees this woman in the restaurant and gets fixated on her being Courtney, but she is Amanda. Let the games begin! Is it Courtney?
This part is madness but funny in a dark way.
Collette drives around in her old red Honda and follows the doctor everywhere. She even sets up a fake appointment with the doctor pretending to have cancer, and then throws her under the bus with a bad review that causes all sorts of problems for the doctor.
She even comes by her house at night, breaks into her office, paints horrible things on her car, and each time the tactics and stalking get more dangerous, Collette is fueled by madness, rage, and obsession.
Get this— she works at a library. Books by day and stalking by night.
She wants to ruin Dr. Morgan! She could even kill her. She follows her to the graveyard, steals things off the grave, and writes letters to the editor at the newspaper about her.
This causes all sorts of problems for Amanda at the hospital, her job, and her reputation.
Amanda (Dr. Morgan) is scared and has no idea who is out to get her and why. She locks herself in her home, paranoid. But when she has had enough, she starts following the red car. She realizes the patient, Ms. Smith, gave a bogus address, but why?
Jackson thinks Collette is carrying it too far and is worried about her safety.
However, nothing will stop Collette's plan of revenge. She will stop at nothing until she takes her down.
However, things take a final deadly twist at the graveyard for a showdown when they meet that will BLOW YOUR MIND!
A wickedly smart page-turner about the razor-thin line between suspicion and obsession will keep you glued to its pages-and, guessing wrong about who to trust-until its breathtaking ending!
With complex characters, heart-pounding suspense, and a jaw-dropping stunning conclusion twist, you will not see coming.
That last surprise POV from Jackson MADE the book for me and will grab you by the throat. I even moved my star rating to a "5" after the author pulled out this clever shocker! Unexpected. I loved it.
So readers, when you are about to give up with Collette's delusional madness driving around in her red car wreaking havoc the entire book on Amanda (Dr. Morgan), be patient and do NOT give up.
I'M FOLLOWING YOU is smart, edgy, and full of dark humor— about crime and punishment, taking matters into your own hands no matter the collateral damage.
Harrowing and intense―and a little madness. Murder, lies, grief, obsession, guilt, friendship, REVENGE, and distorted/delusional love make a gripping story.
I have read a few of Shiner's books, but this is my favorite thus far. If you like twisty endings, this one is for you!
Thank you to #InkubatorBooks and #NetGalley for an ARC to read, review, and enjoy!
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 Stars rounded to 5 🌟 Stars
Pub Date: Dec 11, 2022
About the Author
Emily Shiner grew up in Western North Carolina, and after going to college in Charlotte, returned to her beloved mountains to write novels that keep you up at night. She lives with her husband, daughter, two dogs, a menagerie of chickens, and tens of thousands of bees. When not writing, she’s reading, hiking, or drinking copious amounts of tea while daydreaming about fall. WEBSITE
