Thank you @harpercollinsuk/@hqstories for gifting me a copy of Followers by Megan Angelo! If you’ve got a bit of a social media addiction, read this book and be cured!

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Set between two timelines, 2016 and 2051, Followers is a dystopian nightmare of a world where social media has become extreme reality TV after ‘The Spill’ changed technology as we know it. It follows Floss and Orla, two women who will stop at nothing to achieve their respective dreams of celebrity and literary success.

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In a world where anyone with a phone and an internet connection can seemingly become famous, Followers is a scarily relevant read. I expected it to be kind of light and shallow, but it was actually very dark and provocative, exploring social media addiction, deception, and how far people will go to be a celebrity. None of the characters are particularly likeable, but you still feel some empathy for them when things take a turn for the worst. Angelo has an eerily good eye for the work of vitriolic trolls on the internet.

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The idea of The Spill is truly terrifying - privacy turned on its head, data breaches everywhere, nothing secret anymore. I also wasn’t expecting the thought-provoking discussion of motherhood Angelo touches upon - more of that would have been wonderful but I understand it’s not really the main point of the story.

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I did think the pacing could have been improved though. There needed to be more suspense, especially with a dual timeline. Sometimes I’d go back to the 2051 one and forget what had happened, I felt much more connected to the 2016 characters and story. Had it been shorter and snappier it would have been a much more effective read.

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Despite the uneven pacing, I’d still recommend this one if you like your dystopian and scifi and are fascinated by the dark side of social media!