Copycat by Alex Lake

Book Review

"In untangling the web, she had merely become trapped in it."

Copycat was released in the UK on 7th September 2017. It is written by Alex Lane and published by HarperCollins.

While the premise for Copycat wasn't particularly original, I did like the sound of this book. Unfortunately it just doesn't deliver. The writing is over laboured, repetitive and littered with cliches. The pacing throughout the entire story is off, dwelling too much on smaller incidents and skimming over the important bits. There were also leads and characters that were never followed up on, something which always frustrates me.

BLURB

Your stalker is everywhere.
Your stalker knows everything.
But the real problem is that your stalker is you.

Sarah Havenant discovers–when an old friend points it out–that there are two Facebook profiles in her name.

One, she recognizes: it is hers. The other, she has never seen. But everything in it is accurate. Recent photos of her and her friends, her and her husband, her and her kids. Even of her new kitchen. A photo taken inside her house.

She is bemused, angry, and worried. Who was able to do this? Any why?

But this, it soon turns out, is just the beginning. It is only now–almost as though someone has been watching, waiting for her to find the profile–that her problems really start…

Copycat is very predictable. The build up to the reveal was so obvious that I thought I was being thrown off the scent, thinking it was the very obvious person when it would actually be another. But no.

I couldn't warm to any of the characters, particularly the lead Sarah, who seems to handle having her identity stolen in a completely unbelievable way, not getting worried until the very last minute and refusing to do what a seemingly sensible people would do in the situation.

In fact, a lot of the actions of the characters are unbelievable, as are most of the plot points.

I feel like I'm being very harsh. I know so much work goes into writing a book so I feel mean when I write a bad review, but I also want to be honest on this blog.

There were a few elements to Copycat that I liked; the premise being one, that someone could be impersonating you so completely that they could even take photos from in your house and know what you'd been doing that afternoon.

The book looks at how much we share now through social media and actually how easy it would be for someone to impersonate you.

"Back then, who would have announced to the world the dates of their holiday? Or their children's birthdays? Their wedding anniversary? Their maiden and middle names?"

Also, the sections written by the stalker, while repetitive and overdone, do break up the narrative a bit and create a more excitement.

Overall though I'm afraid Copycat just didn't do it for me. Though, looking at Goodreads, a lot of people loved it, so maybe you will.

My Rating: 2 Stars

I received a copy of Copycat, via NetGalley, in return for an honest review. My thanks to the author and publisher.

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