Book #6: Follow Me, Kathleen Barber

 "Everyone wants new followers…until they follow you home."

 About the book: 

Audrey Miller has an enviable new job at the Smithsonian, a body by reformer Pilates, an apartment door with a broken lock, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to bear witness to it all. Having just moved to Washington, DC, Audrey busies herself impressing her new boss, interacting with her online fan base, and staving off a creepy upstairs neighbor with the help of the only two people she knows in town: an ex-boyfriend she can’t stay away from and a sorority sister with a high-powered job and a mysterious past.

But Audrey’s faulty door may be the least of her security concerns. Unbeknownst to her, her move has brought her within striking distance of someone who’s obsessively followed her social media presence for years—from her first WordPress blog to her most recent Instagram Story. No longer content to simply follow her carefully curated life from a distance, he consults the dark web for advice on how to make Audrey his and his alone. In his quest to win her heart, nothing is off-limits—and nothing is private. 

Follow Me is a “gripping, chilling” affirmation for tech skeptics and a wild ride of deception and guile that will have you scrambling to cover your digital footprints.

This book because of the artwork exhibit Audrey curated sparked discussion about a forensics studies: The Woman Who Invented Forensics Training with Doll Houses. Today, academic and law-enforcement programs use life-size rooms and role-playing or employ virtual-reality re-creations of crime scenes for training, but "Lee's Nutshells" remain a gold standard. 

Group Discussion Questions: 

• Audrey is a social media influencer with more than one million followers. Do you follow any particular influencers online? 
• What do you think motivates a person to become an influencer? Audrey asserts that her love of “connection” keeps her logging on (pg. 8), but do you think that she’s being honest with herself? 
• Audrey says, “With a million friends at your fingertips, how could anyone ever feel truly alone?” (pg. 8) How did you react to that statement? 
• Do you think that social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram enhance our daily lives, or do you think they’re largely negative influences on us?
• The story is told through three different perspectives: Audrey, Cat, and “Him.” How might the novel be different if it was told only through Audrey’s perspective? What elements of suspense might be missing? Would your perception of the characters be different?
• What were your thoughts about the Roseland exhibit and story?  
• How did you feel about when the stalker/Max mirrored elements from the Roseland Exhibit? 
• The book ends on a somewhat ambiguous note. Do you feel as though Audrey learned anything from her experience, or do you worry that history is destined to repeat itself? 
•  (Why didn’t Max end up in some kind of mental facility, why was Cat the only one who went to jail?) 
• If this book was a movie, who would you cast as the characters? Cat? Audrey? Max? Nick? Conner? 
• Despite the seemingly striking differences between Audrey and Cat, the two, they both seem to be running from the very things that ground them in their character. Their actions evoke the question: How do we mold ourselves, so people see only what we wish them to see?
• Is Cat a sympathetic character? Why or why not? How did your feelings about her change throughout the course of the novel?
• Have you ever been hacked? 
• Is Audrey a “likable” character? Why or why not? If you found her unlikable, how did that impact your reading of the book? Do you believe a protagonist must be “likable” in order for you to enjoy a book?
• Both Audrey and Cat note that Max isn’t the sort of guy that Audrey usually finds attractive, and yet she finds herself contemplating falling in love with him. Why do you think that is? Is it entirely based on Max’s manipulations to win her heart, or is there something else that draws Audrey to Max?
• Did you know the stalker/”him” was “Max”? Did you suspect Cat or Ryan? A character we had not been introduced too? 
• What is too much information to share online? 
• Before reading the book, had you heard of remote administration tools? Did you cover your webcam—either before or after reading the book? Did the book inspire you to change any of your social media or other online habits?