Book Review: #FollowMe for Murder by Sarah E Burr

I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Meet 28-year-old influencer and celebrity blogger Coco Cline, who has started her own social media consulting firm in her hometown of Central Shores, Delaware. Her new clients, Sean and Olivia Chen, are ten days away from the grand opening of their specialty consignment shop when Coco stumbles across their store clerk Stacy dead behind the register.

Worried that a cloud of suspicion will ruin their chances of a successful business launch, the Chens ask Coco to work alongside the inexperienced Central Shores police force to speed up the investigation. Using her celebrity status and social media savviness, Coco realizes Stacy’s seemingly ordinary life was all an act.

Following a trail of cryptic online posts, confusing timelines, and muddied gossip, Coco and her friends discover Stacy’s questionable relationships just might be the reason for her untimely demise.

Murder is about to go viral in #FollowMe for Murder, Book One in the Trending Topic Mysteries. (Goodreads synopsis)

I have not read anything by Sarah E. Burr before.

I wanted to like this series because it was different. I have read a lot of mysteries but not ones that use social media, or that the main character is a social media influencer. I should have recognized the red flags. Coco just is not my cup of tea character. I found her to be spoiled, selfish, and just generally unlikeable. The novel starts off with Coco being introduced but it felt more like gloating. Going on and on about her created platform that they later sold to Facebook for millions. But how she wasn’t smart about her money, even though she still has money.

She created another company and it is in its infancy, helping other businesses with their social media platform. I thought that might help me like her more, because she’s obviously trying to help others. Except that she later goes on about her own social media sites, and how she’s still a name.

There was also Coco’s relationship with Hudson that makes me cringe. From the moment it was mentioned that he had another apartment, I was like “drop him, girl. It’s going nowhere.” And while a part of me still thinks that, I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of Coco. Hudson is a news anchor, so his face is plastered all over television and Internet, whereas Coco’s isn’t as much. But Coco seems to get jealous and even disgruntled that Hudson gets more attention than she does. It takes her a few moments to be happy at his success but the feelings are obviously still simmering.

Finally, there is the mystery. I thought it was unique how the different social media platforms flowed into the story. I understood and liked the idea that a social media consultant was the amateur detective. I just wonder if making it less about Coco and more about the victim, the process, and the suspects would have made me enjoy the story more. In this case, when Coco felt she was wrong about one suspect, she pouted and her friends gave her a pity party. Honestly, she wouldn’t last long in an actual detective job if she pouts every time her theories don’t hold up. I also liked how she didn’t go into any unknown situation alone. I hate when the characters do that, and Coco was smart to bring a friend. I wasn’t overly surprised by the ending, however, as it made a lot of sense as the novel progressed.

Overall I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars. I don’t know if I will read further with this series, or if I would like to check out Sarah Burr’s other novels, but I think she has amazing potential.