One Click

I really liked this book! One Click is a twisty thriller/mystery hybrid that is less about what happened and more about what's gonna happen.

It's a very current and timely cautionary tale of our cultural obsession with social media sharing. Specifically, how a seemingly innocuous share can go off the rails in unexpected ways and that not everyone who follows our digital trail may actually be a 'friend.' Snapchat, Twitter, blogging, photo-sharing, trolls, are all important contributors to the story.

There are two main female characters, Cleo and Lauren, who meet by chance while on vacation, and develop a relationship with each other IRL. The story alternates between their viewpoints as narrators.

I liked Cleo from the very beginning; show more Lauren, who is older and one would hope wiser, drove me crazy. Not crazy enough to stop reading, mind you, but she drew more than a couple eye rolls and quiet sighs while reading.

You know the stupid person in horror movies who runs up the stairs and gets killed off early? Lauren is the character equivalent of that in terms of her social media use. She's warned of and is smart enough to see the danger, but the allure of digitally archiving her life and getting likes and follows wins. Repeatedly, common sense is trumped by her need to please people she barely knows or doesn't know at all.

Much of the book is build up to the ending, although there are enough twists and turns to keep interest throughout. Quick read, satisfying ending, and a good one to dip into on vacation or during commute. And, unlike many other thrillers, this one actually has something to say so it works on whichever level you want it to - entertainment or social media commentary.

I don't think this is an author I've read before, but I'm glad I had the chance to now and will keep an eye out for her in the future. show less

I am a huge fan of psychological thrillers. As a moderately cautious user of social media, I found Mara’s story to be timely, relevant and grounded in realism. It is the realism that makes this one stand out as a page-turning read for me. I found it easy to relate to Lauren. Lauren comes across as a typical social media user for her age group. She posts pics to Instagram, has a personal blog she maintains and is an active user on Twitter. She is comfortable in her internet world and her network of online friends, and tends to seek out the comfort of her online network as her family and work lives face increasing pressures. No one expects to suddenly be dealing with an online troll over the posting of one seemingly innocent picture, show more and Lauren’s reactions to the unwanted, unrelenting and escalating personal attention she receives is not surprising. I would be freaking out too if I received some of those messages!

The story shifts between Lauren and Cleo, the woman in the photo. We learn more about Cleo’s own dark past, but that isn’t the only backstory – or the only shocking reveal – Mara has in store for her readers. While things get a bit convoluted, I was able to keep track of the characters, their individual stories and the ratcheting drama as the story hurtles towards yet another surprise (for me anyways).

Overall, a compelling, page-turning read. show less

"There’s a familiar nagging voice in my head warning me, reminding me not to share too much, but it’s being drowned out now by something sticky and addictive - the balm that comes from sharing the load."

Dr. Lauren Elliot - mother of two, psychologist, and (above all, it would seem) active photo blogger and social media extraordinaire - finds herself with a internet-troll-cum-stalker after she posts an Instagram picture of a stranger on a beach. Cleo, the woman from the photo, isn’t too bothered by the internet stalker’s relentless interest in her and thinks she has an explanation for it… but soon Lauren becomes increasingly suspicious of everyone around her. How does her internet troll seem to know every detail of her life? Is show more he watching her?

One Click was fast-paced and interesting, but also super frustrating. There were quite a few typos and grammatical errors, and the American characters definitely did not speak completely like Americans… which kept pulling me out of the story. But what was most irritating was Lauren’s thought processes and choices. I kept reading because I wanted to find out who the stalker was, and I did mostly like the story. But I kept internally screaming at Lauren for not seeing what was so obvious or for doing things that I felt were so apparently foolish!

The final reveal was not something I had predicted, so I appreciated that… but I could not suspend my disbelief at all the many threads of insanity in Lauren’s life (I can’t really say more without spoiling things). My opinion of this one is generally positive, because it was very entertaining, despite being incredibly annoying at times. show less

Absolutely relevant and realistic story about what can happen in today's age of social media. So many people don't think twice about posting pictures of themselves, their kids, their life story, basically, on social media. This story delves into what can happen with the innocent posting of a single picture.

It's refreshing that it covers the aspect of posting a picture of someone you don't even know on your social media without asking for their permission. It even covers posting pictures of people you do know without their consent or knowledge without considering the ramifications. In an age of camera phones and Google Glass, no one thinks twice about snapping a pic and putting it up on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or any number of other show more "photo sharing" sites. There is no thought to the possible repercussions to oneself, much less to the person the picture is of.

Most trolls are benign. But what happens when a troll is malicious and intent on harm? That's the entire premise of this book. It's an amazing, easy read that may be fiction, but could easily be a true story. Kudos to the author for a well-written book about a very "now" subject. show less

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story revolves around a psychologist, Lauren, who takes a picture of a tourist and posts the picture on her blog. The photo becomes viral and she soon begins to receive messages from an unknown person demanding that she identify the tourist. The book then introduces the woman in the photo and goes into her intriguing backstory while Lauren continues to receive unnerving messages. Is she being paranoid? Or is her safety at risk?

I was hooked until the end with this intriguing storyline. The book highlights the ethical issues that come with social media and possible consequences of posting details about our lives.

I’m a psychologist so I appreciated the show more author’s depiction of Lauren trying to manage a boundary-crossing and downright creepy client. Lauren also grapples with her own family issues. The book kept me guessing until the end. If you are a fan of psychological thrillers, don’t hesitate to pick this up. show less

THIS is why I love the early reviewers program...every once in a while you get a gem like this! I clicked on the book to make sure it had downloaded properly and 1/3 of the book later I was still there. It is not often you get a bit of a lesson without it feeling in your face, but you do here. And it does this without taking away at all from it being just a spectacular psychological thriller.

One Click is an intriguing novel about the dangers of even one photo (One Click) on social media. Lauren takes a picture and posts it online without permission of the person photographed. This One Click impacts her life from every direction. Full of suspense and emotion, the story leads you to connect the dots in who is trolling Lauren. Do we really know the people we've let into our lives? I feel the need to delete some of my social media accounts now! Great Read!