I Will Follow

by Eireann Corrigan, Krystal Hammond (Narrator), Jesse Vilinsky (Narrator)

It's every influencer's biggest nightmare when a follower decides to kidnap her TikTok hero in order to become her BFF and a big star herself. Like Stephen King's Misery ...for the TikTok generation.

The first time Nora saw one of Shea's videos on TikTok, something just clicked. You know how you can see someone and know you're supposed to be in each other's lives? Well, that's how Nora felt. She knows Shea is a big star, with nearly a million followers, and Nora isn't. But, really, all Nora needs is her own viral moment. And who better to help her with that than Shea?

If life isn't going to give Nora entry into Shea's world, Nora's going to have to take matters into her own hands.

Meeting Shea. Kidnapping her. Holding her hostage until Shea finally understands...

They are meant to be best, best friends.

Genres: Thriller, Young Adult, Horror, Suspense, Mystery, Social Media, Crime

Audible Audio

First published February 6, 2024

About the author

Eireann Corrigan was born in 1977. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and New York University. She currently lives in New Jersey with her kitten Sumo. When she grows up, she hopes to marry Bob Dylan.

Reviews

[Anni (annithebookaholic) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5☆

This was fine. I liked the concept and how fast-paced this was. Both characters were quite interesting to read about, especially Nora, for her mindset as a kidnapper.

Otherwise, this was a bit boring at times because not a lot happened, to be honest. The ending was also really underwhelming.

What this highlighted for me the most is how little the cops cared about a missing teen, and that probably reflects to the reality of our world as well, sadly.

[chris]

I’m not gonna lie, this book pissed me off so bad I just sat there and sulked for a while after finishing it.

I’m not rating this. I’m so annoyed.

This book SUCKED me in. There was so much in here that was so. Weird. And interesting. It’s literally like the ingredients for a soup were chucked into the pot but someone forgot to actually cook it.

I felt genuinely disturbed and hooked the entire time, but so little actually made sense. Nora’s “insanity,” for lack of a better term, was so interesting but so inconsistent and poorly executed. yet she was such a compelling character that will stay with me. WHY do we not spend time understanding how her psyche and behaviors make sense together? Why is this so short? Why does it just end?

I feel like I’VE been locked in this cabin and I’m the one going insane. I needed this to be like 200 more pages, and also edited and reworked for like another year after that lol. I’m so mad. Fuck

[Cindy (leavemetomybooks) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snagged this from the Scholastic book fair @ work, and it was not what I was hoping for or all it could have been.

Loved the concept (very Misery by way of TikTok - fun!) and all of the 90s music references, but this was kind of a slog to get through.

[Ginger Sewell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️ I read this for my school librarian to check to see if it was appropriate for our middle schoolers. I thought it would be suspenseful thriller but honestly it just seemed very repetitive and dragged on. The ending left me confused as well.

[Dee G · Rating 1 out of 5]

such an odd and insanely unrealistic plot. not enjoyable to read.

[Lisa Flanagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast-paced juvenile novel written in the light of a modern day Misery. Full of current slang and trends, the drive of the story may lose function over time, but the core of it - kidnapping by a crazed fan - remains an enticing topic.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Students are going to love this—TikTok, the kidnapping, all of it. Purchased two copies for now, but will probably end buying more if it’s as popular as I think it will be.

[Patrick Flanagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breath-Taking

[Kim Bahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story but not much action

[Tech Ninja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating 4.5/5

This book was amazing and couldnt stop reading. I liked the premise of it being tiktok and dangers of social media and also the characters personal changes they undergo during this whole book. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes YA it is a good read

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eireann Corrigan has done it again. She grabbed me with the behind-the-scenes look at the world of Tik Tok influencers, and she played with shifting perspectives to create huge tension. Corrigan has an amazing way of getting inside characters' heads, even antagonists like the kidnapper. I particularly loved how Corrigan captured the main character's love of dance while also exploring the darker side of social media fame. I especially enjoyed the uncertainty around whether the main character had even been kidnapped and how the group of friends worked together to find answers.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Nora is obsessed with the social media dance stare Shea, as a way to detach from her life. Her mother has passed away, and her father, whom she calls Sonny, is a disaster prepper who has the two living in a remote location in shipping containers. Shea has her own probles; she started dancing after her father died and her mother slipped into a deep depression. Now, her mother is engaged to marry her best friend Delaney's father. Delaney, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, is supportive of Shea but a little bitter about her almost a million followers and the free items she gets from sponsors and fans. The two are planning an elaborate dance for the parents' wedding, and have a disagreement about whether or not it should be posted. They barely notice that Nora shows up at the dance studio, claiming to have scheduled it. Later, Shea goes to the fair, and is irritated that her mother has scheduled an appearance. She just wants to hang out with her friends, but when she is in the funhouse, Nora approaches her an drugs her with an injection! Having stolen her father's truck, Nora drags Shea, drooling and half conscious, into the truck and takes off into the wilderness, heading toward a family cabin. There, she handcuffs Shea to the bed and outlines her plan. The two of them will become best friends, and create new content together. Nora even goes as far as pressing the sleeping Shea's thumb to her phone screen to unlock it, changing the password, and posting pictures on the account hinting that she is on vacation. Shea tries to survive. While Nora feeds her and even gives her medicine for the wound caused by the handcuffs, she is mercurial, and Shea never knows how she will react. The two do some dances together, but these cause concern for Shea's family, who have alerted the police to her disappearance. The police, however, are treating it as a runaway teen situation. Nora is enraged by the negative comments about her dancing. Clearly unstable (early on, she is shown communicating with an older sister about much needed therapy sessions), Nora holds Shea captive. As the videos include more and more bizarre music, the family try to figure out where Shea is being held. Will they be able to locate her before Nora's behavior becomes unsafe?
Strengths: I'm not sure my students will appreciate it, but I did love Shea's insights on her social media presence, and how perhaps certain actions were unwise. I do tell my students they shouldn't post pictures of themselves at school or in local sports uniforms, and this clearly shows why. The thing that will make this popular is the abduction; fifteen years ago I couldn't keep titles like Mazer's The Solid Gold Kid (1977), Nixon's The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore (1979), Duncan's Ransom (1990), and of course, the hugely popular The Face on the Milk Carton (1990) by Caroline Cooney. Henry's The Girl in the White Van (2020) and The Night She Disappeared (2012). I'm not entirely sure why abduction stories strike such a cord in middle grade readers, but they do. This has a good level of threatening behaviors without being too scary. I also appreciated the shout out to Warner's The Boxcar Children.
Weaknesses: Once again, Scholastic only publishes horror in paperback. Corrigan's Remedy (2021), Creep (2019), and Accomplice (2010) all circulate steadily, so I would love to have this in hardcover.
What I really think: Definitely purchasing, and this will be popular with students; just look at that creepy cover. Once I mention social media, there will be fights breaking out. Maybe I should buy two copies.

[Leila Mosier · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know there are many people who really enjoyed this book, but personally, I had to force myself to continue reading it. The only reason I picked up this book is, because I'm in a book club and this was one of the books I had to read. I will admit that the premise is quite intriguing, and I believe this could have been a very entertaining book, but unfortunately there is no depth behind it.
I would've loved to get a deeper look into Nora's head, and delve into her mental instability. I wanted to see an unhinged girl, that would deeply unsettle any reader of sound mind, but that I could maybe even relate to a little. I wanted a novel, where the scariest part wasn't even the violence, or the plot, although I hoped that would be terrifying too, but that would demonstrate how, even the monsters of humanity, aren't really that different from ourselves. However, I realize those may have been too high of expectations to set on this book, but it also didn't meet my regular standards that practically any good book should meet.
Firstly, I felt nothing for the characters. Not once did I feel any of their pain or anger or terror. In truth, I found them both quite annoying. I could not relate to either of them in the slightest, and there was very little beneath the surface of either of them. There was practically no character development for either Nora or Shea whatsoever.
I found the writing to be quite amateur. The language wasn't at all enticing, and the word choice was very boring. However, I will admit, I am particularly partial to books with complex wording, so that may not bother others as much as it bothers me.
This review may be a tad harsh, so let me highlight a few things I did like. I liked that this highlighted the dangers of social media, and since it is marketed towards young teens, I hope they will remember this the next time they are on social media. This book's foundation is great! There are so many ways one could spin the idea of an obsessive fan kidnapping her favorite social media star. However, I really think that brilliant idea was wasted on this book. I would also like to compliment whoever did the cover art, because it looks gorgeous!!!

[Wren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hi, I’m an actually middle schooler, so this book was intended for my age group. I picked this book up during a Scholastic Book Fair because it seemed interesting. I’m usually into thriller books because the anticipation encourages me to keep reading. While reading this book, the pacing seemed off. When Shea was first kidnapped I got excited, I wondered what would happen next and how people would react.

We do get to see how her closest friend, Delancey responds, but the few chapters showcasing them only serves to highlight Shea’s story. I understand that Shea is the main character, but I feel as if the effects of a close friend/family member disappearing and possibly being hurt wasn’t fleshed out enough in Shea’s family’s characters.

Circling back to Shea’s story, Shea’s kidnapping seemed unnecessarily cruel. With her kidnapper, Nora, a supposed fan of hers. Everything just seemed so insane and bizarre that I wouldn’t expect this to be a story that teachers recommend to you (especially since I bought this from a book fair). The end felt rushed too. I felt confused over the ending and disappointed with the climax.

It may have been cooler if we could just be in Nora’s head. Seeing how she justified everything and erased “details” in her head. The constant “well, if Shea behaved better” or “if Shea wasn’t as…” gets old quick.

I couldn’t even tell you what the lesson is. Because what is it? Be careful on the internet? That feels as if it blames Shea for all the terrible actions that Nora did to her just because “she wasn’t careful enough.” In the end, it’s unclear whether Nora is even caught or not, so what’s the point? Shea is self centered, yes, and she grows, or I believe she does. But that doesn’t give someone the right to “humble” her by treating her inhumanly. Does she get the justice she deserves at the end? No.

[Nomadic Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This YA abduction thriller is reminiscent of Stephen King’s Misery, but with a psychotic teen girl, Nora, who develops a parasocial relationship with Shea, a TikTok influencer/dancer instead of a middle-aged woman angry with the ending of her favorite novelist’s series. It’s a harsh look at influence culture, and how internet fame corrupts the creators as their follower count rises and their focus turns towards monetization and away from the fans who helped them grow their brand. Sadly, when an emotionally and mentally unstable follower convinces herself that her idol needs her help, the price of fame becomes too high.

Author Corrigan’s wise decision to use a dual POV enables readers to see into Nora’s mind and the experiences in her young life that have fostered her delusions. We also see how, despite her fear, Shea uses her time in captivity to reflect on how far her internet fame and sponsorships have taken her away from the joy she used to get from sharing her love of dance with her audience and how exposing even small parts of her life make her vulnerable. The message is an important one for today’s teens and tweens if there are librarians who can guide them to this worthwhile book because it’s not one they might easily find on their own. Recommended.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm am not a fan of this book at all. It is my fault as I didn't realize it was a YA book.
I find it slow and boring. The plot is as thin as a wet paper towel. It barely holds my attention.
The character Delancey was super confusing. Idk if I missed it or if the author never pointed it out. Shae kept calling Delancey "they." I thought i was missing some other character like a twin. But no Delancey goes by those pronouns (insert eye roll).
Halfway through, and I'm just skimming the pages, not missing any details. There are details that make no difference in bringing nothing to this storyline. I probably skimmed the last 80 pages and I couldn't have finished the book sooner.

[bookierookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read I finished in one sitting. Reminds me of Misery by Stephen king. A top follower kidnaps a teen influencer. It was great how Corrigan fleshes out the character of Nora and how she felt justified in her pursuits. I was also very impressed by Shea and how her dance-training gave her such mettle. Her transformation felt believable. But I really didn’t like the ending. It was way too fast and didn’t wrap up any of the characters that it worked so hard to build up. I’m so frustrated that it just was left like this.

[Noah&Fables . · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting. I liked the switching between main two perspectives that were right next to each other in the same environment, and how different both the characters were. But I do feel the ending could have been more dramatic and longer. Also I would have preferred that Nora's following of Shea was more in depth and described more. Though I did appreciated the quick and witty nature of the story. The friends could have been more developed, would have loved to seen Helen's point of view. Just above average this book, and I can live with it.

[Caebaaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is a display of kidnapping fit for what I would say youth. the author keeps you reading by having lots of action never really a dormant moment. this book portrays and paints the picture of a teen girl that is kidnapped by another girl not for amusement or ransom but simply to form a bond of friendship and communication.

This book really does enlighten some real world problems in light ways such as child exploitation, stalking, and kidnapping aswell as sending a message go be careful what you post online

I will say this book is really modernized and annoyed me at some parts

[Smiler · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was overall creepy and Nora was a very good villain, I did find the book a little cringe at times. As a Gen Z person it felt to me like this was written by someone who didn’t fully understand what tiktok was. People don’t really watch tiktok for dancing anymore - it’s mainly a platform for many many things such as art, pets and memes. Some of the meme references were outdated, unnecessary and cringe

[Arianna Mclaughlin (arianna.reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Will Follow is an easy read that takes the influencer thriller subgenre that's been popping-up and gives it an interesting twist. I thought the influencer culture was incorporated well into the story. Sure it can be cringey but there is awareness there and it serves a purpose. It is a primary focus of the book.

Corrigan does a great job getting us into Nora's head and my goodness there is a lot to take in there. I love the psychological side of things so I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into Nora's backstory, but I think that the book balanced Nora and Laynee's POVs well.

3.5

[Silent Eevee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely amazing—I couldn’t put it down! I loved the premise, which revolves around TikTok and the dangers of social media, as well as the personal transformations the characters undergo throughout the story. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA; it’s a fantastic read.

[Autumn Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG this was an insane read. I finished it in less than a week due to it being only 260ish pages and with how good it was. I would recommend this is anyone and everyone. Every new chapter and pov had me hooked and unable to put it down. It really shows that putting personal information on the Internet isn't safe and can result in horrible consequences.

[J Buck · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was initially an intriguing, modern plot, however the author's writing was poor - there was little to no meaningful character development, very basic writing techniques and in reality the plot was quite boring once you got into it. The ending was a particular letdown and felt quite lazy. I won't be reading more by this author.

[Mel (CrazyforBooksandCoffee) · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a slightly rocky start for me and almost a DNF I ended up loving this I was hooked. I just wish that the ending was a bit more fleshed out It just felt a bit abrupt after the build up to it. Still a great fun quick read.

[Ravenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book brings to life the dangers of putting yourself to out there on the internet. It shows the obsession of the follower to the influencer well. The different points of view make it an interesting read!

[Jennifer Purcell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, the characters, and the way it was written - alternating first person narrative from the two main girls. It was clever how the longer it went on, the more similar their 'voice' became. I have to say, I was disappointed with the ending. It felt rushed after a good build up.

[Naoma Hoten emmendorfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good!

[Carson Cuevas · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ ending was probably the best part and Delancey’s POVS but also hate how they didn’t really wrap up with that happened with the characters

[Brea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, just repetitive