Copycat

by Alex Lake

The gripping new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of After Anna and Killing Kate.

Imitation is the most terrifying form of flattery…

Which Sarah Havenant is you?

When an old friend gets in touch, Sarah Havenant discovers that there are two Facebook profiles in her name. One is hers. The other, she has never seen.

But everything in it is accurate. Photos of her friends, her husband, her kids. Photos from the day before. Photos of her new kitchen. Photos taken inside her house.

And this is just the beginning. Because whoever has set up the second profile has been waiting for Sarah to find it. And now that she has, her life will no longer be her own…

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Crime

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2017

About the author

Alex Lake is a British novelist who was born in the North West of England. After Anna, the author’s first novel written under this pseudonym, was a No.1 bestselling ebook sensation and a top-ten Sunday Times bestseller. The author now lives in the North East of the US.

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Havenant recently moved back to Barrow, Maine, after four years of medical school, ready to start her residency at the local hospital.

Everything in her life has been going smoothly until she discovers another Facebook account of her online. The account contained all the details of her and even some new photos of her, which were never shared on social media before. Later, things become more complicated when the people she knows start getting emails from a new fake email id created with her name.

Does Sarah have Dissociative identity disorder? Is someone actually stalking her and deliberately creating all the fake social media profiles? Is Sara's phone hacked and the hacker causing all this mess? Alex Lake will give answers to all these questions through this book.

What I learned from this book
1) What is dissociative fugue?
Dissociative fugue is a symptom seen in multiple conditions where a person with amnesia travels or wanders to end up in unexpected places. People suffering from it usually don't remember their names, whereabouts, and past.

Dissociative fugues are usually seen in two conditions, dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder.

“There is a thing,’ Rachel said, ‘called dissociative fugue—’
'When it happens, people can do all kinds of things – go on long trips, have detailed conversations, commit crimes – which they don't remember at all. They can have no memory of them. It's often,' she continued, 'linked to people taking a new identity."

2) Why is it said that not worrying about anything is everything?
Worrying about something will never solve the problem. It, in fact, magnifies it. It can affect your physical and mental health and can affect your work and productivity.

There are few other schools of thought about worrying. Some say that a little bit of worrying is good for your health, especially for achieving the target or studying for a highly competitive exam.

Some people have even divided worrying into good worrying that protects us and useless worrying that harms us.

Even though there is a difference in opinion regarding worrying, everybody unanimously agrees that worrying about something for a long time is detrimental to our health.

"There's no point worrying about work, he'd say, adding his favorite quote: 'worry is a dividend paid to disaster before it's due. You spend your time thinking about things that might never happen. It's pointless. If it happens, figure it out. If it doesn't, don't worry about it."

3) How can you spot a psychopath?
DSM- 5 tells us hundreds of characteristics shown by different types of psychopaths. The author is sharing a few of those in this novel.

"That person's grandiosity, high self-regard, sense of feeling different, better, than other people was characteristic of a certain group of people.

It was characteristic of psychopaths.”

My favourite three lines from this book

“Suicide is so terrible because the victim isn’t the person who dies. It’s the ones they leave behind.”

“‘It’s a friend request.’ Sarah looked at her husband. 'From me. From Sarah Havenant. From the fake account."

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life?
I think he was pointing out how London offers such broad horizons. Which is a good thing."

What could have been better?
The concept of a doppelgänger completely impersonating the protagonist's social media accounts is a brilliant concept to discuss in a psychological thriller. For a reader to love a novel, they should be able to be empathetic towards the suffering protagonist to feel the way they feel. For that, the readers should be able to connect with the identity of the characters, especially the protagonist. The creation of the character arc of Sarah is sadly flawed and inconsistent in many areas of this book, making the readers lose the emotional connection with it.

Rating
3/5 This will be a good choice if you are someone who loves to use social media and read books related to it.


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[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a strange, sinister and disturbing psychological thriller from Alex Lake set in Maine. Rachel Little used to go to school with Sarah Havenant but hasn't seen her for years. She is moving back to Barrow and sends her a friend request on Facebook, asking Sarah which is the real her. It transpires there are two profiles for Sarah, one that is hers, and another with factually correct details and photographs of Sarah's family and her home. This unnerves Sarah, as she wonders what is going on, who would do this and why. This novel is a salutory reminder of what can go wrong when so much information is posted on social media in today's world and the ease with which cyberstalking can take place.

Sarah's world begins to tumble into a downward spiral of never ending nightmares. Everything she holds dear is at stake, her marriage to Ben which starts to become shaky, and her beloved children. Sarah finds herself being stalked and terrorised by a malignant force. A series of menacing events occur that test Sarah to the limit and her capacity to trust anyone around her. People in her life begin to question her sanity. As danger floats all around her, will Sarah survive? This is a fast paced story with short chapters that ratchet up the tension and suspense. It provides a pertinent commentary and reminder that posting all the details of our life online is not risk free. This is an entertaining and insidious read, full of twists and turns, which I enjoyed. It also requires some suspension of disbelief on occasions in the book. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

About: Copycat is a psychological thriller written by Alex Lake. It will be published on 9/5/17 by HarperCollins, paperback, 416 pages. The genres are psychological, thriller, and fiction.

My Experience: I started reading Copycat on 8/19/17 and finished it on 8/25/17. This thriller is an excellent read! It’s an adrenaline rush to read about stalking and someone impersonating to be you. I absolutely love to hear the bad guy’s (using guy as a general term) confession. It’s always delicious to know the motive. This book is full of suspense and I was caught by surprise when everything is revealed. I love that this book is action packed and there were hardly any dull moments. I like that there are doctors in this book because some advices are useful to take away. After reading this book, I will never eat sausages again! (Thanks Alex Lake, I will never look at those organic sausages the same way).

This book is presented in the third person point of view. Readers will follow Sarah Havenant, family doctor and wife of a lawyer husband, Ben with 3 children living in a small town of Barrow, Maine. An old high school classmate, Rachel Little, contacted Sarah one day wanting to catch up but weren’t sure which Facebook account belongs to Sarah. That’s when Sarah found out that there is someone impersonating to be her. The Facebook account is in her name with pictures of her family and things she’s done the past 6 months. Readers will also follow an unknown person looking for revenge with Sarah. This book introduces many characters and they all have some incriminating role in Sarah’s life. Besides the Facebook, there were emails that involve in the attempted abduction of her kids and hand written letters about depression in her own handwriting. Sarah afraid her anxiety will come back with the panic that she’s reacting to all of these harassment. Sarah’s husband, Ben, thought Sarah may be suffering from dissociative fugue, a “severe psychiatric disorder,” of “her doing all these things, but being unaware of it” as a cry for help. Sarah starts to second guess herself when her best friend Jean agrees with Ben’s theory. This book is organized into three parts, where the first chapter of each part talks about the disappearance of Karen and how no one suspect her live in boyfriend Jack. And then, the exploded plot twist filled with adrenaline rush in part 3 will make you want to stay up all night to read!

This book presented an interesting plot. I like the organization of the book because it creates a lot of suspense and questions for readers. There are so many possibilities that anyone could be the bad guy. The chapter from the bad guy’s point of view is brief and doesn’t show any clues on who it is. I like the concept on dissociative fugue and an example of that man having two family without being aware of it. This book is very well written and it reminds readers about the consequences of blasting our personal information on social media. It’s also a great reminder of who we can trust. This thriller is definitely a page turner and I highly recommend everyone to read it!

Pro: suspense, mystery, cover, social media, third person point of view, plot twists, couldn’t put down, page turner, fast paced

Con: none

I rate it 5 stars!

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for a detailed review

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller by Alex Lake, the novel is full of twists and the pace of the story keeps you wanting to read more. I had previously read and enjoyed 'After Anna' by the same author so I had high expectations and I wasn't disappointed.
The lead character Sarah Havenant, discovers she has a stalker who is going one step further by completely taking over her identity. The stalker assumes Sarah's identity by setting up a fake email and Facebook accounts complete with personal photos, which not surprisingly unnerves her and causes not only a lot of confusion but puts her life at risk.
The book is gripping and thought provoking putting into question what really is possible to do when someone is so determined to cause this kind of havoc.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Harper Collins UK for receiving a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less psychological thriller, more a prescient warning about the dangers of an era in which people so willingly share swathes of personal information online, Copycat is the third novel from Alex Lake. Social media has spawned a raft of psychological thrillers in recent years, largely due to its obvious potential for misuse and Copycat focuses on such a situation. Sarah Havenant is a thirty-eight-year old doctor and a mother of three who has returned with her dependable British husband, Ben, to her hometown of Barrow, Maine. For Sarah a return home has meant reconnecting with old friends and in common with almost everybody of a similar age she enjoys the convenience of keeping in touch with a host of friends and acquaintances in a non-committal basis via Facebook. So when someone who Sarah was at school with gets in touch asking which of the two Facebook profiles is the correct one for her, she is alerted to the other Sarah Havenant! This second account, purporting to be Sarah is scarily accurate and includes photos of Sarah, her friends and even some from inside her house with the history going back six-months. It seems someone is determined to convince Sarah that she has a stalker and at first she assumes it is either an elaborate prank or a misguided attempt at humour but the only possible suspect denies all involvement. However a disorientated Sarah cannot help being unsettled by the fact that this second profile was flagged up by a girl she was never good friends with at school, Rachel Little, just as she herself is due to return to Barrow. Coincidence or could Rachel be harbouring a long held grudge about some teenage boyfriend stealing? Distracted and unsettled, Sarah confides in best friend, Jean, finding Ben unwilling to spend time worrying over what could simply be a technical glitch. Until, that is, the mysterious other Sarah sends the real Sarah a friend request and from then on things get far, far worse for Sarah as an array of bizarre events play out.

Given Sarah’s history of anxiety and the panic attacks which began in earnest after the birth of her seven-year-old son, Miles, it takes little for the constant gnawing tension at the bottom of her stomach and her paranoia to swing into overdrive. Suddenly she is suspecting everyone from patients at the surgery to her mother-in-law in the UK and each and every event takes on a darker and more ominous interpretation. As her settled family and professional life begins to implode, Sarah feels frightened and let down by how willing Ben is to believe everything is a cry for help under the weight of her fragile mental health and Sarah reaches out to an old school friend in the Barrow police, Ian Molyneux. Yet with no actual crime having been committed and no obvious threat made rational attempts at working out who could possibly benefit and who has the technical skill necessary leave Sarah puzzled as she becomes increasing worried about this cyber threat becoming a very real threat and coming dangerously close to her children. As her friends support is tested and her marriage to Ben is taken to the brink with the consensus seeming to be that Sarah is losing her mind, can she ever take back control of her life and just how far is her enemy willing to go..?

Copycat is fairly tepid affair, albeit with a promising opening, however the necessity to suspend disbelief for much of the novel proved an issue for me and as a repetitive second half played out the story dragged, overriding much of my earlier optimism. In truth there is little suspense throughout and this isn’t helped by the cast of characters who all lack depth, not to mention the patently obvious identity of Sarah’s nemesis by the twenty-five percent mark to anyone who has read a handful of psychological thrillers. It is difficult to actually envisage a meaningful relationship between Sarah and Ben, as I found their responses to each other awkwardly wooden with little chemistry between the insipid couple. I do not think it helps that the novel opens with the disconcerting events immediately beginning to unfold and therefore the reader doesn’t have the benefit of seeing the Havenent’s in better times. Likewise there is little consideration given to an abrupt ending which fails to offer much insight into the futures of either Sarah or her stalker. With the final quarter of the novel becoming a little wacky as the predator moves from malevolent to schizoid in the course of just a few pages, Copycat falters drastically into the close. Something I did enjoy were the interspersed chapters (neither marked or italicised) where the perpetrator behind Sarah’s intended destruction gave their own first person progress report and added some creepy intrigue to the whole affair. Clearly an insight into the mind of someone dangerously unhinged, these sections are the only slightly menacing parts and kept me reading just for the comic baddie humour they brought to the novel.

As Sarah begins to realise the full extent of her digital footprint and just how much information she has made public, one of the most interesting aspects in the narrative is how this equates to putting up a bulletin board outside your house with your holiday plans, photographs of your children and an update on your daily plans listed! The added danger with social media however is that anyone wishing to misuse such information doesn’t even have to be in the same neighbourhood, let alone country.

After Sarah has spent much of the story conducting a top-down approach as to whom might hold a grudge the only possible candidates seem to have paper-thin motives, thus it is no surprise that when events do unfold and readers discover how Sarah has supposedly bought all this on herself, the motive seems ludicrously feeble. Attempts to link Sarah’s situation to a somewhat similar mystery over a decade before in Barrow were never really fleshed out in enough detail to be of meaningful significance during Sarah’s own troubles and could only be appreciated in the final few chapters of the book. The writing is fairly unadventurous and perhaps because of the colourless characters there are few serious attempts at delivering at delivering a multi-layered narrative. Thankfully the plot moves quickly up until halfway and Lake’s succinct chapters makes for a easily readable yarn but as the pages flick past with little mounting suspense, Copycat never really captures the imagination.

[Joce (squibblesreads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I reviewed COPYCAT in a video at this link!

I found the last 30% to be condensable to maybe 5-10% of the total page count, repetitive and didn't help me build any suspense. Also, there were some character inconsistencies with the protagonist, the main "suspect" (I guess), and the protagonist's husband. The writing was also nothing to write home about (no pun intended). Overall, very underwhelmed.

[Aj the Ravenous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a shock and I mean that in a good way. I was actually nervous for the main character, Sarah, for her compounding problems with a stalker until it's become out of control and nobody except herself believes she hasn't gone mad. It was really frustrating knowing she's this close to redeeming herself and then the stalker gives her another impossible problem.

The short chapters are really encouraging and the writing is gripping. The narrative shifts between the third person POV and a first person, that of the stalker. It's a pretty smart move that the identity of the stalker isn't revealed up until the last 30% of the novel. The bad guy wasn't a big surprise because I kind of suspected them earlier but only because I've learned to suspect everybody. But how they were revealed was riveting including their motivation and how messed up their mind really was despite being really cunning.

The story delivers a profound message really if you looked at it more closely. How you'll never know people's intentions, never mind if you're close friends on Facebook or even in real life. At the same time, it further highlights the dangers of living in the digital world where we put all our information online for everyone to access. There is no such a thing as being too careful these days.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm apparently the black sheep on this one. I found this story so boring and completely lacking in suspense. It was obvious who the stalker was right from near the beginning. The main character was unrealistically oblivious to what should have been very clear. Her reactions to each incident were so idiotic that I found it hard to believe. I would think a doctor would have a tiny bit of common sense. About 70% through the plot became so ridiculous that it was painful to finish.

I listened to the audio version and the narration was rather odd. While the main character is an American from Maine the narrator had a British accent which was a bit jarring. Her best friend often sounded like a Jersey girl but at other times had no accent at all. The inconsistent accents were a huge distraction.

[Bex (Beckie Bookworm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.beckiebookworm.com/



🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟STARS
OMG!!!! I bloody loved Copycat By Alex Lake. It was one of those books that when you pick it up it's practically impossible to put back down.
And this is what actually happened to me, I decided to read the first couple chapters at midnight to get a feel for it and Wham!!! that was it, I finished in the early hours of the morning, couldn't put it down, it was such addictive reading. a real page-turner.
So the story is about Sarah Havenant a doctor married to Ben, British and a lawyer living in Maine with their three adorable children, the picture-perfect life.
So Sarah gets a friend request from a girl she used to go to school with and she asks Sarah which is her real facebook profile.
Transpires there is another Sarah Havenant using pictures of her children, her husband and from her own house seriously weird and scary.
As events escalate it turns out this is only the start as Sarah's whole world implodes, people around her including her husband start to doubt her sanity.
Sarah and Ben's marriage buckle's under the strain and poor Sarah has no idea who to trust and where to turn when even her own husband is doubting her.
So this is the sort of Psychological mindtwist I adore and Copycat kept me guessing throughout.
I had absolutely no idea who was stalking Sarah and only just guessed right before the shocking reveal.
And to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement, what a conclusion.
sorry for the vagueness I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free.
I would definitely recommend this to my fellow psychological thriller lovers, this one is super fast, its excellently written and the story just flows brilliantly, with never a dull minute to be had here.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an arc of Copycat By Alex Lake, this is my own honest unbiased opinion.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.beckiebookworm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/

[Aditi · Rating 3 out of 5]

“He who searches for evil, must first look at his own reflection.”

----Confucius


Alex Lake, a British novelist, has penned a subtly gripping psychological thriller called, Copycat that is centered around a well established doctor, wife and mother of three kids whose life takes a wild turn when one of her college friends moves back to her hometown who informs her about the fake profile that someone has been using under that doctor's name. Not only that, things get more weird, when the Facebook posts on that fake account gets a little too close to the home, leaving her husband dubious of his wife's mental health condition, owing to the fact that postcards, emails, handwritten notes, Amazon account all are being impersonated by someone who knows the doctor a little too well or maybe the doctor is doing it all by herself, who knows? Read the book to find out!


Synopsis:

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…


Sarah, a mother, wife and doctor, has a happy life, until someone begins impersonating her life digitally on Facebook. Gradually that impersonation gets too close to the home when handwritten notes, letters bearing her own handwriting, and gifts begin to show up her door step. Now Ben, Sarah's husband, is dubious of all these stalking acts and is considering them to be an act done by Sarah herself, owing to her deteriorating mental health condition. Things get more complicated when Ben gets a letter addressed to him written on Sarah's handwriting about a ugly little secret. Can Sarah stop this stalker whoever he/she is, before she loses her perfect life and family forever?

This is the first time that I read any book by this author and I must say, I wasn't too satisfied about the story line or the story telling style of the author. Well, to be honest, the book had all the elements to be a riveting thriller, yet all the elements lacked its depth thereby turning it into something uninteresting and bit flat. Moreover, the plot dragged a lot near the end, and many unwanted scenes and dialogues were forcible fed into the story line. Even the backdrop did not play well into the story line, making it look very plain.

The author's writing style is okay and isn't layered with that much depth or emotions or tension that will let the readers relate or connect or feel thrilled about the story. The narrative is articulate but dragged a lot, like a LOT near the climax, which is extremely predictable to begin with. The pacing is really fast, thank god for that, as the story opens smoothly and has that creepy and chilly factor in its prose, but then right at the middle, the story goes downhill, when things get a little too foreseeable.

The mystery is not at all well concocted with suspense or edgy drama to keep the readers glued to the edges of their seats. The first half of the book is promising and thrilling enough to make the readers turn the pages of the book frantically, but then midway into the story line, things fall flat and the mystery takes a backseat and turns into a rather bumpy and uneasy ride to climax.

The characters are a pain to read about. Too unrealistic and too much cliched. I can keep ranting about the characters flaw for a long time, but I would restrain myself from doing that and rather suggesting the readers to skip this psycho thriller.

Verdict: Not so promising! Not recommended.

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Harper Collins India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.

[Danielle (The Blonde Likes Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to read Copycat after reading Killing Kate by the same author earlier this year. The premise really intrigued me, and I’m a huge fan of books involving stalkers, so I loved that aspect.

That said, I felt like quote of the book dragged on too long. The book starts with our main character Sarah finding a Facebook account that has pictures of her life, but it’s not her account. Soon, letters start showing up in her life that have her handwriting, but that she didn’t write. Is she going crazy, or is there something more sinister happening? While all of that was really interesting at first, it began to get a little repetitive and I found myself wishing we’d get closer to a resolution. While I was able to predict the outcome, I didn’t know all of the details, so there were a few surprises. The end was left pretty open which can be hit or miss for me, and in this case I didn’t love it. I think I’d like it more if there was a sequel, but otherwise I feel like I’m lacking some of the resolution that I wanted.

Overall this was a decent read, but could have improved by being 50 pages or so shorter and getting some answers more quickly.

[Zuky the BookBum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you come across a really easy to read and exciting thriller novel, that doesn’t take up too much head space, and is alotta fun… Copycat is exactly that! This one really helped me out of a reading slump, hallelujah!

I can’t turn around to you and say this is the most menacing, gripping and terrific thriller I’ve ever read, but I can say that it’s worth picking up if you’re looking for a non-challenging but exciting read.

The characters in this one are nicely developed, but there was a bit of a lack of connection between me and our main character Sarah. I think if I’d been able to get to know her better, I might have had more sympathy for her in parts, but alas. I found a lot of the family related situations to be very realistic, and liked the dynamic between husband and wife.

As for the rest of the story, the plot wasn’t particularly realistic, but that didn’t ruin the book in any way. Sometimes you just need a story to take you away from real life and give you a fun fictional tale to follow. Now, just because I didn’t feel like this one was extremely realistic, doesn’t mean I didn’t find parts of it creepy! Some of the “stalkers” ploys at getting Sarah nervous and afraid were really creative and menacing!

In the end, I had guessed how the story was going to play out, but I didn’t have a reason as to why it was going to play out that way. Even though I had my theory on the “stalker”, which turned out to be correct, I didn’t find this took away from the excitement of the end of the novel. I still got to enjoy the now knowing of how the book was going to conclude.

Overall, I really enjoyed this thriller and would definitely say it’s one to look out for if you’re looking for something a little less challenging, but still just as exciting to read as some other darker, more meaningful thrillers on the market (like Watching Edie or My Sister’s Bones, for example).

Thanks to HarperCollins for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I could rate these in sections, it would go like this...
Part 1 - 4 stars
Part 2 - 3 stars
Every single monologue chapter - 1 star. Or zero. Can that be a thing? Because that was seriously getting on my last nerve.

And the last 25% of the book was painful... if I wasn't doing this for a readathon, I wouldn't have finished. It's like once the baddie was revealed, nothing needed to work anymore. The dialogue could be ridiculous, the plot somewhat directionless...

The premise had promise, but unfortunately that's where it stayed.

[Sam (Clues and Reviews) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier this year, I read Killing Kate, a thriller written by Alex Lake. I really ended up enjoying it so I instantly went to Kindle and downloaded After Anna, another title by the author. Needless to say, when I found out that Copycat, the newest release by Alex Lake, was coming out this month, it went to the top of my TBR pile!

The book was written extremely uniquely, which I loved. Written in parts, the first is told in alternating chapters between Sarah, a doctor who finds out she is being stalked, and the mysterious, unnamed stalker. As Sarah’s life begins to unravel and her sanity is called into question, this section is written in short chapters; very easy to get lost in. Lake does an amazing job at capturing Sarah’s anxiety and increasing paranoia. In fact, I loved the Sarah character and as the novel progresses Sarah finds herself sinking deeper and deeper into her own mind as she questions the motives of her “copycat” and the story is very intense! This section of the novel gave me a similar vibe as The Breakdown by B.A Paris.

The second section of the novel threw me for a bit of a loop; when it begins, it appeared to be going back ten years prior. However, after the first chapter, it went right back to the alternating chapters between Sarah and her stalker in the present. I felt like the dividing of the novel was random and a little bit confusing. Why bother to separate the writing when there isn’t anything different unfolding? I also found that the story lagged a bit at this point. It felt a little bit redundant throughout the middle and it was very long.

However, I did end up really enjoying the end of the novel; I was on edge as everything came together found that the conclusion was satisfying. I liked the way that Lake left things a little bit open-ended. I personally appreciate endings like these.

Overall, if you enjoyed The Breakdown by B.A Paris, I think you would like this one. I also think that lovers of suspenseful women’s fiction will be drawn to this story. However, if you are looking for an on the edge of your seat style thriller, this one will probably leave you feeling the need for more.

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the best-selling author of After Anna comes the brand new psychological thriller Copycat. I can tell you Psychological thriller lovers that Copycat is very creepy indeed. It gets even creeper page after page. Karen a mom of two boys went missing after leaving a bar. Sarah Havenant hadn't seen Rachel Little for over a decade, but there on Sarah's Facebook was a friend request, from Rachel who Sarah went to high school with and is now moving back to Barrow.  Rachel has a creepy question for Sarah, is this the right account for you or is it the other one with your name and photo on? The other profile photo was indeed of Sarah. But why the hell has someone set up another Facebook account with her details?  Weird as it seems could this be some kind of sick joke? Who was doing this to Sarah? Will Sarah be able to unravel this creepy person who is imitating her?

[DeAnna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book up until the end, then I was sadly disappointed. I felt like the end was predictable and typical. I had been hoping for so much more. I feel like this book had a great story line and so much potential, but it just fell flat at the end. That is my opinion, but I saw another review by a friend that said they loved the ending, so what is a 3⭐️ for me may be a 5⭐️ for others. Happy reading!!

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread) · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was a bit disappointed with this book having loved the authors previous books. it seemed to drag on a bit and i found the main character a bit annoying. started off good but just didnt carry on.

[Tracy Shephard · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there was a book that made you want to read the last few pages first..this is it.

Copycat is an electrifying suspense filled ball of tension and I loved it.

Sarah Havenant, discovers she has a stalker. But this is a stalker with a difference and they are pretending to be her.

Overtaking her life with emails and fake Facebook accounts, Sarah has a hard time keeping it together. Everything in her life, her husband, her children and her job is at risk from this unknown terrifying person reeking havoc at every turn.

This is a book that will really appeal to avid loves of psychological crime fiction. It has everything, terror, reality and plain old suspense.

Although the ending was a tiny bit far fetched and did go on a bit, (for me anyway) this is a gripping read. It has an edge that is rarely achieved and I couldn't wait to see how the Sarah and Ben's plight was resolved.

It didn't disappoint.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah lebt ihren Traum. Sie ist eine erfolgreiche Ärztin und lebt mit ihrem Mann und ihren 3 Kindern in einem beschaulichen Örtchen. Sarah ist jedoch sehr irritiert, als sie zufällig einen zweiten Facebook-Account unter ihrem Namen findet. Auf dem Profil finden sich private Fotos, die sie niemals gemacht hat. Nach kurzer Zeit ist das ominöse Profil gelöscht und Sarah glaubt schon fast an einen technischen Fehler. Doch die merkwürdigen Gegebenheiten häufen sich. Jemand verschickt in ihrem Namen Emails, tätigt Amazon Bestellungen... Sarah wird immer verzweifelter, als sie merkt, dass das alles nicht aufhört und es offensichtlich jemand auf sie abgesehen hat. Wer tut sowas und vor allem, wer ist überhaupt in der Lage dazu?

Bereits auf den ersten Seiten vermag das Buch mich zu packen und ich hatte recht schnell einen guten Überblick über das Leben von Sarah und ihrer Familie. Daher konnte man auch direkt das beklemmende Gefühl nachvollziehen, das sich bei Sarah ausbreitete, als sie den zweiten Facebook Account findet. Obwohl sie zunächst an einen Scherz oder Fehler glaubt, kann man trotzdem fühlen, wie sich in Sarah eine Angst ausbreitet. Nach und nach häufen sich diese Ereignisse und Sarah bekommt es mächtig mit der Angst zu tun. Irgendjemand übernimmt ihr Leben und treibt gemeine Spielchen mit ihr. Doch wer tut so etwas? Wer hat etwas davon? Sarah überlegt fieberhaft, wer es auf sie abgesehen haben könnte. Währenddessen spitzt sich die Lage immer mehr zu, denn so langsam beginnen selbst ihre Freunde und ihr Mann an ihr zu zweifeln.

"Wovon du nichts ahnst" ist bereits der dritte Thriller, der unter dem Pseudonym Alex Lake erschienen ist. Auch dieses Buch konnte mich wie gewohnt mit seiner schnell zugänglichen Story packen. Lake schreibt sehr leicht zugänglich und vermag es, den Leser schnell in die Story einzuführen. Es wird eine sehr beklemmende Atmosphäre aufgebaut und man kann die Verzweiflung der Protagonistin förmlich greifen. Sarah, die eigentlich sehr rational veranlagt ist, kann sich die Vorkommnisse einfach nicht erklären. Als sich die Vorfälle häufen und es logisch gesehen kaum andere Erklärungen gibt, beginnt ihr Umfeld an ihr zu zweifeln. Fädelt Sarah diese Sachen etwas selber ein? Sarah weiß langsam nicht mehr wo ihr der Kopf steht und beginnt an sich selbst zu zweifeln. Ich konnte tatsächlich richtig gut mit Sarah mitfühlen, diese Verzweiflung und Ohnmacht, aber auch Wut, dass alle anderen ihr scheinbar einfach nicht glauben wollten.

Nach etwa zwei Dritteln des Buches löst sich das ganze Geheimnis auf. Zunächst dachte ich, dass der Zeitpunkt vielleicht etwas zu früh gewählt war, doch auch nach der Auflösung ging es rasant weiter. Bis bei allem Beteiligten dann mal der Groschen gefallen ist, hat es tatsächlich noch einige Seiten gedauert. Teilweise war das Geschehen zum Ende hin etwas überspitzt und ein wenig unglaubwürdig.

Insgesamt hat mir "Wovon du nichts ahnst" wirklich gut gefallen. Die beklemmende Atmosphäre, die Tücken von modernen Medien, gepaart mit einer nervenaufreibenden Story haben eine wirklich gute Story entstehen lassen. Ich hoffe mich erwarten in Zukunft noch viele solche Bücher von Alex Lake.

[Kateryna · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day Sarah discovers that she has another Facebook profile set up in her name that copies all the details of her life. When other odd things start to happen, she realizes that someone is messing with her life. I enjoyed this book up until the end, then I was sadly disappointed. It was obvious who the stalker was, but I was curious about 'why'. It was a thin reason, a stretch to destroy someone's life over, and I wasn't buying it. This book had a great story line, but the final part was dull and dragged. Overall not a bad read, just not a gripping one, it had the potential to be so much better.

[The Book Review Café · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if someone set up a fake Facebook profile in your name, not only that but they posted up to date photographs of your family and inside your home, and wrote things about your life, things only the closest people to you would know, I know it would seriously freak me out! This is pretty much the premise for Copy Cat. From the opening chapter when Sarah Havenant comes across her fake profile she soon realises it’s not an elaborate joke or a mistake, it’s deliberate, she has a stalker who will go to extraordinary lengths to terrorise her and make her life a living nightmare. If you thought the Facebook profile seems creepy, it’s gets a whole lot worse for Sarah.

The short chapters told by an unknown narrator made for a riveting read, full of venom it’s obvious the person is holding a huge grudge, they won’t be happy until they’ve ruined Sarah’s life, as you read more of these chapters you realise this is one seriously warped Individual. As her family and friends begin to doubt her Sarah’s life begins to unravel in the most spectacular fashion, what follows is a very tense and disconcerting read. as to the whom? and Why? Alex Lake weaves an intricate and chilling tale and keeps the reader very much in suspense until the last few chapters. With a large array of suspects, this is one of those novels where you find yourself getting paranoid about each and every character, conjuring up motives at every opportunity.

When I first picked up Copy Cat I thought it had similarities to Friends Request by Laura Marshall with Facebook and social media being the central theme, but that’s where the similarities end Copy Cat is darker, more disturbing and definitely more creepy. I have read a couple of reviews that state the ending is far fetched, yes it probably is but then again when an author writes such a gripping and disturbing book I’m happy to suspend belief, after all at the end of the day it’s a fictional book. This is a very compelling psychological thriller and a sharp reminder about the consequences of sharing our personal information on social media, you only need to read this book to see where it can lead. If you are a fan of psychological thrillers that are unnerving, twisted and gripping then look no further Copy Cat is definitely the book for you.


All my reviews can be found at http://thebookreviewcafe.com

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copycat falls into what I refer to as domestic thrillers. I’m sure there’s a much better, more legitimate, name out there, but in my mind they will always be domestic thrillers. All the drama and events surround the home life, with these books often following a mother as her life is turned upside down.

When it comes to my thriller reads, these are probably my least favourite. I appreciate them, I enjoy them, but I’d much rather a thriller that follows a police officer or someone else who gets caught up in the much bigger picture. In many ways, this reflects how I prefer series where I can follow the characters over individual books. Of course, all of this is personal preference – and, whilst domestic thrillers may not be my favourite kind of thriller, I do enjoy these types of books every so often.

If I’m being completely honest, I had a bit of an up and down with this book. I was constantly curious, yet I was never sucked in. There were times where things seemed to drag and there were times when I could not put the book down. It was enjoyable, but it was not what I had been anticipating.

In truth, I probably would have enjoyed this more had it not been so predictable. I worked out pretty early on where the story was going, and none of the ‘twists’ surprised me. I enjoyed watching the details come together, but I was constantly waiting for something to jump out and surprise me.

Overall, enjoyable but I’d hoped for a wee bit more.

[Aoife · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would not recommend this book.

In Copycat, the reader follows Sarah - a doctor and a mom of three, as well as happily married. She lives in the small town she grew up and things seem perfect until an old classmate of Sarah's comes back to town and remarks how she wasn't sure which Facebook page was Sarah's. When she looks online, Sarah discovers someone has been impersonating her,as well as stalking her and her family. Soon her friends and family start getting notes from someone pretending to be Sarah and as she becomes desperate to find out the truth, people start looking at her as if she needs help and is doing everything for attention.

This was fine. I thought some of the conversation around what you put online in terms of your life, family, personal details and how easily these things can be used and abused by people you don't know online was good but this wasn't a new conversation, and there's been many books that have done this better. I found the writing fairly simple, as well as the story quite repetitive at times (something would happen to Sarah, and then we would have a whole other section of Sarah explaining all of this to another person so the reader gets it twice).

I hated the 'plot twist' in this book that had someone go a bit mad and literally become a murderer due to her infertility as well as playing up the evil stepmother trope. It's boring and lazy and also everything was just very dramatic and not very realistic at all.

[Ali Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had been looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. In this day and age so many of us use social media apps, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and am sure many of us have come across all the usual problems and sometimes things can get a little scary so this book was excellent at highlighting just how easy it is for somebody to steal somebody's profile. It was easy to read and flowed well - I did take a wild guess around halfway as to who it was and i was correct - but it was an enjoyable read and would recommend.

[donna backshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put off reading Copycat for almost a year, because the reviews said it was merely "good", not thrilling or life-changing or even great. How I wish now I'd gone with my gut and jumped on it when it was released! I give it five enthusiastic stars.

Copycat falls into the category of a currently popular type of mystery novel: a female character witnesses something that affects her personally, she tries to warn people and figure out what's going on, NO ONE BELIEVES HER, and her sanity circles the drain as she tries to salvage her relationship, job, family, everything through some kind of resolution of the situation. I have to admit I love this kind of novel, and can never get enough of these frustrating but thrilling stories. The Woman in Cabin 10 and Baby Teeth are good recent examples of similarly structured novels that were also well-written and compelling.

Sarah, the main character, finds out she's becoming the victim of identity theft. Not in the old-fashioned taking-all-her-money way, but in the much more violating impersonation way. Someone created extra accounts in her name and is posting pics, sending emails and basically effing with her in strange ways. Sarah and her husband shrug it off as nonsense, but it ramps up quickly into something that seems too real and too perfect to be blamed on an outsider. When fingers start pointing at Sarah for sabotaging her own life, things go off in ways all of us can relate to.

While I didn't agree with how all of this was handled as it "went down", I can see how one might react similarly in real life. Books like this, that beg you to formulate a game plan and ask plenty of "what if?" questions, are important. In the 21st century, where more of our interactions are electronic than in-person, being faced with this kind of scenario is fairly probable. We *should* be scared, and we should be prepared, for when imposters try to invade our personal lives, hiding behind the veil of The Cloud.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering how so many of us are using social media, this story was scary! Someone appears to be impersonating Sarah Havenant. In fact, the impersonator is so good that it appears that the only person who could be doing this is Sarah herself. As the story progresses Sarah's life and her family fall apart. After a while you question your own sanity and your husband has doubts about your denial of being the one that is doing this. Sometimes the truth is right in front of you and it can be horrifying.

[Laura Wonderchick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I had this book figured out by about 1/4 of the way into it. It had a few twists at the end that were unexpected that were entertaining.

[Emmy Hermina Nathasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mula-mula rasa macam, plot terlalu jelas. Rasa macam tiada misteri untuk ditelusuri. Tapi saya teruskan juga bacaan dan habiskan buku dalam satu malam! Ada menggentarkan apabila menyedari ada orang meniru apa yang kita kongsikan di hantaran, tahu apa yang kita buat dalam kehidupan seharian, mengintip apa yang kita lakukan - hingga melibatkan anak-anak dan suami, serta rakan-rakan. Berdebar juga baca. Dan helah si peniru begitu meyakinkan hingga saya sendiri tertanya-tanya betul kot. Tapi boleh teka jugalah siapa peniru tu. Another thriller yang tidak mengecewakan!

[Kirstie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Such an original story. And she weaves a tale very well

Not sure the tag line about imitation is really relevant. This is more about sabotage of someone’s life. But who could hate you enough to go to such lengths?

[Carol Suraci · Rating 5 out of 5]

COPYCAT is a thriller you will not be able to put down...you will miss sleep and not do your chores! This is the second Alex Lake book I have read, and I was not disappointed. In fact, I can't wait for the next one.