Stalker Stalked

​As an avid reader and participant on the team of Blackthorn Book Tours I chose this novel mostly because of the author and then the summary/blurb cinched it for me.  I have read a few of this author’s novels and only one so far wasn’t my sort of thing.  So, I figured this was a safe choice and going to be a good novel.

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​Here’s the blurb:
 
“Lexi Mazur is a depressed, alcoholic, pill-popper whose only joy has become her reality TV shows, often fantasizing that the people on TV are a part of her world. After her boyfriend Steve leaves her, she fixates on the show Socialites and its star Magnolia Artois, following every facet of the girl’s life on social media in the hopes of befriending and becoming more like her. 
 
But stalking isn’t new to Lexi. She ultimately won over her ex Steve by following and manipulating every minute detail about him so he’d fall for her. In fact, she landed her other ex-boyfriend Jeremy in the same way. Being a pharma rep, she’s used to manipulation to get doctors to buy her drugs, along with the perk of saving pills for herself. 
But what happens when the stalker gets stalked?
 
Recently, Lexi has felt someone watching her: in her apartment in Queens, at her job. At first, she thinks her mind’s playing tricks, but the watcher is behaving just like she would. And soon they begin leaving threatening clues like she starts to do to Magnolia once her obsession grows more dangerous. Is it one of her exes out for revenge? Her only real friend from childhood who she’s always had an unhealthy rivalry? A detective who may have figured her out? The reality star Magnolia trying to turn the tables? Or even someone she might not know?
 
Lexi learns the only way to beat her stalker is to use her own stalking prowess to outsmart them at their own game. But has she finally met her match?”  

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​And I was right!  Now, I must admit that at the beginning I was unsure.  There is a lot of content in the first few chapters about one particular character on a reality tv show.  I personally cannot stand the scripted drama of reality tv so I was a little put off at the start.  I almost decided to forgo the rest of the novel, thinking that if it was only about this chick’s obsession with this awful reality show and its horrible cast I could not bear to read a full novel of that.
 
Luckily for me, I stuck with it and it turned out that the reality show stuff was more of a lead in and background plot which then left plenty of room for the creations of Goldberg that I tend to enjoy so much.
 
This novel was actual quite a thrill to read and truly had me going back and forth on what I thought would happen next or who would be involved.  Quite the page turner and eerie, creepy surprises around every corner.  I have to say this was one of those novels that after the first few chapters I could barely set it down.  The writing of the main character is superb and beyond capable of creating a real sense of who this gal is.  The unsettling feeling of someone watching you or following you is completely palpable in this literary creation.
 
For the suspense thriller and adrenaline junkies, this one’s for you!
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars

About the Author 

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels THE DESIRE CARD, THE MENTOR, and SLOW DOWN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. The second book in the Desire Card series, PREY NO MORE, is forthcoming in 2020, along with his first Sci-Fi novel ORANGE CITY.
 
His new endeavor will be as the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fringe Press and Fringe Digital, dedicated to publishing fiction that’s outside-of-the-box.
 
His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests.
After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City.
 
Follow him at:
Website – leematthewgoldberg.com​
FB – https://www.facebook.com/leemgol
​IG – https://www.instagram.com/leematthewgoldberg/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/LeeMatthewG

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