This wasn't as good as the first one. But I guess the romance wasn't as messed up either. The mystery itself was good. Well sort of mystery. It was more psychological warfare. There was a bit of mystery though. I enjoyed the idea of the photocircle. I hadn't heard of that before. They really are amateurs though - they sort of just bungle along from one clue to the next. Aerin was still my favourite. I can't wait to find out what happens in the next one. ( )

https://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/07/30/follow-me-the-amateurs-book-2-sar...

After meeting on the trail of one cold case, newly minted friends Maddy, Aerin, Seneca, and Maddox, receive word that there is another, related crime, not far down the eastern seaboard. Things take a dark turn when the crew shows up, the killer at large promising death and destruction if the professional crime solvers (you know, the police) are roped in.

With Shepard’s knack for writing unsettlingly pretty, brilliant, undone characters, this series is off to a nail-biting start and I am loving it.

Sara Shepard, you devious little thing.

I should have known, going into The Amateurs, that nothing would be wrapped up anywhere close to neatly.

Oh, but I never learn and now I’m hooked on yet another series that will take about two decades to conclude. I’m sure.

I can’t even pretend that I’m upset about this because I honestly love every minute of it.

For me, Shepard’s books are one party silly, frivolous fun and one part dark and devious. They’re certainly not works of literary genius but that’s not really my goal in reading them. For me, they are the ultimate guilty pleasure and she always delivers. I am kicking myself for reading these as they come out because I hate waiting and would rather read them start to finish because I just want to know all of the answers, right this very second. Pardon me while go stalk the progress of the third book like Mona Vanderwaal after four too many cups of coffee. ( )

I found Follow Me an unpleasant, irritating and unsatisfying read, mainly due to the characters and plot.
The Amateurs, a group of teens who fancied themselves as detectives, having originally met through a web site dealing with unsolved murder cases, lived up to their name, and should have steered well clear of this kidnapping. They were amazingly over-confident and did little but solve puzzles and follow clues sent to them by the kidnapper, endangering themselves and others.
The abilities of the villain on the other hand were quite incredible. He was a master of disguise, arch manipulator, and hacker extraordinaire, apparently able to manufacture watertight false identities and deep clean crime scenes.
It was the mismatch in the abilities of the protagonists that made this so unsatisfactory, as well as the explaining away of implausible plot developments by the use of technology.
Overall the combination of teenage romance and glamorous lifestyle details with horrible crimes made for an unpleasant mixture. ( )