Don't Look Now
Don’t Look Now is a fast-moving thriller that mixes hashtags with psychopathic slashers. A modern Jack the Ripper tale, this novel’s contemporary details make it vivid, believable, and extra frightening.
When a serial killer takes to social media, London detective Dan Fenton hopes to find some forensic evidence. However, whoever is murdering young women in inner London knows his stuff. Without leaving a trace of DNA at any crime scene, the killer memorializes each deadly act on social media, capturing the horrific last moments of his victim. Using the hashtag #IKiller, he quickly builds a fascinated social media following, spurring tabloid headlines like “Instagram Killer Is Online Thriller” and “Social Media Frenzy Over Twitter Ripper.” Fenton searches for clues in the lives of the victims but doesn’t realize he’s running out of time until his daughter and another person close to him are threatened by the killer.
Fenton’s inquiry takes him deep into the psychopath’s tortured mind, while other police officers and Adam Blake, an ex-boyfriend of one of the victims, begin investigations of their own. With chapters that alternate the murderer’s perspective with other characters’, Don’t Look Now builds suspense quickly and sustains the tension. It is a tightly written, grim mystery that builds on Blake’s growing paranoia and his past trauma in Iraq to keep the plot twisting along.
Once Blake and Fenton start working together, the plot thickens. Their collaboration and strengthening friendship add dimension to the book. Author Max Manning makes it clear that everyone is a suspect. The novel is packed with clues (and red herrings!), but the real standouts are details that make the story feel flesh-crawlingly possible.
Social media has never been spookier. Don’t Look Now is criminally captivating.
Reviewed by
Claire Foster
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
