Tell Me No Lies (Follow Me Back, #2) by A.V. Geiger: Non-Spoiler Review

ARC provided by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Book: Tell Me No Lies

Series: Follow Me Back, #2

Author: A.V. Geiger

Pages: 336

Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller

Publication Date: June 5, 2018

My Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Love. Obsession. Jealousy. Murder.

No one knows what happened to pop icon Eric Thorn. His Twitter account? Frozen. His cell phone? Cracked and bloody, buried in the snow.

Agoraphobic fangirl Tessa Hart knows the truth, but she’s finally left her #EricThornObsessed days behind. She has no intention of ever touching her Twitter app again. But Snapchat… That’s safer, right?

After months of living under the radar, Tessa emerges from hiding, forced to face the deadly consequences of her past. But in the interrogation room, answers only lead to more questions in the pulse-pounding conclusion to the Follow Me Back duology.

This review will contain spoilers from the first book, Follow Me Back.

I have some mixed feelings about Follow Me Back, but after that cliffhanger? I NEEDED to know what happened to Eric. Seriously, you cannot end a book in that fashion and expect me to just be okay!

After the mysterious ending that was Follow Me Back, Eric Thorn goes missing. Tell Me No Lies picks up right where the cliffhanger left off, and we learn pretty quickly what happened. Just like the format in Follow Me Back, Tell Me No Lies alternates between third person narrative and police interrogation transcripts. There are also lots of chat transcripts from Twitter and Snapchat. I’m a huge fan of chat transcripts and mixed media formats, so I was happy to see this again in the sequel.

Lately I haven’t been a huge fan of YA thrillers but honestly? I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I buddy read the ARC with Jen at Pinot and Pages, and we both devoured it within one day. We could not put it down. Is the writing the best? No. Are the characters the greatest? No. Is it a page turner? YES. There were so many red herrings and twists that I honestly didn’t know who to trust.

Tell Me No Lies once again follows Tessa, who is under police interrogation… AGAIN. Not only is she hiding something, but some new (and old) characters come into play. And as if these characters never learned their lesson before, they go back on social media where it, AGAIN, ruins their lives.

And, yes, while there were so many (so. many.) times I wanted to punch Tessa in the face, I loved how Geiger was able to keep me interested and engaged the whole time. The obvious theme is how far we can get carried away with social media, how dangerous that other person at the end of the internet can be, and how we can’t trust anybody. This also brings up the notion that we now live in a society where we are basically monitored 24/7. We really can’t hide. Ever.

Tell Me No Lies does read like a young teen novel, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re not a fan of constant social media speak. The characters don’t have a lot of growth and the scenarios are unbelievable. But hey, the mystery had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I really enjoyed the ride!

Lastly I’d like to mention this book discusses mental health (especially anxiety and agoraphobia) a lot so please proceed with caution if this topic may be a trigger for you.

Tell Me No Lies releases on June 5, 2018. Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire for the digital ARC!

xx,

Amy