Watch Me by Angela Clarke.

Follow DS Nasreen Cudmore and her old pal from school, Freddie Venton in this British crime thriller that involves revenge porn and social media. Watch Me is the second book in this series but can be read as a standalone.

I have NOT read the first book in Angela’s Social Media Murders series called Follow Me. But this is not a problem as Watch Me can be read as a standalone AND bit by bit through Watch Me, you are given the gist of Follow Me and the #hashtag murderer. It irritated me how this novel kept going back to the first novel. It seemed as though you were only getting half a new novel and I suspect readers who had read Follow Me would feel short changed.

This novel does explore what can go wrong with social media and how images can be used for a wider audience. The plot is a little far fetched but together Nasreen and Freddie have the skills to catch the bad guys. However, this buy one, get one free style of policing is a little hard to believe. Nasreen gets her police salary but her old school pal Freddie can work unpaid alongside the police team to get the result. Freddie is even given a lanyard to wear, calling her a consultant, so she can stroll around the police station at will. Pull the other one, Angela.

The characterisation of Nasreen and Freddie develops at a fair pace. They have a long standing and cosy relationship that is easy for the reader to play along with. But for all the seriousness of this novel, including suicide or perhaps murder, our crime solving duo come across just like those charming television presenters Mel and Sue.

As I read through Watch Me, I could not get the image of Mel and Sue out of my mind. Even the way the evidence was presented seemed so much like an episode of The Great British Bake Off. Regular police work involves a lot of disciplines and tools but good old Freddie needs just the one tool to solve the case, her blasted smartphone. I read so much about Freddie using her wonderful smartphone, I just hoped she would trip on the stairs and her internet enabled mobile would crash up her backside.

I found Watch Me to be an okay read, it has it’s faults but passed the time. It has a happy ending and can serve as a warning to new users of social media. But for reading pleasure, Watch Me gets the middle score of 3 stars from me. Having read this, I will not bother to read the first book as I get the general idea. I would not be surprised that as more social media platforms are launched, Nasreen and Freddie will embark on another half crime solving adventure that repeats Follow Me and Watch Me in book 3. When authors write a series, each book should have new content and not rely on previous work.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Avon Books UK for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.