What It Seems

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$4.99


What It Seems, the fifth novel by Emily Bleeker, is a solid thriller centered on the ideas of family and belonging as well as on the lies people will tell to keep their lives and lifestyles secure.

Twenty-year-old Tara has been raised by Mother, her criminal and seemingly deranged foster parent, since she was eight. Mother has done a number on Tara: cowed into shyness and compliance by the brutal regime at home, although not totally defeated. Tara has a secret escape in the form of the Feelys, a successful family of YouTubers, whose videos she watches whenever she gets a chance.

The Feelys represent family, acceptance, and normality—everything Tara craves—but when she has the opportunity to break free of Mother as an intern on their show, she finds her new life has its fair share of complications and dangers. Tara discovers the Feelys are not quite the perfect family in their videos, and she also has to keep her wits about her in case Mother makes an appearance.

There’s a tense atmosphere hanging over the events of What It Seems as Tara strives to escape from, and perhaps better understand, her past by forging a new future. The overall setup, moving from near-captivity with Mother to working on a major YouTube channel, is perhaps rather implausible, and some of the characterizations a little inconsistent, but the story still manages to be suspenseful and intriguing in places. Emily Bleeker conveys a real sense of unease as the story progresses and it becomes clear the past and the present will collide in a startling and potentially deadly way.


Reviewed By:

Author Emily Bleeker
Star Count /5
Format eBook
Page Count 299 pages
Publisher
Publish Date 2020-03-17
ISBN 0000040220202
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue April 2020
Category Mystery, Crime, Thriller
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