How do you know who you're talking to online? Who lurks behind that desktop, laptop, tablet or phone screen? When you tweet, or update your status on Facebook, or even write a blog post, how do you know who's reading it?
All these chilling questions are at the heart of Lottie Moggach's debut novel. It's the first book I've read to truly get to the heart of these unsettling issues and ask its reader to query the trust we now place in the internet, and social networking in particular.
Tess wants out. Out of her life, out of her family, out of the world. To help her slip away, Leila agrees to take on her identity online after Tess has taken her own life. Leila takes this project on at the request of Adrian, a philosophical guru she has met on a discussion forum. For Leila is nearly housebound, cut off from normal life by years of caring for her mother, an MS sufferer.
So that she can "be" Tess online, Leila embarks on an exhaustive trawl through Tess' s virtual past. With Tess's cooperation, Leila sits at her computer and reconstructs Tess's life. She reads her emails, her Facebook updates, her entire digital backstory in her quest to become Tess. And of course she is quickly in too deep. Beautiful, flirtatious, confident Tess is everything that Leila is not. Soon "being" Tess is more attractive than being Leila.
The premise is original but this is more than just a concept-driven novel. Leila is a captivating narrator. Personally, I pitied her and wanted to protect her from the harm. However, Leila is of course doing harm through her actions - even though she cannot see this herself. I've already enjoyed discussing Leila's actions and can see lots of bookgroups having a great chat about this very issue.
The novel really made me think about the idea of a digital footprint. So many people now rely upon the internet for communication, and so many of us now meet people online. But why do we trust our screens? After reading Kiss Me First I've found myself thinking twice before updating my status and filling in my "friends" about my trip to the gym. Who knows who's reading it?
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