[Book Review] Stalker Stalked by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Publisher: All Due Respect, an imprint of Down & Out Books

Publication date: 17 September 2021

Length: 286 pages

Buy – https://www.amazon.in/Stalker-Stalked-Lee-Matthew-Goldberg-ebook/dp/B099P1W3BW

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Blurb

Lexi Mazur is a depressed, alcoholic, pill-popper whose only joy has become her reality TV shows, often fantasizing that the people on TV are a part of her world. After her boyfriend Steve leaves her, she fixates on the show Socialites and its star Magnolia Artois, following every facet of the girl’s life on social media in the hopes of befriending and becoming more like her.

But stalking isn’t new to Lexi. She ultimately won over her ex Steve by following and manipulating every minute detail about him so he’d fall for her. In fact, she landed her other ex-boyfriend Jeremy in the same way. Being a pharma rep, she’s used to manipulation to get doctors to buy her drugs, along with the perk of saving pills for herself.

But what happens when the stalker gets stalked?

Recently, Lexi has felt someone watching her: in her apartment in Queens, at her job. At first, she thinks her mind’s playing tricks, but the watcher is behaving just like she would. And soon they begin leaving threatening clues like she starts to do to Magnolia once her obsession grows more dangerous. Is it one of her exes out for revenge? Her only real friend from childhood who she’s always had an unhealthy rivalry? A detective who may have figured her out? The reality star Magnolia trying to turn the tables? Or even someone she might not know?

Lexi learns the only way to beat her stalker is to use her own stalking prowess to outsmart them at their own game. But has she finally met her match?

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My Review of Stalker Stalked

I had a single thought after I finished reading Lexi’s story — “Wow! What was that?!”

Stalker Stalked is a twisted tale of drug and alcohol addiction leading to losing touch with reality. Lexi is an addict who has had a broken, abusive childhood. She copes with her trauma in the present by abusing pills and alcohol. Her addiction causes her to lose touch with reality and she begins to believe she is a part of a “reality” TV show.

Lexi stalks the main character of the show, but things take a bizarre turn when she realizes that someone is stalking her, too.

The author describes the unraveling of Lexi’s mind and its ripple effect on her relationships in such canny detail. He may have gone a bit overboard with the detail in a few scenes where he describes Lexi’s craziness, but perhaps that is the appeal of this book.

I loved the author’s previous book, The Ancestor, even though it required the reader to suspend disbelief. But it was such a novel plot and the writing style was exquisite.

Stalker Stalked is completely different from The Ancestor but the writing is amazing. Nevertheless, it felt like the twist where Lexi the stalker gets stalked did not work well. The explanation is ludicrous even though I saw the connection with Lexi and her state of mind.

It was difficult to read accounts of Lexi’s abusive childhood. We carry the scars of past trauma throughout our lives, no matter how good or happy we may be in the present.

Stalker Stalked ends unexpectedly and no attempt has been made to give it a happy ending. I liked the fact that the ending was rooted in reality because the entire story deals with Lexi’s flights of fancy.

Stalker Stalked is a bizarre yet chillingly accurate depiction of addiction and child abuse. It will shock you and entertain you (if you’re into gruesome stuff) in equal measure.

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(I received an e-copy of the book from Blackthorn Book Tours with a request for an honest review.)

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