‘Copycat’ is a mystery novel following Adison as the lines between fact and fiction are bent and broken. She must defend herself, protect her family and friends and solve the mystery. But can she prove she’s innocent and figure out who the real killer is before time runs out?
I give this book 3.5 stars (out of five). It’s a very good murder mystery story where you don’t know who the killer is until the final reveal and it’s very unexpected but it still makes sense and you can understand each character’s motivations. This is the kind of book that once you start reading you just have to keep reading until you finish the entire thing.
This story follows Addison, an avid reader of the popular Gap Lake mystery series and she even runs a blog where she posts fanfiction and other related content. It’s just a normal day for her until someone claiming to be the mysterious anonymous author messages her online and Addie and her best friend Maya discover a dead body in their school.
That’s when things start getting weird and keep getting worse, Addie becomes a suspect and all her attempts to prove her innocence fall on deaf ears. Even worse, Maya is hit by a car and Addie is nearly killed in a fire, things just keep going wrong and Addie has to solve the mystery of who the killer is and live to tell everyone. There is a big twist and reveal in the end of the story where everyone finds out who the killer is and there’s one final action scene in which Addison and the killer fight it out. Addie fighting for her life and the killer fighting to stay hidden and destroy the evidence of their crime (they also just want to kill her for other reasons too).
Throughout the story there is lots of torment and bad things that happen to Addison which just makes the ending all the more satisfying when [spoiler alert] she survives even after being through all those terrible things (like being framed for multiple murders, getting taunting emails and nearly killed a few times).
I really liked the concept of a killer copying a fictional killer or the author actually being a murderer, because it was quite interesting to see all the different possibilities that could come from that. I also quite liked the inclusion of the concept of not knowing what is real and what is fiction and the irony of people thinking Addie did it for writing horror fanfiction when in reality it was actually the original author instead.
I also liked how they showed online messages and interspersed them throughout the story going along with the plot and other conversations. Addison had lots of depth, specifically in her relationship with her rich father, her friendship with Maya and her fear of being in cars and driving because of being in a car accident (which is also a motive for framing or killing her). This is also later used to show her character growth and how she’s changed by the end of the story.
My main criticism is that it was sort of unrealistic and very dramatic, but whether or not you like that style of story is a personal preference. It’s definitely not the most realistic murder mystery out there but it’s still a pretty fun read with a great twist and ending.