Stalker Stalked

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S STALKER STALKED ABOUT?
Lexi Mazur is a pharmaceutical sales rep who has a habit of sampling her products in addition to drinking pretty heavily. When her boyfriend of about a year breaks up with her, things get worse. Her pill uptake and drinking increase, and she escapes into Reality Shows like The Real Housewives of __, and her new obsession (literally), Socialites. She'd been heavily invested in those shows before—it was a bone of contention with her ex—but she sunk to pathological levels after the break-up.

Soon, Lexi begins showing up at locations that she knows one or more of the stars of Socialites will be, trying to put herself in a situation where their paths will cross, in the belief that it's all it will take for them to befriend her. Once they're friends, her life will improve and she'll get a bit of the glamorous life they have—maybe even a role in the show.

She has some reason to think that this behavior will work—it has been the foundation (and eventual doom) of her romantic relationships.

Yeah, Lexi is a stalker—she just has a new outlet for these impulses. Her behavior and substance abuse spiral to new depths. We get some details about her prior issues and behaviors, but the novel primarily documents her descent to rock bottom.

That would be enough for most authors, but here's where Goldberg throws in the plotline that makes Stalker Stalked stand out. In the midst of all the above, Lexi starts to sense that someone is watching her. Stalking her. Is it one of her exes? Is it someone from Socialites? Is it just her imagination, maybe a side-effect of some of the medication she's abusing?

And then the threats begin...

LOW-HANGING FRUIT?
Lexi's story aside (as much as you can do that kind of thing in this book), this book is a sharp satire and critique of TV Reality Shows.

As I read it, I wondered occasionally about Goldberg picking a target that's too easy. Where's the challenge in taking shots at Reality Shows?

As easy a target they might be, it's a target that seems to demand this kind of attention and examination. The cultural impact of this kind of shows—and the social media influencer accounts (and wanna-be social media accounts) that tell the same kind of fictions—is large enough, disturbing enough, that we need as many artists in as many possible media to put them under the microscope.

Looking at this phenomenon through Goldberg's lens something jumps out at me (and I realize that I'm probably fifteen years behind other people on this insight), this kind of reality shows provide a socially acceptable form of stalking for the masses. How many people think they're getting a special kind of insight into the lives of these stars? A special, private, view of their day-to-day life? How many unbalanced viewers like Lexi are out there learning that this is an appropriate way to live and take the license to do the same but for people who aren't on TV?

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT STALKER STALKED?
I didn't like Lexi—at all—for the majority of the novel. I wouldn't have described myself as terribly invested in what was going on with her or in her well-being. She's just unsympathetic, unpleasant—the kind of character that most novels would have cast as the villain (one you may ultimately find sympathy for).

As much as I wasn't able to get invested in her as a character, I couldn't stop reading. Something about the novel—and I really should be able to put my finger on what it was, but I can't—gripped me like a Lee Child or Nick Petrie thriller. Compelling doesn't quite express it—I had to know what was coming next. Lexi was like the proverbial car wreck that you can't take your eyes off of. Also, I was pretty curious about some of the people around Lexi, how were they going to fare in the face of her problems.

Eventually, however, I started pitying Lexi. I started understanding how she got where she is and how she was tumbling toward rock bottom.

Stalker Stalked is a gripping read, a tragedy that you can't look away from—that you can't get enough of. It's disturbing and thought-provoking. You're going to want to get your hands on it.


Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Down & Out Press via NetGalley and Lori Hettler of The Next Best Book Club in exchange for this post—thanks to all of them for this.