Everyone tells Kat that her online personality - confident, funny, opinionated - isn't her true self. Kat knows otherwise. The internet is her only way to cope with a bad day, chat with friends who get all her references, make someone laugh. But when she becomes the target of an alt-right trolling campaign, she feels she has no option but to Escape, Delete, Disappear.
With her social media shut down, her website erased, her entire online identity void, Kat feels she has cut away her very core: without her virtual self, who is she?
She brought it on herself. Or so Wesley keeps telling himself as he dismantles Kat's world. It's different, seeing one of his victims in real life and not inside a computer screen - but he's in too far to back out now.
As soon as Kat disappears from the online world, her physical body begins to fade and while everybody else forgets that she exists, Wesley realises he is the only one left who remembers her. Overcome by remorse for what he has done, Wesley resolves to stop her disappearing completely. It might just be the only way to save himself.
All the Lonely People is a timely story about online culture - both good and bad - that explores the experience of loneliness in a connected world, and the power of kindness and empathy over hatred.
When I was offered a place on the blog tour to celebrate the publication of 'All The Lonely People' I was really keen to take part. As a starting point, Sophia Walker (the publicist) asked me to think about if the internet has made my life better or if it has made it worse?
My initial thoughts are that there are definitely some positives; my brother lives in Cardiff and has a young family who I don't get to see very regularly, however through Facebook I am able to watch them grow and see what they have been up to, allowing me to feel that I am not missing out on their lives. I am a book blogger and unfortunately I am unable to attend the blogger events or book launches that I am invited to, however through the internet I am able to be part of an online community and to talk to other bloggers, authors and publishers about books and the world of publishing.
I am sure that there are things that have been negative since the introduction of the internet. I think that it has made impulse buying a lot easier - having Amazon at the click of a button or Next has made a shopping spree easy when I am in a slump of mood. Also the ability to see what others are doing on social media can mean that I can see what I am missing out on - e.g. missing out on celebrating with family or not being invited to join a group of friends on a night out.
I definitely think that the introduction of the internet and social media has been good for me because it has meant that I can take part in book blogging, living in Worcester and not being able to travel to London regularly, due to anxiety and panic, has meant that although I can't take a job in publishing, I am able to play a small part in book blogging, finding lots of new friends to share my love of books.
'All the Lonely People' is a great book which makes the reader think about how life has changed since the introduction of social media and the internet. The main character, Kat, lives her whole life online, with her own website and a high online presence with many followers, is the subject of cyber bullying and, as a quick fix, she decides to remove herself online. Kat is young, still at school, and for her this is a big thing. However as she removes her online profile she finds that her body begins to fade and she is not visible to her peers. As time continues, Kat finds that there are other people who have faded from everyday life.
There is also a second character, Wesley, one of the boys who are responsible for the cyber bullying. However, after the final attack which saw Kat removing her online profile, he sees the error of his ways and tries to help Kat but is unable to find her.
All The Lonely People is a very cleverly written book and is both thought provoking and worrying with more and more people living their lives online. My one criticism of the book is that the story went straight into the final cyber bullying event and Kat's withdrawal of her online presence. I think that the story would of benefited from a little build up initially. It would be a great book to be used in secondary schools to promote the subject of cyber safety and also to allow students to consider their home life and their online presence.
Thank you to the publishers, Atom Books, for sending me the book to review in return for an honest review.
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