I REALLY enjoyed this book. It was one of those that keeps you reading well past what you deem to be an acceptable bedtime.

Written in a different style than a standard murder mystery thriller, it's written as transcripts. Mainly from TI Tom's narration of his YouTube channel but also as excerpts from the show Living with the Lancaster's. This made for a much snappier read than standard prose. I particularly liked the sections that were conversations in Tom's YouTube channel comments. Very quirky. It also meant there was no mid-novel lull that sometimes happens.

Staying true to the mystery genre, there were twists and turns that kept you guessing what happened to Bradley Wilcox. It was one of those books where you trust noone.

I love murder mysteries but also am fascinated by internet culture and celebrity culture (which perplexes me, I'm certainly not a Kardashian fan!) So this book was the perfect topic for me.

I am going to check out the authors other book as I read her footnotes she seems to enjoy writing about internet culture and psychology, which I find a fascinating topic!

Wow, Lauren North has done it again what a captivating and rather twisty novel that I was hooked on from the very first page it really drew me in!

The book doesn't have a typical narrative, rather told from podcasts, comments, you tube episodes, police transcripts and much more the Lancaster family were clearly inspired by Kardashians which I love!

The ending I would never have guessed I didn’t see it coming it was unbelievable! I’d highly recommended this book if you like the Karadashians 😊

The Lancaster are social media royalty with a following for years on YouTube. But years have gone past and a missing person is connected to them and a cold and a cold case brought to light. As secrets are revealed and family turns against family will we find out who killed Bradley?

Fantastic - I love these kind of "mixed media" novels - in 2023 I read Kill Show and Alperton Angels, which I thought were really good - Clickbait knocks it out of the park - totes! (sorry)

Why did I like this so much?

It's a great idea - I love the idea of the media family embroiled in a scandal and the story slowly unravelled by an amateur "investigator"

Also, North captures the voices of the character superbly - totes! (sorry - you'll get this when you read the book

Finally, there's something about the mixed media format that helps create pace and tension - that chopping and changing, seeing things from different people's viewpoints, at different points in the story timeline, and of course giving the author lots of opportunities to drop clues in when needed - North does this well and uses it to create a tightly plotted and pacey story

My reading experience...got this on Netgalley on Day 1 - read some during the day, some more in the evening, then finished it by 8am on Day 2 - it's something to be read quickly in big chunks - again, the MM format really pulls you in and keeps you on the page

Final conclusions - Very Highly Recommended - and before you think this is just a Millennial or Gen X book because of the MM format and theme...I'm over 60 and still loved it - it's genuinely for anyone that loves a well developed and tightly plotted crime/mystery novel

PS - I'm going to find North's previous novel, The Ugly Truth now

Wow once again L. C. North has written a captivating and rather twisty novel that I was hooked on.

She has created the Lancaster family, who are clearly modelled on the Kardashians I would imagine I've never watched them) and they are a car crash of a family that I couldn't get enough of.

The whole book doesn't have a typical narrative, rather told from pod casts, comments, you tube episodes, police transcripts and more.

And I would have never guessed how everything would unravel and yet it all made sense.

Was remarkably easy to follow and totally had me hooked, And you never know who to trust fully.

The finale was perfection with many gasps from me, as everything came together.

Just wonderful.

Thank you to Transworld Digital and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This was brilliant! I loved the epistolary style, the characters and the world built around them. There were so many twists and mysteries throughout, and it was an easy read while also being a complex story. Highly recommended!

A believable, intriguing mystery with a cast of compelling characters. Very easy to read. You can tell Lauren North is familiar with certain reality TV shows and their formats.

This is the second LC North novel and I loved this just as much as the first one.

LC North sticks to the same type of novel as her first, a story told via mixed media (mainly in the form of podcast episodes, but also with interview transcripts, etc.) Whilst this non-traditional storytelling device may not be for everyone, it is becoming more popular and I, for one, really enjoy it.

LC North also sticks to a broadly similar theme, celebrity, media, reality TV type characters but with a dark story. In Clickbait, we meet the Lancaster's (think Kardashians) who have their own popular reality show featuring siblings Taylor, Locke and India with their controlling mother Lynn.

Everything is going well for the Lancasters until a newly released video casts doubts on the disappearance of Bradley who went missing a number of years ago after attending a party at the Lancaster's home. What really happened to Bradley? Did he ever leave the party? And do the Lancaster's know more than they have ever told.

When Bradley's sister, Cassie, gets a popular podcaster involved, the investigation soon turns up new evidence. Is this the end of the Lancasters or just the beginning?

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Wow what can I say this was a near perfect book! It’s written as multi media text and it is done well. It’s the text of YouTube videos, news pieces and podcasts.

I have been unable to put this down, I definitely couldn’t have waited each week for a new episode had this been a true crime docu-series!

We follow Tom Isaac, a YouTube detective who sets out to find out what happened to Cassie’s brother Bradley, after attending a birthday party thrown by her super rich best friend 20 years ago after he never returns home. Tom is determined to find out what happened now the family in question are the UK’s version of the Kardashian’s. As each episode unfolds more deaths occur and questions are raised , especially when people end up in prison thanks to Tom’s investigation. Who is lying and who is telling the truth, if they even know what the truth is anymore!

This is an absolute must read and is out 11th April 2024!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren North and Randomhouse for this advance digital copy!

I found this novel very different to what I've read before and I found the story interesting and easy to follow. It had a lot of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. The novel also had a cast of interesting characters that were believable. An overall enjoyable read that I recommend.
❤️ Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for my arc ebook copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Clickbait by LC North is a contemporary tale told in a unique way.

"Living With The Lancasters" is a massively successful "reality" show with an audience of millions tuning in to watch the gilded lives of a family mostly famous for being famous. When they show a video of a party held in the days when their only fame was being the family of their Footballing legend Father eagle-eyed viewers briefly glimpse someone who shouldn't be there,a missing teenager who had supposedly already left before the time the video was shot,never to be seen again.

YouTube Sleuth Tom Isaac ,a former friend of the Lancasters, investigates and gets tangled in a web of lies, with his viewing figures rocketing and someone seemingly trying to silence him.
The tale is told via the medium of Tom's YouTube transcripts, comments left under his videos and excerpts from the diary of one of the other characters. This seems a bit strange at first but as the tale unfolds it proves an effective way of telling the story.

This is a clever story well told. The Lancasters are a slippery bunch,and not overly pleasant with their sense of entitlement and deceit while Tom is a bit of a nerd determined to find the truth.

I think this is my favourite of L.C. North's books, I was completely hooked by the storyline and the captivating way that the story unfolded. I literally read it in two hits, and that's only because I had to stop to feed my family!

The plot centres around the Lancaster family, a family famous for being themselves, a bit like a UK version of the Kardashians. There are 3 adult children and a proud pushy mum; their football agent dad died before the series was started. The Lancasters are feted as one of the country's most famous celebrity families, with business opportunities and collaborations everywhere and they seem unbreakable until they are caught up in a missing person case from 20 years previously, teenager Bradley Wilcox, who was last seen alive at one of their parties.

Bradley's sister has never given up hope of finding out what happened, and the story starts with her contacting a podcaster Tom. The tale is told through a number of different media formats, mainly through Tom's true crime podcast that unfolds as we're reading, plus audience reactions to the podcast. There are also excerpts from the Lancaster YouTube channel, interviews that may be 20 years old but suddenly have a different meaning to them in light of the podcast.

I loved everything about this book. The pace of the plot is so quick and ever changing, the voices in the story are absolutely spot on, and the evolving investigation felt very real and entirely possible. I think it is going to be a huge hit!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.
I had been excited to read this book for the longest time as I had read one of the authors other books(the ugly truth) and consider it one of my favourites of all time so I had quite high expectations for this too and I was right in thinking that it would satisfy me.
I read it all in one sitting-time literally flew past me as I was reading this book- I was that absorbed into the characters world and the dark and harsh reality of celebrity life that they experience that without question I would definitely give this book five stars.

I really enjoyed the book and loved the format. I watch a few investigator types on YouTube and could really see how the mixed media added to the story. It was a little unbelievable at times, but it didn't really matter as it was fun.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I was either waiting for a huge twist at the end (like turning out the investigator himself had done it and was trying to frustrated the investigation) or to be left more unsatisfied than I was, which I know is a strange thing to want!

I literally gulped this down in one sitting. My son went to bed, I sat on the sofa and the next thing I knew it was 2am and I realised I’d barely moved until I’d finished reading the whole book.
Clickbait is compulsively bingeable. It’s like listening to your favourite true crime podcast while watching car crash reality TV at the same time.
LC North’s story is about the Lancaster family and true crime sleuth Tom who is investigating what happened to a boy who went missing twenty years ago at one of their parties. It’s clever and full of twists and turns, with false breadcrumbs trails that keep you guessing. An absolute delight to read, (I loved the advertorials in the podcast!) yet with a powerful message about controlling, fame-hungry parents. Some people really will do anything to be TV famous….

4.5 stars

“The Kardashians meets Serial”

Easy to read 'missing person' thriller, told in the form of YouTube video transcripts and social media posts.

Total page turner. Good layering of clues, twists and red herrings. Fans of The Appeal and The Twyford Code will enjoy.

An utterly gripping thriller that explores the addictiveness of reality TV in today’s society, and the lengths some people will go to in order to achieve fame. Whip-smart and incisive, I couldn’t put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this e-ARC of Clickbait.

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"Clickbait" by L. C. North is a rollercoaster story of truth and lies. The characters are all flawed but real (if slightly clichéd), but the story keeps you hooked with regular twists drip fed through out keeping suspense high.
The mixed-media, a blend of interview transcript, news bulletins, email messages and more adds a whole new layer of immersion to the story. The author cleverly drops clues in throughout the story, so the reader feels like they are investigating right along with Tom, but gets the balance right between revelation and concealment to keep you guessing until the very end, ensuring the ‘big twist’ moment hits with maximum impact. Oh, and of course any story with a dog in it gets extra brownie points from me! 🤭 Definitely worth a read if you want a fast-paced, modern and suspenseful mystery read.

**mild spoilers**
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“Be the smartest in the room. Be the one who knows everything. That’s what gives you power. Above all, don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.”

I loved the final few sentences and thought it was a really chilling way to end the story.

This was an absolutely addictive read for me, I love the format of this with the story being told through transcripts, emails, interviews etc and they did a fantastic job of telling this compulsive story of a high profile family and their connection to a teenage boy who went missing twenty years ago. The characters are brilliant with podcaster Tom pulling a lot of this together and the members of the Lancaster family who are from a different planet in many ways! The missing person case was really well told and it was interesting to hear the different angles and see how it transpired never mind another character then dying and leaving you wondering just what’s with the Lancaster family. The conclusion was really creepy but brilliant and it really makes you think back on the events in the book with a whole new perspective. I genuinely loved this book, for me it was one of the best I’ve read in a while probably because I just love books in this format but also it’s just brilliantly constructed.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

In this book, we follow the Lancaster family. They have a show which follows their lives, which has grown an audience of millions. But, underneath, there’s still a case of a missing lad, called Bradley, who went missing after attending one of the Lancaster’s raucous parties. A video is shown with Bradley in it. Which blows the timelines of events surrounding his disappearance wide open.

This was written in a mixed media type of dialogue, which I really like as it mixes things up a bit. We read police transcripts, interviews, parts of the show, and real life meetings. This was so cleverly written, and this author has become one of my favourites. I feel the storyline is really relevant and was completely powerful. The characters all had flaws, which was really refreshing. It was completely captivating and I couldn’t wait to find out the truth. My favourite read this year by far. Excellent, and would highly recommend.