{"id":4100,"date":"2025-09-16T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=4100"},"modified":"2025-09-16T12:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:25:00","slug":"starred-book-review-unfollow-me-by-kathryn-caraway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=4100","title":{"rendered":"STARRED Book Review: Unfollow Me by Kathryn Caraway"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unfollow Me<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Kathryn Caraway<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Memoir \/ True Crime<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798999054517<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 472 pages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Melissa Suggitt<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>A powerful story of survival about a woman who escaped but still has to hide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The name Kathryn Caraway is a pseudonym. The author had to do it that way; her stalker, like most, was never truly held accountable. This book is not a who-dun-it. It\u2019s a testimony. A warning. A gut-wrenching portrait of how easily women are targeted, disbelieved, and left unprotected.<\/p>\n

But Kathryn\u2019s story isn\u2019t about him. This book doesn\u2019t give the monster center stage. Todd is present, of course; his manipulation, charm, persistence, and escalating violence drive the plot. But the lens never shifts away from Kathryn\u2019s experience. She refuses to sensationalize his behavior. Instead, she shows the slow erosion of safety, autonomy, and trust through her own eyes, her own thoughts, her own fear. Kathryn isn\u2019t making him more human; she\u2019s here to remind you that she is. And she\u2019s done hiding in the dark while society looks the other way.<\/p>\n

Kathryn lets us into the daily reality of being stalked: the obsessive hyper-vigilance, the isolation, the exhaustion of documenting everything only to be dismissed anyway. \u201cBeing stalked is like being a rabbit caught in a trap. Waiting. Always waiting.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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She\u2019s not exaggerating. She\u2019s speaking from experience, one backed by devastating statistics she includes in the Foreword, reminding us that most victims never see justice.<\/p>\n

And yet, she keeps going. She logs every incident. She testifies in court. She fights for a system that was never built to protect her. And still, she is the one forced to live under an alias.<\/p>\n

I felt so angry reading this. Not because the book is frustrating\u2014it isn\u2019t; it\u2019s magnificently written\u2014but because Kathryn had to endure all of it. Because women like her are still blamed. Because the patriarchy still shrugs when a woman says she feels unsafe or calls her hysterical or asks, \u201cWell, why didn\u2019t you leave?\u201d As if she didn\u2019t try. As if she didn\u2019t scream. As if her silence wasn\u2019t survival.<\/p>\n

Kathryn\u2019s storytelling is as structured as it is emotionally raw. Her recollection of events is precise and purposeful, yet deeply personal. She admits to the shame she felt, the self-doubt, the fear of what her loved ones would think if they knew everything. She owns her moments of hesitation, the instinct to protect others from the truth, and the heartbreak of realizing that even when you do everything right, justice may never come.<\/p>\n

The specificity of emotion, the physiological response to trauma, and the intellectual clarity she brings to her experience give this book its power. \u201cHe is a predator, but you won\u2019t know this the first time you meet him,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> she writes. \u201cHe looks normal.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And that is the most chilling\u2014and familiar\u2014part.<\/p>\n

If this is where true crime is going, toward centering victims\u2014elevating their voices, and exposing systems instead of glamorizing predators\u2014I am absolutely here for it. I want stories like this. I want women like Kathryn telling us exactly how it felt, exactly what happened, and exactly how hard it was to survive it.<\/p>\n

Unfollow Me<\/em> doesn\u2019t just document what happened. It calls out every person and institution that allowed it. Kathryn Caraway doesn\u2019t just survive. She speaks. And in doing so, she forces the world to listen.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Melissa Suggitt\u2019s book review of Unfollow Me <\/em>by Kathryn Caraway! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post STARRED Book Review: Unfollow Me by Kathryn Caraway<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unfollow Me by Kathryn Caraway Genre: Memoir \/ True Crime ISBN: 9798999054517 Print Length: 472 pages Amazon Reviewed by Melissa Suggitt A powerful story of survival about a woman who escaped but still has to hide The name Kathryn Caraway is a pseudonym. The author had to do it that way; her stalker, like most, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}