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A dramatic and terrifying memoir of a ‘catfish’ scenario - when a woman meets a man online but nothing is what it seems. 25-year-old Megan Henley put her five-year-old daughter to bed one evening and switched on her laptop. A Facebook ‘friend request’ seemed to be genuine. There were a few common friends and very similar interests, so Megan accepted. With that one simple act, she changed her life forever. In her words: ‘looking back on it, it was as if I had opened my front door to a stranger, as if I had thrown away every precaution I’d ever put in place, as if I had freely given access to my whole world – all because of some naïve belief that it was ‘just’ a friend request on a social media site.’ Megan is tricked into a relationship, paranoia and ultimately betrayal by the man she loved and trusted but nothing is as it seems. |
Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
With this busy life we have, meeting the right person is a real challenge. No wonder many people feel lonely and turn to the internet just for talk. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, you name it! But we never know who are we really talking to. It might be just a normal person spending the free time just like us, or it might be a serial killer lurking for his next victim....
When I finished reading this book, I was hard for me to believe that it was a real life story. Not that it couldn't happen in real life. It happened, that was the problem! Psychopaths do exist also in real life, not just in movies. Luckily, this woman managed to escape, some women didn't. Megan Henley was brave enough to tell her story. If she had succeeded to warn at least one woman out there, her story hit the target.
Megan Henley was just an ordinary young woman, a single mother with a very unsuccessful relationship behind her. She wasn't looking for a new man in her life. She just wanted someone to talk to. And Vic seemed like so ordinary guy. He came into her life slowly. He wasn't too pushy, just was there when she needed him. Like a knight in the shining armor.
Vic's life story seemed so unique. He was Roma trying to escape from his family, trying to live a normal western life out of Roma's laws, spent his time traveling like and working as a DJ. He lost a child and he suffered a lot. But his family wasn't keen on letting him go. A relationship with a woman who is not Roma was forbidden and Megan started receiving threatening phone calls. Strange messages appeared in her inbox, strange things happened to her car, her child was in danger. She found her perfect man and now she had to choose. Her perfect family living in fear and danger, or staying away from the man she loves.
Except, it was all a lie!
According to me, Vic's story wasn't very plausible from the beginning. There are members of Roma people in my country. They have specific facial features and it is easy to distinct them from others. I would believe the story about not having a birth certificate, many Roma kids don't have it even today. But growing up among Roma family and having so high-tech computer skills is not plausible at all. They hardly finish even elementary school. Not that they are not smart, just it's in their culture to keep a low profile and live from one day to another. And Vic's FB friends, never a real phone call, never a real conversation face to face. One excuse after another, I would become suspicious.
After all, who am I to judge? I am glad that Megan escaped the hell and managed to put the bastard behind bars. She was just an ordinary woman who fell for an ordinary guy. Who can blame her? Luckily, she managed to escape and write down her story, obviously with a help from an experienced writer and warn others that it could happen to anyone.
My opinion: 4 / 5.
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