|| The Closer I Get by Paul Burston | Blog Tour || @PaulBurston @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours #BlogTour

So, today is my stop on the blog tour for The Closer I Get by Paul Burston, let’s just jump right in…

Tom is a successful author, but he’s struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won’t leave him alone.
Evie is smart, well read and unstable; she lives with her father and her social-media friendships are not only her escape, but everything she has.
When she’s hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down, and Tom is free to live his life again, to concentrate on writing.
But things aren’t really adding up. For Tom is distracted but also addicted to his online relationships, and when they take a darker, more menacing turn, he feels powerless to change things. Because maybe he needs Evie more than he’s letting on. – Goodreads –

Oh man! Both Evie and Tom are seriously unlikable characters. Tom is an extremely selfish person who uses people for his own gain, while Evie has a obsessive personality probably the result of her childhood who now enjoys being the outrageous voice on twitter. She then writes a blog post of all the people who have blocked her due to her comments and opinions.

The structure of this book really kept me interested, we have both Tom and Evies’ points of view before, during and after the court case. It made me feel like I was involved in their situation and I had both Tom and Evie trying to make me believe that the other was lying.

I really enjoyed the topics included in this book, for example the snippet of the newspaper article stating that more men than we believe are harassed online and/or stalked. Women are not always the victims, they can quite easily become the perpetrator.
We don’t see trolling very often portrayed in books or even on the TV, I think that it’s extremely important to make people aware of this especially with how much technology is taking over our lives.

I really enjoy books surrounding the dark side of social media and technology so I knew that I just had to read this. This is not a book that you can read to relax, it pulls you in and doesn’t let go until you’ve finished, then you’re left wondering what the hell has just happened. Well that was my experience anyway.
The ending knocked me off my feet, I literally had no words to describe how I felt at that time. What a crazy ride!!
The Closer I Get is definitely deserving of 4 and a half cups of coffee out of 5!

-Grab Your Copy Here-

So who is Paul Burston?

Paul Burston is the author of five novels and the editor of two short story
collections. His most recent novel The Black Path, was a WHSmith bestseller.
His first novel, Shameless, was shortlisted for the State of Britain Award.
His third novel, Lovers & Losers was shortlisted for a Stonewall Award. His
fourth, The Gay Divorcee, was optioned for television. He was a founding
editor of Attitude magazine and has written for many publications including
Guardian, Independent, Time Out, The Times and Sunday Times. In March
2016, he was featured in the British Council’s #FiveFilms4Freedom Global
List 2016, celebrating “33 visionary people who are promoting freedom,
equality and LGBT rights around the world”. He is the founder and host of
London’s award-winning LGBT+ literary salon Polari and founder and chair of
The Polari First Book Prize for new writing and the newly announced Polari
Prize.

Find Paul Here: (Just don’t get it too close!)
Twitter: @PaulBurston