Social Kill by Fabian Lenk

Inspired by the daily realities and social media lures of the new generation, Social Kill - Gefährliche Spiele auf TikTok/in my free translation, dangerous games on TikTok/- by Fabian Lenk is a Hamburg-based thriller rich in events and with a very dense cast of characters.

The aparent suicide of a TikTok personality, aired live, put into motion a chain of murders committed by a mysterious team with funny nicknames, wearing various 3D masks. Journalists and police are trying to figure out the circumstances, but as the corpses count increases by the day the riddle of the reasons behind the horrendous killings is becoming more and more difficult to solve. 

But the investigative journalist Finn is always one step ahead of his colleagues, due to a well-paid source in the police. Sooner though, this game will endanger his life, leading to spectacular changes of perspective and with an even less expected final verdict.

I haven´t got into the book from the very beginning, as I was displeased by an inaccuracy, or two related to how the social media operates. For instance, ignoring the fact that the live suicide of a famous TikTok-er with 10 million followers did not get into the news before police and classical new outlets started the new day of work was more than irritating. 

However, as expected, I got caught into the story once there were some journalistic references that were accurate this time, and fully relatable. Including the lonely character of Rahmsauer which may be one of the many ´have beens´ made redundant by the new trends and technologies, with an ugly story of alcoholism. 

The fact that the story was based in Hamburg, my favorite city in Germany, also encouraged to continue the story, although the local references are rather scarce. 

Social Kill is a story of intrigue and revenge, appealing to various generational layers, but with some catchy social media and internal political references. Some clumsy on some social media contemporary issues, but with a well elaborated plot.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review