You get a link from a friend but once you download the app you are enrolled in a deadly chase. Could you kill a stranger to save your family?
The App is a horror thriller set in the UK.
Remember chain letters when you were a kid? I never completed them but a little bit of me was always a little scared about binning them. This book brings the premise bang up to date. Marty receives a link from a friend and downloads an app. His family are threatened if he doesn’t comply with the rules. He has the chance to win £100,000 every week if he hunts down and kills a random person.
The hunters need to narrate their attacks and this was a great device for showing us the moral dilemma that the hunters feel. Their desire to protect their family and prevent their own deaths is a powerful incentive but the app videos show that some cannot face the challenge and are killed. This in turn encourages others to abide by the rules out of fear.
The plot is not delivered in a linear way and the timeline jumps around a bit to show us various perspectives. We see the victims’ viewpoint too and this increased the tension as they are confused about the multiple attempts on their lives.
I really found this book chilling. The idea is so credible that it makes me fear it could come true. The emotions of the characters are well described and easy to relate to which brought them to life.
It will come in the form of a link. Maybe in your DM’s on a social media account, the junk folder of your emails or a WhatsApp message from a friend.
You’ll be enticed by the chance of winning one hundred thousand pounds on offer every Friday, wired straight into the winner’s bank account.
It’s not a joke.
This part is genuine.
Someone can and will win the money.
But at what cost?
Marty Benson gets the link sent to him by a friend. So what is the harm in looking?
He clicks it, downloads the app and enters a few basic details.
A message prompts him to wait while he’s loaded onto the system.
An hour later, another message.
• Do not delete the app.
Do not tell anyone outside of your family about the app.
Send the link to one person who is close to you.
* Do not throw your phone away.
* Always narrate while streaming.
If you break any of the rules, we’ll kill a member of your family. Then we’ll kill you.
Marty is sent a picture of his wife, who is shopping with her mother in Oxford Street.
As Marty struggles to breathe, he clicks the links and watches the most recent streams, realising what happens within the
app.
Every Friday morning, a person is randomly picked from social media.
They now have a bounty on their head—a death warrant. But they don’t know it.
Their profile appears on the app’s main page; all their details are displayed.
Every app member must play the game at least once a month or face the consequences.
Kill the person randomly selected from social media.
Win one hundred thousand pounds.
As Marty watches the terror unfold and everyone streaming the hunt within the app, he realises he has to do something.
But how do you stop a murder, when everyone could be the killer?
Author Bio
I have always loved scary stories, especially ones that shocked me, left me terrified, looking under my bed or in the wardrobe before going to sleep.
There was just a fantastic buzz whenever I watched or read something that took my breathe away.
I remember going to my nan’s house in Ireland as a youngster with my mother and sister, on the West Coast, staying in a cottage, surrounded by miles of fields and my family sitting around the table in the kitchen at night telling ghost stories. Going out and exploring derelict farmhouses in the middle of nowhere. I remember clearly the field at the end of the road was supposed to be haunted by headless nuns. My cousins often remind me of the great times we had, frightening each other and running for our lives whenever we’d see something that didn’t look right.
This is why I love nothing more than to tell a story.
I’m so grateful when people not only read my thrillers but also take the time to get in touch and leave a review. To me, that is the greatest feeling, hearing from people that have enjoyed my work. I know then that I’m doing something right.
I’m 49, married and have two beautiful children. Currently, I’m a full-time plumber but would love nothing more than to make a living from my writing. I hope I write stories and people continue to enjoy them for years to come. That would be completely amazing and a dream come true.
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