Book Review: Kiss Me First

You know when you find a book you quite literally can’t put down? Well, I’ve just finished Kiss Me First in a mere 48 hours. I was glued to this book, reading last thing at night and first thing in the morning and even on the 10 minute walk to the station, bumping into people all the way along and not minding one bit!

There’s a new literary talent in the form of Lottie Moggach and her debut novel has smashed into the literary world – her utterly absording Kiss Me First. The story centres around two completely dysfunctional women – Tess and Leila. Lottie draws on her own experiences in the novel, using the real life story of her grandma’s imprisonment for helping her friend commit suicide, as the genesis of her fantastic fiction debut…

(Above: Author Lottie Moggach. Picture credit: Macmillan)

I almost didn’t want to review this book for you as I don’t want to give too much away – so I’ll try and keep it short and sweet.

Lottie has created the perfect anti-heroine in her character of Leila. The voice of the book is Leila, and we discover early on (it’s no spoiler to say) that she is a young woman who spends most of her time online – choosing to fraternise with World of War Craft players rather than with her Topshop loving 23 year old peers.

It’s online that Leila comes across a psychological forum site called ‘Red Pill’, who’s leader, Adrian Dervish, a charismatic man, convinces Leila to meet his friend Tess. Bi-polar but seemingly fun-loving, outgoing, erratic and popular Tess calls on Leila to help her ‘slip away from the world without hurting her friends and family’. The idea is that Tess will commit suicide but Leila will study her life and then take over from her, impersonating her online for her friends once she’s gone.

The story takes a hugely sinister twist as the plot thickens and includes a strangely cringe inducing yet heart breaking love story element when Leila becomes infatuated with being ‘Tess’ and starts to fall for one of her ex-boyfriends, blurring the line between fiction and real life.

The mystery of the story works from the way in which Leila’s account of her relationship with Tess is written about in the more present tense – she writes the account in hindsight with references to what know is going to come, i.e mentioning being interviewed by the police. It works well to ask yourself ‘what awful thing has happened here?’

Reminding me the entire way through of one of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror episodes, it’s a fantastic portrayal of today’s obsession with how we portray ourselves online. But what really gives the novel it’s gripping and chilling power is the character of Leila. She’s logical and intellectually capable of her role in Tess’s suicide but she has absolutely no empathy or self-comprehension so her deadpan delivery of the story adds a genuine chill to the air. It’s a preposterously far-fetched storyline when you think about it but it totally works because it makes sense that Leila, with her inadequate interpersonal skills, would go along with it and not think it through to the end.

How well do we really know the people we think we are friends with online? How are we creating our identities in this hugely digital age? These are big questions – and all ones explored in this engaging, page-turner of a book.

Bravo Lottie – you’ve struck the perfect balance in your debut. Ultimately a tense mystery story but layered with real emotional intensity.

 

You can buy Kiss Me First from all major bookshops and from Amazon.

Let me know what you think if you have read it too!

LMNH x