Author: Terry Tyler- Kindle Edition
- Category: Post Apocalyptic, Dystopian, Book Review, Books, Reading
‘I didn’t know danger was floating behind us on the breeze as we walked along the beach, seeping in through the windows of our picture postcard life.’
The year is 2024. A new social networking site bursts onto the scene. Private Life promises total privacy, with freebies and financial incentives for all. Across the world, a record number of users sign up.
Vicky Keating lived in the house of her dreams in the seaside town of Shipden on the Norfolk coast, with her daughter, Lottie, and partner, Dex. The story is set in the near future when ‘privacy’ on social media is fast becoming a contentious issue, and huge numbers of people are closing down accounts and deleting profiles – until a new, supposedly completely safe social networking site takes the world by storm.
Dex and his friends belong to Unicorn, an organisation distrustful of government, believing the new social media site is part of a manipulative plan for the gathering and analysis of personal data by the National Security Agency. He warns Vicky and Lottie against posting, particularly personal information. Vicky believes he’s overreacting and Lottie can’t imagine not being in constant online contact with her friends.
“Such a clever idea I could almost give a round of applause, if I didn’t suspect it was a whole heap of bullshit,” he said.
Much though I adored Dex, living with someone who insists that the world’s population is constantly having the wool pulled over its eyes by those in power could be wearying.
When news of an impending and deadly pandemic sweeps the country Vicky and Lottie find themselves alone, unable to process the increasing horror as events unfold. When a military presence appears in the town to contain the remaining residents Vicky and Lottie manage to escape and travel, despite the dangers, to the safe house where Dex made arrangements to meet up with them.
Written in the first person, Vicky’s thoughts and reactions are totally convincing and just what I’d imagine to be true to life. Witnessing the progressive break down of society and it’s values and the disintegration of a country is extremely credible. It was actually very difficult for me to imagine how people would cope without all the basics we take for granted on a day-to-day basis, never mind things like the internet and mobile phones, and then having to navigate a new and dangerous world, but I think this storyline is spot on.
Exploration of characters and their personalities, by thoughts, actions and dialogue, is one of Terry Tyler’s strengths and those in this story are no exception. They are all distinct, well defined with depth and portrayed with authenticity, showing the best and worst traits of humanity, with a mix of fear, desperation, lawlessness, decency and the willingness of the masses to believe what they are told. The group at the safe house, and even those who were sucked into working for the project for one reason or another, all of them jumped out, drew me in and kept me reading. Can’t wait for the next one!
The plot is terrific, written and executed extremely well with insight, humour and wit, although it’s quite chilling and thought provoking and made me think seriously about the down sides of social media. I enjoy Terry Tyler’s easy to read and realistic writing style immensely. This is a believable, if disturbing, scenario, very relevant to today’s lifestyle and environmental considerations.
I chose to read and review Tipping Point based on a digital copy of the book supplied by the author.
Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US
About the author
Terry Tyler is the author of fourteen books on Amazon, the latest being ‘Tipping Point’, the first book in her new post apocalyptic series. She is proud to be self-published, is an avid reader and book reviewer, and a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.
Her next book, ‘Lindisfarne’, the sequel to ‘Tipping Point’, should be available in September 2017. She would love to have a list of fascinating and unusual hobbies to include in her bio, but is too busy writing to do much apart from read and flop in front of Netflix when the document is saved for the day. Terry is a Walking Dead addict, and writes for one of their main fansites. She lives in the north east of England with her husband, and is still trying to learn Geordie.
Terry’s social media links ~ Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Website | Book Review Blog
betweenthelinesbookblog.com 
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am delighted you liked it this much – and what a masterfully written summing up of the book. Have you considered writing synopses as a lucrative sideline??!!
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Methinks you flatter ;-D You’re very welcome and as you can tell, I loved it!
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ps, as ever, I loved the quotes you’ve highlighted. You always choose them so well!
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Again, thank you 🙂
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Thanks so much 🙂
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I cannot wait to read this, and hopefully review it as well as Cathy!
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It’s sooo good 🙂
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Thanks, Anita, and for the reblog 🙂
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Great story idea – I enjoyed reading about Terry’s newest book. Privacy and social media are such relevant topics. Thanks for sharing!
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My pleasure. Very relevant topics….makes you think!
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Thanks, Book Club Mom!
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Very nice review and post! 🤗
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Thank you 🙂
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I must get to it soon. Thanks for a great review!
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My pleasure 🙂 Thanks.
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Brilliant review, Cathy. I can totally relate to how you felt about social media while reading this book. I came close to closing all my accounts when I read it!
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Thanks so much, Shelley. It definitely makes you think!
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Shelley and Cathy, you should watch the film ‘Snowden’. The stuff about it all being held on servers and used for various purposes I didn’t make up. What they do with it, yes, but not the rest. I’m just really careful what I write on the internet, ever since watching that. Even if it’s not being used for nefarious purposes, it’s still being used, and I hate that. It’s why I never download apps, won’t have a smartphone, always use cash in shops, etc. I saw something on telly last night that said that something like 30% of phone apps enable constant access to your location, and something like 60% enable access to your many of your log in details. VERY scary!!!
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It’s all very scary. Of course, a former NSA deputy director says the film is ‘preposterous’ but what else is he going to say. I can quite believe data is collected and held but I didn’t know that about the apps. I thought the option for privacy would stop the location access….naive of me
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Cathy, this is an outstanding review. You hit all of the high points with clarity and enough detail to convince readers to try this one without giving away any spoilers. Great job!
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Thanks so much, Michelle.
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That was what I thought, Michelle. She could have a great future as a synopsis writer, should she require such a thing!!!
Cathy, yes, about the NSA deputy director!!! I think many of the apps talked about were those of the type that are downloaded by youngsters, more; the programme was about how nothing you put on the internet is ever gone, even if you delete it, how it is all kept on huge servers. I believe the theory that Google, Facebook ‘likes’, loyalty cards, etc, are all just data mining tools. It’s notable that I hardly see any pop-up ads like Barb described, or ads on FB, which I think is because I never ‘like’ any pages or respond to any ads I do see, and because I always pay in cash in shops.
But hey – I was just writing a story!!
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I can believe stuff is kept after deletion, for sure. I get those annoying pop ups all time, even on WP sites that don’t subscribe to stop adds, because I do buy things online. You may be only writing a story but it’s surprising how often books ‘foretell’ the future….
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