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String Follow
A darkly comic suburban Gothic about a malevolent force that targets a group of Ohio misfits, harnessing their angst for its sinister designs.
"A work of evil genius that put me in a literal trance and didn't relinquish me until the final page. I loved every insidious second.” ―Mona Awad, author of Bunny
Something strange is happening to the teens in Adena, Ohio.
A mysterious force is seeking vulnerabilities to exploit, friendships to hijack, untapped rage to harness toward its own ends. Who will serve it best? Claire is abrasive and aimless, embarrassed by her privilege. Weak-willed David entertains fantasies of cultish orgies, while Tyler covertly takes up residence in his basement. Greg wages war on the voices in his head, while his sister Beth quietly, furiously unravels. And at the center is the empathetic, naive Sarah. The force wants her most of all. But will she be the key to its success or its destruction?
Eerie, hypnotic, and shot through with dark comedy, String Follow is a razor-sharp suburban gothic that exposes the sweating, bleeding truth of how kids become adults in twenty-first-century America. Simon Jacobs blends the startlingly original and the uncannily familiar, revealing the dark chaos that lurks beneath the surface of Midwestern suburbia.
"A work of evil genius that put me in a literal trance and didn't relinquish me until the final page. I loved every insidious second.” ―Mona Awad, author of Bunny
Something strange is happening to the teens in Adena, Ohio.
A mysterious force is seeking vulnerabilities to exploit, friendships to hijack, untapped rage to harness toward its own ends. Who will serve it best? Claire is abrasive and aimless, embarrassed by her privilege. Weak-willed David entertains fantasies of cultish orgies, while Tyler covertly takes up residence in his basement. Greg wages war on the voices in his head, while his sister Beth quietly, furiously unravels. And at the center is the empathetic, naive Sarah. The force wants her most of all. But will she be the key to its success or its destruction?
Eerie, hypnotic, and shot through with dark comedy, String Follow is a razor-sharp suburban gothic that exposes the sweating, bleeding truth of how kids become adults in twenty-first-century America. Simon Jacobs blends the startlingly original and the uncannily familiar, revealing the dark chaos that lurks beneath the surface of Midwestern suburbia.
416 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2022
61 people are currently reading
4226 people want to read
About the author
Simon Jacobs
26 books48 followersauthor of STRING FOLLOW (MCD/FSG, 2022), MASTERWORKS (Instar Books, 2019), and PALACES (Two Dollar Radio, 2018). David Bowie superfan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
June 5, 2022
4.0 Stars
I understand that a horror book like this won't necessarily be for everyone. The characters in this story are horribly unlikeable and their actions are often vile. This book also requires all the content warnings (domestic abuse, cutting, attempted rape, mass gun violence, etc). For this reason, I can't recommend this book so widely. Yet I have a strange affection for books that make me uncomfortable. And this one made me VERY comfortable.
Other readers described this book as slow, but that was not my impression. In fact, I found this narrative incredibly gripping and it was hard to put this book down. The story is very character driven, which I liked because I enjoyed analyzing these terribly messed up individuals. Despite the age of the characters, this horror novel is very adult and not afraid to push the envelope. The narrative is very fragmented which at times made for a rare, unsettling experience. Yet the fragmented narrative is also a negative because at times the plot became too convoluted, leaving the reading with an underwhelming ending.
While I can't recommend this book to everyone, I would recommend it to those of you who have very similar tastes to me. If you like uncomfortable reads, this is one you may want to check out..
I understand that a horror book like this won't necessarily be for everyone. The characters in this story are horribly unlikeable and their actions are often vile. This book also requires all the content warnings (domestic abuse, cutting, attempted rape, mass gun violence, etc). For this reason, I can't recommend this book so widely. Yet I have a strange affection for books that make me uncomfortable. And this one made me VERY comfortable.
Other readers described this book as slow, but that was not my impression. In fact, I found this narrative incredibly gripping and it was hard to put this book down. The story is very character driven, which I liked because I enjoyed analyzing these terribly messed up individuals. Despite the age of the characters, this horror novel is very adult and not afraid to push the envelope. The narrative is very fragmented which at times made for a rare, unsettling experience. Yet the fragmented narrative is also a negative because at times the plot became too convoluted, leaving the reading with an underwhelming ending.
While I can't recommend this book to everyone, I would recommend it to those of you who have very similar tastes to me. If you like uncomfortable reads, this is one you may want to check out..
April 24, 2022
This was such a unique read!! Very strange, cerebral, and hypnotic. I honestly feel like this is a book that would benefit with multiple reads because I think there are some things I didn’t fully grasp (which is great, I think this would be a great book club read).
There are multiple different POV’s and characters in this book, but the main narrator is this force, or entity, only referred to as “We” and “Us”. Their intentions are illusive, but one thing is clear; they live off chaos, violence, and anger, and are always looking to exploit teens to get what it wants. Weird, right?
This was a creepy slow burn, that had me on the edge of my seat wondering when shit was gonna hit the fan.
Has anyone else read this? If so, I’d love to discuss!!
There are multiple different POV’s and characters in this book, but the main narrator is this force, or entity, only referred to as “We” and “Us”. Their intentions are illusive, but one thing is clear; they live off chaos, violence, and anger, and are always looking to exploit teens to get what it wants. Weird, right?
This was a creepy slow burn, that had me on the edge of my seat wondering when shit was gonna hit the fan.
Has anyone else read this? If so, I’d love to discuss!!
March 29, 2022
I did not, for one single minute, have any idea what the hell was happening in this book.
December 5, 2021
A dark, hypnotic horror in the utter bleakness of high school in a post-Columbine world.
The title is apt as we move through a group of characters in a way that feels deliberate but also random. Rich, rebellious punk Claire and Sarah who desperately wants to be her friend and Sarah's actual best friend Beth who has stopped coming to school and Beth's brother Greg whose complicated mental health is reaching a tipping point. And we can't forget Sarah's ex-boyfriend David who is finding himself more interested in incel videos since the breakup, and Tyler the kid with the bad home life who takes up residence in David's empty basement, and Collin one of the few Black teens in town who is still reeling from his older sister's suicide. At first it can feel a little overwhelming, you come back to a character that you've forgotten about, but all along the unusual narration of this novel made it clear to me that I needed to just sit back and let it wash over me and as a strategy this worked very well.
The copy calls this "comic" and some of it can be funny, but mostly it's extremely dark. The strange narrators are not a person and it's not clear they are even a thing but it's definitely clear they have bad intentions. It is a very regular world and yet it is a world where it feels like violence could burst out at any moment, which actually is a lot like the regular world. It is a book that's very interested in the ways a "sleepy community" can suddenly find itself in the center of something unexpected and horrific. Because something is always lurking underneath, and our narrators are looking to exploit whatever they can.
I also loved how this feels so much like the habits of real teens, the way they can be obsessed with something for months and then suddenly cast it aside. Their spur of the moment decisions that they do not understand but fully commit to. The way they can put the entire world aside to just play video games and smoke weed and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. The irrationality of a not-fully-developed brain is alive and well here. And despite feeling heavily nihilistic for much of the novel, it is also surprisingly optimistic at the end, which honestly I needed at that point.
A truly unique novel that was of particular interest to me as I was thinking about unexpected and inhuman narrators myself before I picked it up.
Piles of content warnings, including suicide, school shootings, violence, parental neglect and abuse, and sexual assault (may be attempted, mostly off-page).
The title is apt as we move through a group of characters in a way that feels deliberate but also random. Rich, rebellious punk Claire and Sarah who desperately wants to be her friend and Sarah's actual best friend Beth who has stopped coming to school and Beth's brother Greg whose complicated mental health is reaching a tipping point. And we can't forget Sarah's ex-boyfriend David who is finding himself more interested in incel videos since the breakup, and Tyler the kid with the bad home life who takes up residence in David's empty basement, and Collin one of the few Black teens in town who is still reeling from his older sister's suicide. At first it can feel a little overwhelming, you come back to a character that you've forgotten about, but all along the unusual narration of this novel made it clear to me that I needed to just sit back and let it wash over me and as a strategy this worked very well.
The copy calls this "comic" and some of it can be funny, but mostly it's extremely dark. The strange narrators are not a person and it's not clear they are even a thing but it's definitely clear they have bad intentions. It is a very regular world and yet it is a world where it feels like violence could burst out at any moment, which actually is a lot like the regular world. It is a book that's very interested in the ways a "sleepy community" can suddenly find itself in the center of something unexpected and horrific. Because something is always lurking underneath, and our narrators are looking to exploit whatever they can.
I also loved how this feels so much like the habits of real teens, the way they can be obsessed with something for months and then suddenly cast it aside. Their spur of the moment decisions that they do not understand but fully commit to. The way they can put the entire world aside to just play video games and smoke weed and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. The irrationality of a not-fully-developed brain is alive and well here. And despite feeling heavily nihilistic for much of the novel, it is also surprisingly optimistic at the end, which honestly I needed at that point.
A truly unique novel that was of particular interest to me as I was thinking about unexpected and inhuman narrators myself before I picked it up.
Piles of content warnings, including suicide, school shootings, violence, parental neglect and abuse, and sexual assault (may be attempted, mostly off-page).
Read
February 19, 2022Dnf
May 3, 2022
Featured in this reading vlog: https://youtu.be/vqOGP4QhXV8
Not for me. Super slow paced and character-driven, which I usually love, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
Not for me. Super slow paced and character-driven, which I usually love, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
September 8, 2022
edit: oh my god that average rating…LMFAO one of my favorite books of the year has one of the lowest average ratings ive ever seen on goodreads??? i love that journey for me
mother of god. this was AMAZING. a new favorite of all time.
this is not a conventional storytelling style by any means. its like nothing ive ever read, and it definitely took a while for me to get used to. it has a HUGE cast of characters, the main ones being Sarah, Beth, Claire, David, Tyler, Greg and Collin. all of these characters are DEEPLY flawed in so many ways, some more subtle and nuanced in their moral shortcomings, others being very obviously awful people. it was a LOT to get used to and took me around 100 pages to fully settle in.
its also a quite meandering story in general, which was NOT something i was expecting from a horror novel. it was a literary horror, heavy on the literary, and i adored it. it follows this group of teens in a town in Ohio, and all of them are up to some really weird shit. David is telling people about a sex cult he is allegedly a part of, while Tyler secretly camps out in his basement for 18 days, Sarah is breaking up with David and coming to terms with the fact that she isnt close friends with anyone, Claire is a rich girl who resents the fact that shes rich and wants to separate herself from her privilege and fawning over hardcore/punk musicians, Greg is an abusive narcissistic psychopath who does his best to get in everyone’s heads as much as he can, Beth is poorly handling the fact that she is being abused by Greg, and Collin is really just dreading his home life after his sister’s suicide and going on a journey of self-healing while navigating a predominantly-white and rich town as a Black teen. its all VERY complex and dark and it completely absorbed me all the way through.
this book also just in general really takes its time to let the reader get immersed in the town and the intricate ways the characters are all very delicately woven together, but adds in the additional supernatural spice to the mix, giving the audience a looming sense of dread. the supernatural force itself is the narrator here, and from the first page, it’s crystal clear they do NOT have good intentions for this town. it is SO interesting to read from such a vague, disembodied group of beings who want nothing but the worst for this whole group of kids.
my literal only complaints are that the ending, while immediately extremely satisfying, doesnt give very many answers, and that the chapters are SUPER long (they are split into different sections for each of the characters, so you always have a stopping point every 2-20 pages so its not a big complaint). and even if the ending left me with questions, it wasnt necessarily in a bad way. it left me craving for more.
i think this book will only work for a specific group of people who like literary horror stories with striking yet subtle social commentary, and which are a VERY slow burn, heavily focused on character development and the scope of things rather than being a plot-heavy novel with an ending that wraps everything up into a bow. it is also definitely not for the faint of heart. this book includes several mentions of self-harm and suicide (some being fairly graphic), abuse, family trauma, generational trauma, drug use, narcissistic abuse and manipulation, grooming, extreme violence, grief, and death, and often goes into great detail on those topics.
overall, i thought this was a stunning novel from beginning to end, and i dont think ill ever read something like this again for a very long time. a deeply chilling psychological horror story with some of the greatest character work ive ever experienced.
10/10.
mother of god. this was AMAZING. a new favorite of all time.
this is not a conventional storytelling style by any means. its like nothing ive ever read, and it definitely took a while for me to get used to. it has a HUGE cast of characters, the main ones being Sarah, Beth, Claire, David, Tyler, Greg and Collin. all of these characters are DEEPLY flawed in so many ways, some more subtle and nuanced in their moral shortcomings, others being very obviously awful people. it was a LOT to get used to and took me around 100 pages to fully settle in.
its also a quite meandering story in general, which was NOT something i was expecting from a horror novel. it was a literary horror, heavy on the literary, and i adored it. it follows this group of teens in a town in Ohio, and all of them are up to some really weird shit. David is telling people about a sex cult he is allegedly a part of, while Tyler secretly camps out in his basement for 18 days, Sarah is breaking up with David and coming to terms with the fact that she isnt close friends with anyone, Claire is a rich girl who resents the fact that shes rich and wants to separate herself from her privilege and fawning over hardcore/punk musicians, Greg is an abusive narcissistic psychopath who does his best to get in everyone’s heads as much as he can, Beth is poorly handling the fact that she is being abused by Greg, and Collin is really just dreading his home life after his sister’s suicide and going on a journey of self-healing while navigating a predominantly-white and rich town as a Black teen. its all VERY complex and dark and it completely absorbed me all the way through.
this book also just in general really takes its time to let the reader get immersed in the town and the intricate ways the characters are all very delicately woven together, but adds in the additional supernatural spice to the mix, giving the audience a looming sense of dread. the supernatural force itself is the narrator here, and from the first page, it’s crystal clear they do NOT have good intentions for this town. it is SO interesting to read from such a vague, disembodied group of beings who want nothing but the worst for this whole group of kids.
my literal only complaints are that the ending, while immediately extremely satisfying, doesnt give very many answers, and that the chapters are SUPER long (they are split into different sections for each of the characters, so you always have a stopping point every 2-20 pages so its not a big complaint). and even if the ending left me with questions, it wasnt necessarily in a bad way. it left me craving for more.
i think this book will only work for a specific group of people who like literary horror stories with striking yet subtle social commentary, and which are a VERY slow burn, heavily focused on character development and the scope of things rather than being a plot-heavy novel with an ending that wraps everything up into a bow. it is also definitely not for the faint of heart. this book includes several mentions of self-harm and suicide (some being fairly graphic), abuse, family trauma, generational trauma, drug use, narcissistic abuse and manipulation, grooming, extreme violence, grief, and death, and often goes into great detail on those topics.
overall, i thought this was a stunning novel from beginning to end, and i dont think ill ever read something like this again for a very long time. a deeply chilling psychological horror story with some of the greatest character work ive ever experienced.
10/10.
February 17, 2022
"String Follow" made me realize, as no other book has, that reading a work of fiction is an act of indulgence. Sometimes it's the reader's self-indulgence, sometimes it's the reader indulging the author. For me, "String Follow" was 100% the latter, since finishing a book this punishingly awful cannot be counted as the pursuit of pleasure.
Christ, this was boring. And not boring in the sense of being too mundane or esoteric to hold my interest, it was boring in the sense that the author is trying to torture the reader with granular . . . no, make that sub-atomic . . . detail. Towards the end of "String Follow," characters start opening and closing their mouths, then opening and closing their eyes, actions which all sentient beings perform but Mr. Jacobs feels obliged to document, like he thinks the reader is too stupid to know how the body operates.
I don't know what point the author is trying to make. He's writing about a bunch of aimless, stupid teens wandering around suburban Cincinnati and committing acts of random violence. If he's trying to prove that America's youth is degenerating into a dangerous, nihilistic mob . . . well, (a) that idea is as hackneyed as a 50's juvenile delinquent flick and (b) maybe his characters should bear some resemblance to actual teens, or, really, actual human beings. The people in "String Follow" have an obnoxious tendency toward omphaloskeptic reverie while in the middle of stabbing each other. At some point, I started picturing all the action occurring in slow motion, which made the book even duller.
There are some vaguely speculative aspects to "String Follow," since the voice of the annoying omniscient narrator keeps hinting that it's some sort of supernatural being, plus, one character can see people's auras. There are some vaguely spiritual aspects to "String Follow," as everyone starts acting slightly less awful once they've been through grief counseling. Maybe this muddling of genres is supposed to be innovative, but it just feels undisciplined and, yep, self-indulgent.
Maybe the lesson of "String Follow" is that everyone experiences pain, and we should all be more empathetic towards each other. Well, I can agree with that . . . with maybe one or two exceptions at the moment.
I don't think this book was edited especially well. Towards the end a couple shares a "real and corporal" moment. Maybe that was supposed to be a "corporeal" moment and the proof readers gave up on this book long before I should have, or maybe they'll be promoted to a Sergeant moment in a sequel which I pray never gets published . . . or even written.
I despised this book.
Christ, this was boring. And not boring in the sense of being too mundane or esoteric to hold my interest, it was boring in the sense that the author is trying to torture the reader with granular . . . no, make that sub-atomic . . . detail. Towards the end of "String Follow," characters start opening and closing their mouths, then opening and closing their eyes, actions which all sentient beings perform but Mr. Jacobs feels obliged to document, like he thinks the reader is too stupid to know how the body operates.
I don't know what point the author is trying to make. He's writing about a bunch of aimless, stupid teens wandering around suburban Cincinnati and committing acts of random violence. If he's trying to prove that America's youth is degenerating into a dangerous, nihilistic mob . . . well, (a) that idea is as hackneyed as a 50's juvenile delinquent flick and (b) maybe his characters should bear some resemblance to actual teens, or, really, actual human beings. The people in "String Follow" have an obnoxious tendency toward omphaloskeptic reverie while in the middle of stabbing each other. At some point, I started picturing all the action occurring in slow motion, which made the book even duller.
There are some vaguely speculative aspects to "String Follow," since the voice of the annoying omniscient narrator keeps hinting that it's some sort of supernatural being, plus, one character can see people's auras. There are some vaguely spiritual aspects to "String Follow," as everyone starts acting slightly less awful once they've been through grief counseling. Maybe this muddling of genres is supposed to be innovative, but it just feels undisciplined and, yep, self-indulgent.
Maybe the lesson of "String Follow" is that everyone experiences pain, and we should all be more empathetic towards each other. Well, I can agree with that . . . with maybe one or two exceptions at the moment.
I don't think this book was edited especially well. Towards the end a couple shares a "real and corporal" moment. Maybe that was supposed to be a "corporeal" moment and the proof readers gave up on this book long before I should have, or maybe they'll be promoted to a Sergeant moment in a sequel which I pray never gets published . . . or even written.
I despised this book.
February 1, 2022
I should abandon books more often
October 21, 2021
thought this one turned out pretty well
February 2, 2022
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.
I'm really not sure what I just read. Was it some sort of existentialist treatise, or just a confused Sci-Fi melodrama? The book is listed under horror and described as "A darkly comic suburban Gothic about a malevolent force that targets a group of Ohio misfits, harnessing their angst for its sinister designs." However, there was nothing whatsoever about the narrative that read "horror" to me (and I read TONS of horror); there was nothing humorous except for the occasional sardonic comment; I'm not even sure exactly how you define "suburban Gothic" but suburban, I guess I'll give the book that. I'd say this was cosmic horror minus the horror only because it's narrated by some cosmic force that "enters" various teenagers to observe and to some degree direct their behavior. But the story is so drawn out and confusing has character doing just ridiculously unbelievable things (like two, and eventually three, claiming residence for almost three weeks in the downstairs of another, though he doesn't know who has taken over his basement, just that he's now locked out of it and resigns himself to the fact without ever checking or doing anything about it. The most redeeming factor of the novel is the writing/verbiage is solid, but the story is so meandering and convoluted that I drew no enjoyment from it.
I'm really not sure what I just read. Was it some sort of existentialist treatise, or just a confused Sci-Fi melodrama? The book is listed under horror and described as "A darkly comic suburban Gothic about a malevolent force that targets a group of Ohio misfits, harnessing their angst for its sinister designs." However, there was nothing whatsoever about the narrative that read "horror" to me (and I read TONS of horror); there was nothing humorous except for the occasional sardonic comment; I'm not even sure exactly how you define "suburban Gothic" but suburban, I guess I'll give the book that. I'd say this was cosmic horror minus the horror only because it's narrated by some cosmic force that "enters" various teenagers to observe and to some degree direct their behavior. But the story is so drawn out and confusing has character doing just ridiculously unbelievable things (like two, and eventually three, claiming residence for almost three weeks in the downstairs of another, though he doesn't know who has taken over his basement, just that he's now locked out of it and resigns himself to the fact without ever checking or doing anything about it. The most redeeming factor of the novel is the writing/verbiage is solid, but the story is so meandering and convoluted that I drew no enjoyment from it.
March 20, 2022
This is one of the most dreary, self-important pieces of fiction I've ever slogged through. I kept waiting for the promised payoff, but instead I just wound up pushing through a few hundred pages of pretentious slice-of-life that I'm pretty sure was supposed to be 'atmospheric' but instead just wound up reading as dreary and indulgent.
There was nothing particularly dark or comic anywhere in this story, despite the cover copy. None of the characters have their own voice or personality, and the nameless force is never clarified, explained, or presented in a way that implies any sense or relevance. There's a vague culmination near the end, but that's not enough to actually qualify this book as having a coherent plot.
It mostly comes across as that same story that every intellectual outcast writes in the back of their English notebook in 10th grade, where All Those Other Kids Get What's Coming To Them, with pretentions of literary grandiosity. 1.5 stars, rounded up because there's nothing actively egregious, scientifically awful, or obnoxiously offensive; it's just... not good.
There was nothing particularly dark or comic anywhere in this story, despite the cover copy. None of the characters have their own voice or personality, and the nameless force is never clarified, explained, or presented in a way that implies any sense or relevance. There's a vague culmination near the end, but that's not enough to actually qualify this book as having a coherent plot.
It mostly comes across as that same story that every intellectual outcast writes in the back of their English notebook in 10th grade, where All Those Other Kids Get What's Coming To Them, with pretentions of literary grandiosity. 1.5 stars, rounded up because there's nothing actively egregious, scientifically awful, or obnoxiously offensive; it's just... not good.
June 7, 2022
Ugh…… I just couldn’t get into this. I see what the intent was with the narration, but…. I hated it. Having some mysterious disembodied voices could have been scary, but what it did was keep me from getting invested. I guess it was almost *too* mysterious that it just resulted in me not caring. And frankly I hated all the characters. I wasn’t intrigued by any of them. Angsty teenagers be angsty. Period.
I feel like this book had similar vibes to Grady Hendrix but if Grady Hendrix was unsuccessful in writing a book I care about.
I feel like this book had similar vibes to Grady Hendrix but if Grady Hendrix was unsuccessful in writing a book I care about.
July 13, 2023
not to sound insane but this is. exactly what it’s like to be a teenager
June 10, 2022
The content in this book is dark and heavy and potentially triggering so if you are sensitive to content, please look those up. But I loved the story, I loved the writing, and I love how intensely this story made me feel. While I was reading I felt like I had a huge stone weighing down on my chest because my heart hurt so deeply. The sorrow this book made me feel was IMMENSE. But not everyone loves to be emotionally exhausted by their books, I know, so if you are looking for a fun horror I don’t think this is that. But it is smart and interesting and dark and uncomfortable and I thought it was great.
I do recommend reading this both physically and listening to audio. I paired the two together and it was a great experience. The story is narrated by a mysterious presence that circles around this group of teens and I think the audio helped me hear its voice the way the author intended it. If I had just read this physically I don’t know that I would have read it the same way and I may have lost something.
I vlogged my experience reading this, if you are interested in more of my thoughts you can go here https://youtu.be/oX4EgZ6jbWM to watch.
I do recommend reading this both physically and listening to audio. I paired the two together and it was a great experience. The story is narrated by a mysterious presence that circles around this group of teens and I think the audio helped me hear its voice the way the author intended it. If I had just read this physically I don’t know that I would have read it the same way and I may have lost something.
I vlogged my experience reading this, if you are interested in more of my thoughts you can go here https://youtu.be/oX4EgZ6jbWM to watch.
May 18, 2023
Horrible.
Terrible.
Awful.
The End.
Terrible.
Awful.
The End.
September 4, 2024
guys i listened to this whole thing on audiobook and it was never bad, necessarily, it just...wasn't ever good at any point?? I thought I liked where we were going, with some of the teen protags feeling removed and above other people because they're coming to terms with how the world works and how it's easier to shove empathy down and participate in the machine than it is to make your own decisions and stick to your own moral code (sort of whatever, but like, points being made there). but the vague, sinister presence of ""evil"" that never ever gets explained even as a metaphor for like puberty or angst or capitalism or whatever thee fuck just DOES not make sense and i'm tired of books pretending they're doing something they're not actually doing, ya know? also yes I listened to this whole thing, no I could not tell the difference between several of the characters. I understand this is Suburbia but they simply cannot all be named beth sarah reya claire greg tyler colin like okay I know these are all different names but No They're Not???? and their voices just are not distinctive (with the exception of maybe Greg and Beth) so it all blurs together into a book of nothing, about nothing. also like, jesus christ, I GET this book is about Being Evil Etcetera, but the multiple (!!) school shooter scenes that aren't even related to the fucking plot were SO unecessary and cringe and the only point I could possibly glean from that is that the author actually legitimately finds the details of that kind of thing cool or interesting??? because we never actually get insight into What the evil presence in this book actually IS, there is literally no point in including these scenes when terrible shit is already happening in the main plot?? I just cannot find a justifiable explanation for including any of the torrid details of school shooting number whatever if you are not gonna DO anything with that. This is a particular type of violence that I always pay attention to in fiction because it is a lived experience for me (*thumbs up emoji*) and I want to know what people have to say about it and how it's being used in the horror genre (just as shock value? to Say something? to add your voice to the plethora of absolutely useless voices saying 'hey man, isn't this kinda fucked up'? to say 'men are bad' instead of addressing first off gun violence and second off the mental health crisis in this country?) etc. and I just could not come up with a plausible explanation for why this was included except for to make the book edgier. lol. Hate that!
anyways. go girl, give us nothing. read something else
anyways. go girl, give us nothing. read something else
January 1, 2022
“String Follow” by Simon Jacobs is an unsettling, psychologically dark tale that focuses on the fascination teenagers have with the morbid and twisted things people do to themselves and each other. When some unseen force grabs a hold of that fascination and uses it for its own benefit, there is no predicting how deep into the dark these teens will wander.
This book was outright spooky! There’s something about an unseen force hijacking pent-up rage and insecurities for its own devices that comes across as extremely intriguing. What does this mysterious otherworldly being desire and why does it need to feed on the negative emotions of teenagers? A lot of this unfolds in a tightly wound tale that follows several teens in a small Ohio town where things quickly go from bad to horrifyingly chaotic.
While the novel is accurately described as a suburban gothic, it does feel like a coming-of-age story but through a distorted lens. It’s like these characters are experiencing the wicked and sinister undertones of the world and are channeling it into themselves. The deeper they delve into this darkness, the more twisted and immoral they become. It’s easy to be gripped by the psychological aspects of this story and to see these characters descend into violence and madness.
Sometimes the switch in perspectives and time jumps can be a little confusing, but readers will definitely be immersed in the supernatural/horror mash-up. There are definitely places where the details can be a little too wordy and slow the pacing of the novel but overall, this is going to be a novel fan of horror and the supernatural will enjoy diving into. It’d the perfect amount of messed up and gruesome with a side of satirical humour.
Be on the lookout for “String Follow” by Simon Jacobs when it hits shelves on its expected publication date of February 1st, 2022.
Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (MCD X FSG Originals) for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.
This book was outright spooky! There’s something about an unseen force hijacking pent-up rage and insecurities for its own devices that comes across as extremely intriguing. What does this mysterious otherworldly being desire and why does it need to feed on the negative emotions of teenagers? A lot of this unfolds in a tightly wound tale that follows several teens in a small Ohio town where things quickly go from bad to horrifyingly chaotic.
While the novel is accurately described as a suburban gothic, it does feel like a coming-of-age story but through a distorted lens. It’s like these characters are experiencing the wicked and sinister undertones of the world and are channeling it into themselves. The deeper they delve into this darkness, the more twisted and immoral they become. It’s easy to be gripped by the psychological aspects of this story and to see these characters descend into violence and madness.
Sometimes the switch in perspectives and time jumps can be a little confusing, but readers will definitely be immersed in the supernatural/horror mash-up. There are definitely places where the details can be a little too wordy and slow the pacing of the novel but overall, this is going to be a novel fan of horror and the supernatural will enjoy diving into. It’d the perfect amount of messed up and gruesome with a side of satirical humour.
Be on the lookout for “String Follow” by Simon Jacobs when it hits shelves on its expected publication date of February 1st, 2022.
Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (MCD X FSG Originals) for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.
May 9, 2022
I can usually find something to like in every book, but not this one. I am confounded as to how so many great books go unpublished while this self-important, poorly written missive with nothing real to say somehow ended up out in the world.
August 22, 2024
I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I was left extremely disappointed. I had to put it down and not touch it for days at a time because it became a chore to pick up. The whole book is very confusing. There are many instances where it seems like the author is trying so hard to be profound but ends up spewing gibberish for a page and a half instead. This felt like a very rough draft and not a finished product. I don’t recommend reading this if you need storylines to be wrapped up at all because that just doesn’t happen in this book. It feels like there was supposed to be a message or conclusion I was supposed to come to but I wasn’t given the proper means of reaching it.
April 3, 2022
A book in which teens commit random acts of violence, through which the author strings you along in believing it’s an evil urging them on, with no real plot in sight.
This was the hardest book to get through. The only reason it was not a DNF was because my book club is reading and discussing it. I have no idea what sort of discussion could possibly come from this one.
I kept waiting for the dark comedy to step in. I mean that’s how this book is described. Zero dark comedy here. I had no idea what was happening at any point. This story felt so convoluted. Just a big disappointed miss with this one.
March 7, 2022
*raspberry noise*
September 30, 2023
No way around that, this is a strange book. I get the string of 1* reviews that you see for this one, as snobbish as it sounds this is very much a not-for-everybody-book. I was lucky enough to find it utterly fascinating and absorbing. I was going through a few dnfs and books that didn't hold my attention and this one did with its strange concept. It's a book to ponder and think about, by no means am I going to claim I fully understood everything that is going on here, just enough to make it interesting. It's vague and ominous and disturbing and uncomfortable and who ever called this funny (as on the blurb and in several descriptions?) must've read a different book. Satirical, maybe, funny, no. It's dark and told in a very weird voice. But so fascinating, that is really the word to settle on for me. Saying this was good or enjoyable is the wrong ruling but it was incredibly fascinating. Also, in case the Horror label drives you in, be aware this is on the literary side, very character driven and a very unusual take on Horror, more Horror adjacent than a scary tale per se. But given the distinct atmosphere present here, it is maybe the perfect transition book into official spooky season, so at least there is that.
As a central theme this is about violence and teenagehood. Different levels of violence, the terror, the dread. Internal violence in form of mental disorders, outward violence committed against others but also themselves, experienced violence, violation of privacy and intimacy, the apathy towards violent thoughts and acts. Some implied, some on page. Is violence an inherent part of the limbo like existence as a teenager, before you really know who you are? Do teenagers understand what happens to them when they act violent? Are they drawn to it? Is it the natural response to a violent world? This book is less an explanation of violence but more of an exploration, a thought spiral about it. Within all this talk on violence is a lot of mundanity, most highlighted by a specific character who sneaks into another teenager's basement and just lives there for something like 18 days, mostly doing nothing. Apathy next to violence. Oh, this book is so fascinating. It reminded me distantly of Bret Easton Ellis, one for the themes but also for the approach to character writing. For the bleak outlook. Also, maybe Larocca fans? I think the vibes connect.
The most notable thing about "String Follow" is the narration though. It is told by an omniscient voice, a bodiless entity that floats around this group of teens we follow: it infiltrates, observes, possesses, maybe guides, maybe feeds off fears and violence, maybe stirs fears and violence, maybe just witnesses. It's hard to pin this down and I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few different interpretations floating around. But it delivers a very unnerving tone, for many pages not that much even happens but this voice always makes you feel like something unsettling could happen around every corner. That combined with being introduced to a bigger cast makes the first ~40 pages a bit rough. I wasn't sold from the get go, the beginning is overwhelming. But I let it work on me, it literally felt hypnotizing to gradually fall into this style and then let it carry me for 400 pages. So, so fascinating, and yes, disturbing.
For a while I thought this story would head towards a school shooting situation but it's not. School shootings are mentioned though and part of a storyline. Very fitting as a symbolizer for the world these teens grow up in, find themselves in. Generally, there are a lot of terrible things that can happen to teenagers and terrible acts that teenagers can commit represented here. It frames the teenage existence in harsh truths, how can we even expect them to respond with anything other than violence of their own choosing? Seriously, I have a ton of thoughts about what this book is laying out but I will admit I am not 100% sure what the book's own statement is by the end. And maybe that is the point. There is no answer, there is no point and purpose. It happens, we live with it for better or worse. There is punk and death parties and basement invasions. It's a lot and I was sucked in.
The ending left me a bit weirded out though. Is that suddenly a religious message? On the last page a character walks into a church, he is lost in several ways, and decided to listen. And I definitely thought that was an odd and for me personally not welcome turn to finish the book. But maybe that church is supposed to represent further indoctrination? I am very confused by what is being said here and wish I could have left the book on a clearer note. But I think I am asking the wrong book for a an easy exit note.
Let me leave you with a quote that gives a solid impression of what to expect:
"Sarah couldn't put it all together -there was a dissonance where the revelation should be, a gulf she was just shy of crossing- but she knew there was violence there, there was violence all around them, buried in those shadows."
As a central theme this is about violence and teenagehood. Different levels of violence, the terror, the dread. Internal violence in form of mental disorders, outward violence committed against others but also themselves, experienced violence, violation of privacy and intimacy, the apathy towards violent thoughts and acts. Some implied, some on page. Is violence an inherent part of the limbo like existence as a teenager, before you really know who you are? Do teenagers understand what happens to them when they act violent? Are they drawn to it? Is it the natural response to a violent world? This book is less an explanation of violence but more of an exploration, a thought spiral about it. Within all this talk on violence is a lot of mundanity, most highlighted by a specific character who sneaks into another teenager's basement and just lives there for something like 18 days, mostly doing nothing. Apathy next to violence. Oh, this book is so fascinating. It reminded me distantly of Bret Easton Ellis, one for the themes but also for the approach to character writing. For the bleak outlook. Also, maybe Larocca fans? I think the vibes connect.
The most notable thing about "String Follow" is the narration though. It is told by an omniscient voice, a bodiless entity that floats around this group of teens we follow: it infiltrates, observes, possesses, maybe guides, maybe feeds off fears and violence, maybe stirs fears and violence, maybe just witnesses. It's hard to pin this down and I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few different interpretations floating around. But it delivers a very unnerving tone, for many pages not that much even happens but this voice always makes you feel like something unsettling could happen around every corner. That combined with being introduced to a bigger cast makes the first ~40 pages a bit rough. I wasn't sold from the get go, the beginning is overwhelming. But I let it work on me, it literally felt hypnotizing to gradually fall into this style and then let it carry me for 400 pages. So, so fascinating, and yes, disturbing.
For a while I thought this story would head towards a school shooting situation but it's not. School shootings are mentioned though and part of a storyline. Very fitting as a symbolizer for the world these teens grow up in, find themselves in. Generally, there are a lot of terrible things that can happen to teenagers and terrible acts that teenagers can commit represented here. It frames the teenage existence in harsh truths, how can we even expect them to respond with anything other than violence of their own choosing? Seriously, I have a ton of thoughts about what this book is laying out but I will admit I am not 100% sure what the book's own statement is by the end. And maybe that is the point. There is no answer, there is no point and purpose. It happens, we live with it for better or worse. There is punk and death parties and basement invasions. It's a lot and I was sucked in.
The ending left me a bit weirded out though. Is that suddenly a religious message? On the last page a character walks into a church, he is lost in several ways, and decided to listen. And I definitely thought that was an odd and for me personally not welcome turn to finish the book. But maybe that church is supposed to represent further indoctrination? I am very confused by what is being said here and wish I could have left the book on a clearer note. But I think I am asking the wrong book for a an easy exit note.
Let me leave you with a quote that gives a solid impression of what to expect:
"Sarah couldn't put it all together -there was a dissonance where the revelation should be, a gulf she was just shy of crossing- but she knew there was violence there, there was violence all around them, buried in those shadows."
February 21, 2022
The most immersive novel I've read in some time. You're knee-deep sloshing around the troubled brains of these high schoolers (a big cast here), so much so that the sorta malevolent but impalpable force which occasionally drives/resets the narrative almost seems unnecessary. I don't know what this says about my own high school experience, but a nudge of "bad ideas" from otherworldly voices would have found itself fighting for elbow room, which, admittedly, is mostly what happens here. The horror (?) elements almost feel like an afterthought (see what I did there), but they're not unwelcome. They essentially serve to remind you that you're heading for... something. And that you probably don't really want to get there. But you need to get there? Just like these kids do. And every page delivers a killer, laser-focused observation about our horrible (but weirdly hopeful?) human nature, and every chapter has a bad decision, but none of it feels gratuitous. It's less a document of one particularly dark, always escalating weekend (was it all in a weekend?) than simply a primer on how (and why) our teen years are so insufferable. And suffer they do! I'm still half-convinced the evil "voice" isn't really a collective "we" and more like a "he," meaning "Simon Jacobs," just dropping by to punt everyone towards the bloody goalposts, not *really* the toe of a novel being occasionally dipped into "genre" just to satisfy categorization that it sometimes seems.
Highlights: I enjoyed the infiltrations of the basement the most, as it had oodles of that "doing what you shouldn't be doing" thrill we remember well from our teens, and if any part of the book could be considered "fun," it's this recurring subplot. And, as I said above, the cast here is swollen and angry (and as devoid of tangible adults as Charlie Brown), and seems simultaneously bigger and smaller, because of how the POV can attach so deeply and effortlessly to each and every one of them. You'd think it would fall back on a novel-in-stories stunt to accommodate such a dogpile of pinballing around the gray matter of these kids, but instead it has the instant and ongoing momentum of a thriller. In fact, the entire thing (all 400-ish pages) reads like a final chapter, this heightened and headlong energy that would seem impossible for any novel to sustain for so long, but it does.
Highlights: I enjoyed the infiltrations of the basement the most, as it had oodles of that "doing what you shouldn't be doing" thrill we remember well from our teens, and if any part of the book could be considered "fun," it's this recurring subplot. And, as I said above, the cast here is swollen and angry (and as devoid of tangible adults as Charlie Brown), and seems simultaneously bigger and smaller, because of how the POV can attach so deeply and effortlessly to each and every one of them. You'd think it would fall back on a novel-in-stories stunt to accommodate such a dogpile of pinballing around the gray matter of these kids, but instead it has the instant and ongoing momentum of a thriller. In fact, the entire thing (all 400-ish pages) reads like a final chapter, this heightened and headlong energy that would seem impossible for any novel to sustain for so long, but it does.
February 17, 2025
Simon Jacobs, please write more
September 4, 2025
book makes little to no sense, it may be a horror story or a delusional recollection of a bad acid trip put forth by an evil clown
starts off slowly and painfully to the ears with the audio version and continues down the same path throughout
starts off slowly and painfully to the ears with the audio version and continues down the same path throughout
Read
March 15, 2022There is a quiet horror influencing the youth of Adena, Ohio. A mysterious force that doesn’t poison their young hearts but rather distorts their desires into something sinister. Simon Jacobs delivers an oddly curious and uncanny horror tale in String Follow.
String Follow by Simon Jacobs is narrated by this mysterious force. As readers, we are privy to its musing as it stalks various characters. Beth lives in the shadow of her abusive and psychotic brother, Greg. David turns to incel-like cults and fantasies when his love is unreturned from Sarah. Unbeknownst to him, Tyler has found refuge in David’s basement. We follow a web of these characters and more, all seemingly random and yet, their fates are all intertwined.
In String Follow, Simon Jacobs does a brilliant job of portraying the youthful lives of those in the Midwest. Often, his characters’ actions and thoughts linger between the mundane and the bizarre. He accentuates their whims and impulses. He portrays their erratic behaviors believably. String Follow is about observing seemingly disjointed actions from all its characters steadily become tangled with each other.
String Follow has a flair that is reminiscent of Donnie Darko and The Twilight Zone. Simon Jacobs’s prose is particularly notable. The way in which the author writes is spellbinding and invokes an atmosphere of dread. As enticing as it is unsettling, his prose is the highlight of this novel.
Simon Jacobs does not humor his readers with jump scares, but a slow unraveling of atrocities committed by his characters. While the mysterious force can be perceived as unworldly, the horrors set in String Follow are grounded in unfortunate reality. Woven between the scenes of teenage meanderings, we are exposed to parental neglect, shootings, abuse, and violence.
This gothic novel does suffer from having one too many characters. Some character arcs felt lacking in comparison to the rest. On a few occasions, the abundance of characters hindered the momentum of the story. Since we have the perspective of the mysterious force but are blinded to its intensions, it is easy to miss the importance of certain individuals. The best strategy is to let the mysterious force reveal and connect these characters for you. It does come together at the end.
String Follow is a dark and somber coming-of-age tale. It begs us to give credence to the dark parts of ourselves. Jealousy and anger are not fleeting sentiments. With a simple nudge, they can consume a person.
Review originally posted in Grimdark Magazine https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/revi...
String Follow by Simon Jacobs is narrated by this mysterious force. As readers, we are privy to its musing as it stalks various characters. Beth lives in the shadow of her abusive and psychotic brother, Greg. David turns to incel-like cults and fantasies when his love is unreturned from Sarah. Unbeknownst to him, Tyler has found refuge in David’s basement. We follow a web of these characters and more, all seemingly random and yet, their fates are all intertwined.
In String Follow, Simon Jacobs does a brilliant job of portraying the youthful lives of those in the Midwest. Often, his characters’ actions and thoughts linger between the mundane and the bizarre. He accentuates their whims and impulses. He portrays their erratic behaviors believably. String Follow is about observing seemingly disjointed actions from all its characters steadily become tangled with each other.
String Follow has a flair that is reminiscent of Donnie Darko and The Twilight Zone. Simon Jacobs’s prose is particularly notable. The way in which the author writes is spellbinding and invokes an atmosphere of dread. As enticing as it is unsettling, his prose is the highlight of this novel.
Simon Jacobs does not humor his readers with jump scares, but a slow unraveling of atrocities committed by his characters. While the mysterious force can be perceived as unworldly, the horrors set in String Follow are grounded in unfortunate reality. Woven between the scenes of teenage meanderings, we are exposed to parental neglect, shootings, abuse, and violence.
This gothic novel does suffer from having one too many characters. Some character arcs felt lacking in comparison to the rest. On a few occasions, the abundance of characters hindered the momentum of the story. Since we have the perspective of the mysterious force but are blinded to its intensions, it is easy to miss the importance of certain individuals. The best strategy is to let the mysterious force reveal and connect these characters for you. It does come together at the end.
String Follow is a dark and somber coming-of-age tale. It begs us to give credence to the dark parts of ourselves. Jealousy and anger are not fleeting sentiments. With a simple nudge, they can consume a person.
Review originally posted in Grimdark Magazine https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/revi...
March 17, 2022
2.5 stars. Though the description of this book made it seem right up my alley, in the end String Follow and I were just not a good fit.
This novel is loosely narrated by some unspecified, supernatural "we" who is inhabiting teenagers in Adena, Ohio, moving among them and appealing to their worst natures to make these teens commit unspeakable acts of violence and destruction. The book focuses on a core group of eight of these teens, switching perspectives between them frequently, and explores the ways they succumb to or fight the malevolent force that seeks to control their minds and actions.
On one hand, this novel is a brilliant metaphor for modern teenagerhood. The world of String Follow explores the challenges that today's teens face through a darkly sinister lens. It seeks to examine what society would look like if teenagers, who are already impulsive and irrational and emotionally immature, were compelled to react with violence and brutality. In a cerebral, hypnotic narrative, it exposes the seedy underbelly of suburbia, the darkness beneath the surface of daily life, the horrors just waiting for their moment to be unleashed. I think calling this a "suburban Gothic" is spot-on.
On the other hand, though, the pace is excruciatingly slow, and not a lot actually happens. There's a sense of everything building to one big culmination, and I did like the surprisingly optimistic conclusion after all the nihilism that came before -- but it was hard for me to stay focused on everything leading up to the ending. It was just...dull. The shifting perspectives and Jacobs' tendency to go off on tangents made me feel off-balance and somewhat confused throughout the entire book, and it became a struggle just to finish. I do think I got the message Jacobs was trying to get across, and I do admire the creativity of his execution, but the book would've been a lot stronger in my opinion if it was less esoteric and more edited.
This novel is loosely narrated by some unspecified, supernatural "we" who is inhabiting teenagers in Adena, Ohio, moving among them and appealing to their worst natures to make these teens commit unspeakable acts of violence and destruction. The book focuses on a core group of eight of these teens, switching perspectives between them frequently, and explores the ways they succumb to or fight the malevolent force that seeks to control their minds and actions.
On one hand, this novel is a brilliant metaphor for modern teenagerhood. The world of String Follow explores the challenges that today's teens face through a darkly sinister lens. It seeks to examine what society would look like if teenagers, who are already impulsive and irrational and emotionally immature, were compelled to react with violence and brutality. In a cerebral, hypnotic narrative, it exposes the seedy underbelly of suburbia, the darkness beneath the surface of daily life, the horrors just waiting for their moment to be unleashed. I think calling this a "suburban Gothic" is spot-on.
On the other hand, though, the pace is excruciatingly slow, and not a lot actually happens. There's a sense of everything building to one big culmination, and I did like the surprisingly optimistic conclusion after all the nihilism that came before -- but it was hard for me to stay focused on everything leading up to the ending. It was just...dull. The shifting perspectives and Jacobs' tendency to go off on tangents made me feel off-balance and somewhat confused throughout the entire book, and it became a struggle just to finish. I do think I got the message Jacobs was trying to get across, and I do admire the creativity of his execution, but the book would've been a lot stronger in my opinion if it was less esoteric and more edited.
Want to read
December 30, 2021Carrie's phenomenal review for Grimdark Magazine convinced me that the author,Simon Jacobs has what it takes to be great. If you're a fan of insidious horror, then String Follow might just be something you enjoy. I highly recommend Carrie's review.
https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/revi...
https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/revi...
January 15, 2024
The kind of horror I adore, blissful and sinister. This suburban gothic tale had me entranced from the very beginning. It’s extremely atmospheric and drips with dread while slowly unveiling a malevolent plan that connects the lives of these suburban teenagers. It’s surreal and diabolical in such great subtle ways. I personally love stories that don’t spoon feed you every detail and context. Will never understand why people label something bad just because they don’t “get it”, easy way out I guess.
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