Kiss Me First - Hardcover

Moggach, Lottie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385537476 ISBN 13: 9780385537476

Publisher: Doubleday, 2013

Synopsis

A chilling and intense first novel, the story of a solitary young woman drawn into an online world run by a charismatic web guru who entices her into impersonating a glamorous but desperate woman.

When Leila discovers the Web site Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the Web site's founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, flattered when he invites her to be part of "Project Tess." Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they e-mail, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman—because soon, Leila will have to become her. An ingeniously plotted novel of stolen identity, Kiss Me First is brilliantly frightening about the lies we tell—to ourselves, to others, for good, and for ill.

About this title

About the Author

A London native from a family of acclaimed writers, LOTTIE MOGGACH attended Sussex University before she began a career in journalism at The Times. There, she worked as a feature writer, book reviewer, and columnist for several years. She currently publishes in a variety of newspapers and magazines including Financial Times, Time Out, Elle, GQ, and others. Kiss Me First is her first novel.

Reviews

Moggach’s taut psychological thriller opens with a video conversation between Leila, a socially isolated twentysomething, and Tess, glamorous and pushing 40. As the pages fly by, Moggach reveals that Leila has been recruited by Aiden, the mysterious owner of a website that focuses on philosophical discussion, to impersonate Tess online so that Tess can commit suicide without her friends and family being any wiser. Leila finds Tess to be quite different from her. She’s impulsive, worldly, more than a bit flighty, and genuinely determined to end her own life. After months of communication, Tess hands the reins to her online life over to Leila, and Leila crafts a fictional new chapter for Tess, thousands of miles away on a remote Canadian island. She also communicates with Tess’ friends via e-mail, but when an old boyfriend, Connor, makes contact to try to resume his relationship with Tess, Leila finds their correspondence chipping away at her impartiality with the most unexpected result: she’s falling in love with him. Moggach’s debut is a compulsively readable, complex character study. --Kristine Huntley

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385537476
• ISBN 13: 9780385537476
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320