Review: Social Misconduct

I had high hopes for Social Misconduct. It's by a Canadian author and seemed so very timely in our social media obsessed world. But S.J. Maher's novel really let me down. From a thriller perspective it was interesting and I really had no idea how it would end but the rest? I kind of couldn't wait for it to end.

Here's the synopsis:

Her perfect job becomes the perfect nightmare when a stalker hacks her phone.
Candace Walker is thrilled when she lands a new job at a hip Manhattan tech company and gets a brand-new iPhone. She’s more than ready to move on from creating clickbait ads for weight-loss pills and herbal erection boosters, and is determined to dazzle the startup team she joins.
A week later, though, everything is at risk: Candace is the target of a mysterious harasser and an online smear campaign. She tosses her new phone into the Hudson River, begins hiding out in her sister’s storage locker in New Jersey, and can’t think of a single person she can trust. But Candace hasn’t come this far—and gone to such lengths—to submit to what is happening without a fight.

Let's get one thing squared away right off the hop. S.J. Maher is a man. For reasons that may or may not be valid, I'm not thrilled with the author's and/or publisher's decision to use initials instead of his full name. I think it's the opposite reason female authors would/will use initials when they write sci-fi and other seemingly male dominated genres (hello, J.K. Rowling). Now, where the latter is to hide the female name so boys and men aren't put off by the idea that a woman is writing whatever the genre is (that's another rant for another day), I think this situation is used to capitalize on the "girl thriller" boom (you know, the one that was started by books like Gone Girl and Girl on a Train). The boom is great and has allowed so many women to write - and publish - novels that may otherwise have been ignored because they were women. Females are flocking to these stories that feature flawed and twisted characters. It's great. But. Why did this title have to use initials? This isn't the only book to do this, by the way. Remember that hit The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn? Also a man. Now, I said at the top that I don't know if this is necessarily something to get this worked up about but it's been nagging at me ever since I read the synopsis and then found out Maher is male. Then it kind of got me riled up again when I actually read the book because there were a few too many instances of sexually violent scenes (I don't have examples since I read an ARC and haven't compared it to a finished copy) when they didn't need to occur. I don't think authors need to write only what they know - or what they are, gender wise - but when the thriller is based entirely on a millennial female it might help to, you know, be one. Or perhaps even talk to one so you don't write a stereotypical character who makes other female millennials (i.e. me) roll their eyes. 

End rant.

"But what about the actual story?" is what I imagine you're asking if you even got this far into this review. Well...it was fine. If you took out the character traits and Candace's weird, terrible job and just said Person A is on the run and Persons B+ are missing/dead/involved and then just waited for the revelations as the novel went on, well that might have been OK. I was actually very intrigued by the mystery. I knew things weren't as they seemed but I don't think I could have predicted how it all went down. That is probably why this book got 2 stars instead of only 1.

One more mini rant, and it involves the end but I don't think it's really a spoiler because I'm not going to mention names. Sandy Hook got dragged into this story. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. I'm not American but even I felt like six plus years was too soon to use it as a plot point. An aside: having a character contemplate suicide as an easy way out was...unfortunate. Finally, I wasn't fully aware of what "swatting" was until I read this book but I don't love that it was included either.

I did like that the chapters changed timelines. One followed Candace in present day as she's running from whatever happened. The other jumps back several weeks and starts as Candace gets her promotion and all the trouble begins. The timelines move forward in time until they get all mixed up and you're finally caught up to present day and know what happened to Candace. I know some people found it confusing and they weren't a fan, but I actually enjoyed it. It added to the suspense of not knowing who to trust because you're still trying to find all the info.

Clearly Social Misconduct was not for me. S.J. Maher's novel might be for someone else but it won't be going on my list of bookpusher titles. 

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon Schuster Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*