Blurb:

‘We’re not famous anymore. We’re notorious.’

For over a decade, the Lancasters were celebrity royalty, with millions tuning in every week to watch their reality show, Living with the Lancasters.

But then an old video emerges of one of their legendary parties. Suddenly, they’re in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons: witnesses swore they’d seen missing teenager Bradley Wilcox leaving the Lancaster family home on the night of the party, but the video tells a different story

Now true crime investigator and YouTuber Tom Isaac is on the case. He’s determined to find out what really happened to Bradley – he just needs to read between the Lancasters’ lies . . .

Because when the cameras are always rolling, it won’t be long until someone cracks.

Review:

I really enjoyed The Ugly Truth, but Clickbait is brilliant on a whole other level. LC North is a pseudonym for a well known writer, so although I know that she is experienced, I feel like she’s really honed her writing in this particular format with this novel. It’s not a linear story, and it’s written in the form of documentary extracts, interviews and social media posts. LC North has a really deep understanding of how the media works and I love how she uses her knowledge to create a world that everyone (except those who’ve been living under a rock) will recognise. It also allows LC North to show us many different sides of the same story and unravel the plot at just the right pace for maximum effect.

The central characters of Clickbait are the Lancaster family, who have been made famous by a popular documentary about their family life – think a modern version of The Osbournes. LC North has created them expertly, in such a way that I finished the novel having changed my mind several times about how I felt about them. The characters, on the surface, are really unlikeable, but I could not stop reading about them, and there were occasions when I felt quite sympathetic towards them, particularly the Lancaster children, who are now in their thirties.

It’s quite difficult to discuss the plot without giving away spoilers, but LC North’s plotting also had me changing my mind about what has happened – and I was desperate to know the truth! The investigation into what happened to Bradley Wilcox is covered in secrets and lies and I loved the way the author gradually revealed everything to us. She places lots of little clues throughout the novel, but I missed them all and the ending will stay with me for a very long time!

I listened to the Audible version of Clickbait and I found the use of different actors with distinctive voices very effective. It really was just like listening to a podcast (complete with theme music) and this helped me to become even more engaged in the story 

I can’t wait to see what LC North does next!

Clickbait is available from Amazon.