At fourteen, Alice Hill is a victim of a horrible crime. Her father's creation, Mr. Tender, the devious hero of the eponymous graphic novel, has inspired two of her friends to stab her.
To escape the media and the sensationalism of the crime, Alice, who is British, changes her name and goes to America.
She thinks this is enough to protect her anonymity until a strange package arrives--the last book in the Mr. Tender series.
Her father, who died in London, never finished the Mr. Tender series. In fact, he never penned another drawing after the vicious attack on his daughter occurred. So, where did the package, postmarked from England, come from?
The graphic novel is mostly blank but a few frames depicted her apartment in Manchester, MA convince Alice someone is watching her.
She discovers that she is the "star" of an underground online community that have been discussing her case for years. They have been collecting and posting photographs of her, her house, her coffee shop.
But that's not all. Alice is also being stalked by an associate of an ex-boyfriend who tries to extort money from her. The associate comes to the coffee shop demanding cash or he will implicate Alice in her ex's crimes.
This is a taut, psychological thriller that was inspired by two true life events--the Slenderman stabbings and the Theo Van Gogh killing in Amsterdam.
What I liked best about this novel was the character development of Alice. Though she is a victim and isolated in the beginning, she emerges as a self-aware protagonist who is in charge of her own life.
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