The role of the internet in crime and unsolved crimes is a grubby one where, as usual, not everyone is what or who they seem. When Theo’s older sister Angie disappears and then ten years later her father kills himself, reddit is alive with chat and comments.

It turns out that her father, who is a cocaine addict, has been holed up in his office in online groups trying to find the killer of Angie and going down some dark rabbit holes. When Theo offers to clean out his office, she too ends up reading the online chats which are in the main unpleasant, sexually aggressive and unwanted, and not at all helpful with everyone saying who they think dunnit.

In an irony, the answers that Theo, or Teddy, is looking for don’t come via the internet. They come via people, in particular Mickey who she met online through her father’s contacts but who looks very much like a pale, washed out version of her sister. As people get close to Teddy, she pushes them away – she and Mickey both push away from each other, but she also pushes away from Bill, her boyfriend and her behaviour and drinking deteriorate. Her memories and the conspiracy theories become muddled in her mind and it is a strong image of what grief can drive us to do.

Annonymity is a key factor in the online chats represented in the book, where people feel that they can say anything they want. To come out of it, you just click off the page but the person the bile was directed at can’t unsee it. So often we are surprised at who is behind these annonymous accounts and the number of people looking in. Voyeurism is definitely a theme of the book.

The writing is pacy and the chapters are short, so this is a book to romp through.