The thriller Shelter by Ursula Poznanski tells how friends put fake news on the net to start an experiment.
“Present them with a totally stupid conspiracy theory, and as soon as they got into it you would have said uh, haha”. That’s the plan, but even if you think that you’re in control, there’s somebody somewhere who will make your idea theirs and your “bugger” can say goodbye. “This is also the experience of a group of students in the new youth thriller” Shelter ” “by Ursula Poznanski, published on October 13th.
After an argument with two fellow students, Benjamin and his four friends decide to give the two provocants a lesson. No sooner said than done, they set out to create a conspiracy theory to show the two of them how naive they are. Your publications on the Internet on a ludicrous scenario found a surprising number of followers in a very short time. But before the friends know it, they are characters in the game of someone else who has made the idea his own. The actually harmless joke suddenly turns into a game of cat and mouse.
While the group gradually loses interest, Benjamin feels personally challenged, and what started digitally and safely turns into a real nightmare for him in a very short time, in which one surprise follows the other.
I personally devoured the book because, as in her previous books, Ursula Poznanski gives the reader the feeling of experiencing everything for himself through a personal narrative perspective. That is why I recommend this book not only to all Poznanski readers, but also to everyone who, like me, rarely picks up a book. I particularly liked the tension that lasts from start to finish, but also the relation to the current situation, with pandemic and fake news, which are digitally spreading faster than ever. In addition to the reading experience, I will also have a new hobby: pouring unicorns into my coffee cup like the latte art artist Benjamin. (from 14 years)