The thing is like a bug that’s a manifestation of the person keeping Remy from living his best life?

We are reminded of the uncomfortable sentiment Remy emitted earlier: “It wasn’t so much that you reminded me of Jen,” he says as they walk back to the train, “as that I was able to superimpose my memory of her on you” (page 16). Maybe I’m not smart enough or just don’t ‘get it’ but this was just weird and confusing as all get out. Granted, I am not an avid reader of the horror genre, so perhaps my judgment is ill-informed compared to other readers, but as a mere “light horror reader,” I can say that I did enjoy the book, and that it did not cross the threshold to where I had to put it down in disgust (for reference, I read the preface to The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter and could not read any farther). It’s like every character is a funhouse mirror reflection of a human…but you want to punch every single one of those reflections in the face. The way the dialogue is written, the blunt and ambivalent attitudes of Remy and Alicia, every interaction and every scene has a slight unsettling nature to it.A Touch of Jen will draw you in with its electric rhythm and razor-sharp wit, but it will make you stay with its wild, beating heart. In a momentous turn of events, the pair run into Jen in person and end up deciding to go on a surfing trip with her and some of her friends. There are all kinds of little reveals, especially in the second half of the book, where we realize that while there is third person narration, it's been so close to Remy and Alicia's points of view that there are many things we didn't see because they didn't see. Both Remy and Alicia feel so uncanny and eerie that it’s disquieting to read, an ironic feeling considering Remy later accuses someone else of acting “like a lizard in a human suit.

I got through 4/5 of the novel, having read some creepy parts but still wondering "How is this horror? At the top, the most idealized and manicured version of herself is her online presence, which is tailored to demonstrate her identity in a very specific way: images of her travels, hobbies, and friends. I REFUSE to go into any further detail than what I’ve already given, but there is so much more to the story that meets the eye.

Beth Morgan has a dark and gritty sense of humor and a warped imagination, both of which I fully enjoyed in this impossible-to-explain book.

I don't know if it's a good thing or a not-so-good thing to get the year started with such a bizarre book. Then Alicia dies from a freak accident and Remy starts hearing something moving in his apartment at night. I am definitely looking forward to reading other people’s reviews about this, and seeing what they made of it.In A Touch of Jen, Remy and Alicia’s lives hinge around their mutual obsession with Jen’s social media.