There is not alot of room to really get your point across in a Tweet but that does not stop them from trying. Boyne has written some amazing fiction over the years, one of my favourites being The Heart's Invisible Furies. and their three grown up kids, Nelson, Elizabeth and Achilles, each with their own problems/issues, but Boyne uses the family as a platform for more than a tinge of satire, that will leave you smiling. Spanning five days, the novel is broken up into five parts, each prefaced with a familial memory of the Cleverley’s from bygone days timed in sync with key developments of social media platforms. Some of the satirical humour is really good with some wit and dark irony which I enjoy especially the ripple effects!

There’s very little plot to the book, it simply tracks a short period of time in the life of this group – a downward spiral that seems to have no bottom. It’s a satire about how phones and social media have created a society full of idiots, nasty trolls and attention-seekers. Seems he has drawn on his inner snarkiness to give us a tale about the ridiculous of our social media addicted society.I enjoyed the premise of the book but thought it was a little heavy-handed in its aim to try and teach the reader an important lesson. It makes some very pertinent points about the cynicism of things that are ‘leaked’ online designed to make a ‘name for yourself’ any which way, anyhow but then it becomes a pick and mix read with parts that make my eyes roll and not in a good way. I would like to thank both Netgalley and Random House UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. If you are a passionate social media addict, if you love to jump on the bandwagon of a Twitter argument or you secretly are a keyboard warrior who loves to throw digs at folk, then maybe, possibly, perhaps The Echo Chamber is not for you.

On a final note I would have recommended the book and given it an extra star if it had not been for the constant drip-feeding of animal cruelty throughout the book involving the plotline with the tortoise, the final event was too much for me and made me not want to continue reading and it had no purpose to the wider plot. I wouldn't wish a Stroke on any, but there could come a day when you, Peter Kay and (worse of al), Jimmy Carr, find out that there's nothing to laugh about. The thing was though is that it's TOO much - like this is obviously a satirical take on cancel culture - but in my opinion it was a bit loud, if this book was a bit more subtle in it's humour I think it would have been funnier. The patriarch, George Cleverley, is a famous BBC presenter with over thirty years in the public's eye. This is a far-fetched, ridiculous, funny, biting look at how far we’ve come or how low we have sunk, depending on your point of view, and how attached to a smartphone you are.At once, a gateway to other worlds - and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept. He is a handsome, skilful lover who seems to have slept with almost everyone, man or woman, in the story. The central character George is a big shot tv journalist and he is likeable like other father-figures of John Boyne's books. He does touch lots of important topics and I do think that it is a great read, but I’m absolutely sure that this book will not please the majority of readers. I liked this, a lot, the representation of their unravelling as a family unit as more social media platforms became available.