Last Thursday night, the softly lit C.U.B Suite at Sydney’s Old Clare Hotel buzzed with the kind of energy only a murder mystery can inspire. But this wasn’t your standard whodunit, this is a story that cuts to the core of our digital age.
Audible’s latest Audiobook Club gathering, fronted by acclaimed actress Claudia Karvan and bestselling author Ashley Kalagian Blunt, offered a chilling behind-the-scenes look at Like, Follow, Die, a psychological thriller that blends true crime tension with a sharp commentary on tech, online influence and the algorithms shaping our lives.
Streaming exclusively on Audible, Like, Follow, Die tells the harrowing story of Corinne Gray, a mother grappling with the unimaginable: her sweet-natured teenage son, Ben, has committed an unthinkable act. When a detective knocks on her door, Corinne is finally given a chance to explain. What really happened to Ben? And could anyone have stopped it?
For Karvan, voicing Corinne was both emotionally and intellectually intense. “Like, Follow, Die is not only a story about the dark side of the web,” she said. “It’s also about the unwavering strength of a mother’s love. It was an incredible experience bringing Corinne to life as a determined woman who’ll stop at nothing to protect her son.”
The story is fictional, but disturbingly familiar. Like, Follow, Die draws inspiration from real-life accounts, including a memoir by a mother blindsided by her son’s involvement in violence.
“She truly believed she was doing everything right, helping with homework, pizza night, the works,” she explained. “Yet her son had been drawn into something dark online. He kept it hidden, and no one saw it coming”.
It’s that premise, the slow, often invisible pull of radical content and online communities, that makes Like, Follow, Die so chilling and so relevant.
Kalagian Blunt, who has a background in nonfiction and a long-standing fascination with digital culture, deliberately chose not to focus on the “dark web” or outlandish conspiracy theories. Instead, she focused on the everyday, the social platforms teens use daily, the influencers they follow, the YouTube algorithms that quietly nudge them toward extremist content.
“Cybercrime is projected to cost the global economy over $10.5 trillion this year alone,” she said during the panel. “If it were a nation, it would have the third-largest GDP in the world”.
But for most people, that danger doesn’t look like hacking, it looks like a charismatic man in a podcast studio talking about ‘grind culture’ and male empowerment.
That role, in Like, Follow, Die, takes the form of “Grinders U”, a fictional online university that mimics the structure of real-world content mills like Hustlers University, created by controversial figures such as Andrew Tate. The character of Ben becomes increasingly involved in this community, fed a steady diet of misogyny, entitlement and conspiracy, all under the guise of self-improvement and status.
Like, Follow, Die presents a mirror. It’s not just a cautionary tale, it’s a forensic examination of how virality, engagement, and monetisation can lead to psychological and social harm.
The cast also includes Laurence Boxhall as Ben, who performs the character across seven years of journals, aging vocally from 12 to 19. “We needed someone who could bring innocence and tragedy, hope and horror,” said Audible’s commissioning editor Radhiah Chowdhury. “His performance is devastating, and essential. You feel every missed opportunity, every subtle manipulation.”
The script also weaves in media commentary, live news coverage, polarising talkback radio segments, a letter from Ben’s estranged father, illustrating how real-world narratives shape public opinion and policy, often without nuance or empathy. It’s a direct call-out to the media’s tendency to reduce complex events to binaries: good vs evil, victim vs monster, mother vs failure.
Adding further weight is the subplot of intergenerational trauma, explored through the character of Detective Kyle Nazarian, who carries the legacy of his Armenian ancestry and the genocide his family survived. Kalagian Blunt, herself Armenian-Australian, said she wanted to show how unresolved violence echoes across generations and systems.
“I’ve seen how trauma is inherited, not just genetically, but culturally, emotionally,” she said. “We can’t look at individual actions in isolation. They’re shaped by larger structures, histories, algorithms, and communities”.
While Like, Follow, Die is a gripping psychological thriller, it also acts as a powerful reflection on how we respond to the digital forces shaping the next generation. It challenges not just parents and educators, but the very industries that build and monetise the digital environments young people live in.
“You try to talk about values with your children as much as possible, but also not give in to fear — just because you don’t fully understand the world they’re growing up in doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad. What matters is making sure they don’t feel judged, that they feel safe talking to you about anything, and that the conversation stays open,” Karvan said.
“You have to approach it delicately, so they don’t shut down every time you bring it up. It’s not a one-off, it’s an ongoing conversation.”
“As the world grapples with adolescence in the digital age and the threats that continue to come to light, this story explores the powerful connection between parents and children,” said Karen Appathurai Wiggins, head of regional content, APAC, at Audible. “We’re thrilled to bring this compelling story to life with such incredible local talent”.
And while its themes are urgent, Like, Follow, Die is already generating strong buzz as it launches today. “Crime fiction continues to be one of the most popular genres on Audible.com.au, with one in four of the top 100 fiction titles of the past year belonging to the category, and Like, Follow, Die is poised to be the next must-listen,” Wiggins added.
Equal parts psychological thriller and cultural reckoning, Like, Follow, Die offers not only edge-of-your-seat storytelling, but also a vital conversation for anyone navigating, or shaping, the digital spaces we all now live in.
