Genre: YA Thriller
Release Date: October 31st, 2023
Pages: 352
Publisher: St. Martins Press (Wednesday Books)
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“Ten teen influencers come to a remote island to star in a reality show, but when one of them winds up dead, they realize that this time, the price of being “cancelled” could be their lives.
A reality show on a remote Caribbean island. Ten teen influencers. One dead body.
Welcome to “In Real Life,” the hot new reality show that forces social media’s reigning kings and queens to unplug for three weeks and “go live” without any filters. IRL is supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime, watched closely by legions of loyal followers. But for these rising stars–including Elody, an Instagram model with an impulsive streak; Kira, a child star turned fitness influencer; Logan, a disgraced TikTok celeb with a secret; and Max, a YouTuber famous for exposés on his fellow creators—it’s about to turn into a nightmare.
When the production crew fails to show up and one of their own meets a violent end, these nine little influencers find themselves stranded with a dead body and no way to reach the outside world. When they start receiving messages from a mysterious Sponsor threatening to expose their darkest secrets, they realize that they’ve been lured into a deadly game…and one of them might be pulling the strings.
With the body count rising and cameras tracking their every move, the creators must figure out who is trying to get them canceled—like, literally—before their #1 follower strikes again.”
My Review:
I’m loving that young adult novels are trending and growing into the new generation. The influencer culture is such a perfect theme for today’s teen readers. And the commentary that novels like this offer on the dark side of social media is such an important topic for us all to be discussing. This author captured the voice of the characters so well and it was very believable. This one is full of drama. Anyone who has seen Big Brother will know exactly what reading this book is like. I must confess that show was a guilty pleasure of mine so I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the story. It might not be a story that is completely relevant or relatable to me personally but I can appreciate how it will appeal to its target audience. There are a lot of POVs in this book and it was a little difficult to keep them straight in my head at first. It’s a great locked-room feel of a thriller. It’s an easy read, something you can mindlessly get caught up in for a few hours. I think that formatting choices were also a great way to make the narrative more immersive. I love books that are composed of emails, documents, or other various forms of writing. It makes the story feel more compelling and engaging. Overall, I think this is a great debut and I’d be interested to see what this author writes next!
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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