The Perfect Ones: A Thriller

by Nicole Hackett

A picture-perfect trip goes horribly wrong in this fast-paced exploration of friendship and the dark side of social media, perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Andrea Bartz.

Everyone wants to be them, but internet fame comes at a price…

Two days after arriving in Iceland for a promotional trip, Instagram influencer Alabama Wood goes missing. With no leads, the Icelandic police start their investigation by focusing on the two influencers seemingly closest to Alabama on the trip: Celeste Reed, Alabama’s best friend of ten years, and Hollie Goodwin, fitness guru and Alabama's unwilling idol.

Celeste and Alabama have grown apart recently because Celeste has been too distracted by her five-year-old’s behavioral issues and her husband’s refusal to admit that there’s a problem. What Celeste doesn’t tell them is how she has been coping with these worries and how it involves Alabama in ways no one would guess.

On the outside, Hollie appears to have everything—the husband, the body, and over one million Instagram followers. In reality, however, Hollie came to Iceland to escape the implosion of her life behind the screen. The only person who suspected something amiss behind Hollie’s precisely filtered pictures is Alabama.

As secrets are revealed and loyalties are tested, debut author Nicole Hackett asks: do we control our online image, or does it control us?

• ISBN10: 1639102620
• ISBN13: 9781639102624
• Publish Date: 2 May 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crooked Lane Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781639102624

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Book Summary:

A group of social media influencers have been invited to an exclusive trip. It should be a dream come true, right? Yet this story is about to get dark, as one of the influencers goes missing. Worse, there's plenty of reason to suspect foul play.

Alabama Wood is desperate to increase her follower count. Celest Reed has had more success, yet she's dealing with a lot at home. Hollie Goodwin's life looks perfect, and we all know what that means - she has an image to protect.

My Review:

Okay, so I really (REALLY) wanted to fall in love with The Perfect Ones. I loved the idea of a group of influencers winding up at the center of a mystery. I also was happy that this was a debut novel (gotta give new authors a try, right?). Unfortunately, I didn't end up liking The Perfect Ones all that much.

The Perfect Ones is split into multiple perspectives (see above) and timelines. I actually usually like that in a thriller/mystery, so that wasn't the problem. The problem is that I didn't like most of the perspectives, so things got tedious quickly for me.

While The Perfect Ones wasn't a bad read, overall, it wasn't satisfying either. I didn't feel much of anything by the time I finished – good or bad.

Highlights:
Debut
Mystery
Social Media

Trigger Warnings:
Obsessive Behavior
Eating Disorder
Mental Health
Pregnancy/Loss

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