People to Follow

by Olivia Worley

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 social media moguls 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 realise 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.

• ISBN10: 125088134X
• ISBN13: 9781250881342
• Publish Date: 31 October 2023
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250881342

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Four POVs. Three Big Ideas. Two Interesting Twists. One Technically Error Free Book.  

 

Ok, so the title may have been a bit of a stretch there.  

 

There are absolutely four primary POVs here across our 10 "influencers" (my God I both despise the term and indeed the entire concept, despite some authors labeling *me* as one), and while it can at times be confusing when switching between them early on, as the characterizations and "voices" get set, it does in fact get a bit easier.  

 

The Big Ideas here are all various flavors of social commentary on the idea of the "influencer", though so much as mentioning them begins to get too close to spoiler territory for my own comfort in writing this review.

 

The two interesting twists are deep in the book and *absolutely* spoiler territory to discuss, but I found them fairly well done and truly intriguing.

 

And yes, ultimately there are no technical flaws here. Yes, there were absolutely different things that different readers may have problems with - including the multiple POVs. But there was nothing wrong that begins to approach a universal, objective level, and thus the book retains its full five stars. Very much recommended.

[chymerra]

There is one main storyline in People to Follow. It follows the ten influencers and why they are on the island. Then, it morphs into a fight for survival when the Sponsor starts making their demands. This storyline was well-written, and I couldn’t put the book down. It was also a chaotic mess. I’m not too fond of books with more than one viewpoint. But in this case, it worked. The author would end one POV with just enough information or half of the information given about a person and then start the next chapter with that person’s POV.

Numerous secondary storylines are married to the main storyline. Some will not make sense initially, but a lightbulb will go off while reading, and you will understand why the author mentioned that storyline. All of the characters are intertwined in one way or another. Even characters that you think didn’t know each other are connected. It makes a massive spiderweb of storylines that can be difficult to separate.

The mystery angle of People to Follow was excellent. I didn’t figure out who the Sponsor and the killer were until almost the end of the book. And even then, I was only halfway right. The author had a massive twist in the plotline where the author revealed everything, and it was freaking wild. My mouth dropped because of not only who it was but because of why.

The thriller angle of the book was just as good as the mystery angle. The author used being confined to an island during a storm with no electricity to give an appropriate background and feel. The characters’ helplessness and horror over what is being done to them come off the pages.

The end of People to Follow was very anticlimactic, but it gave me chills. I can’t go much more into it, but I will say that the killer was not sorry.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, NetGalley, and Olivia Worley for allowing me to read and review this ARC of People to Follow. All opinions stated in this review are mine.