Such a Bad Influence
-
-
3.7 • 58 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
“A fascinating exploration of the dangers of social media told through a propulsive mystery . . . smart and timely.”—Carola Lovering, best-selling author of Tell Me Lies and Bye, Baby
A USA Today Best Seller
An electric psychological thriller about what happens when one of the first child stars of the social media age grows up . . . and goes missing.
Hazel Davis is drifting. Her career has stalled out, and she lives in the shadow of her younger sister, @evelyn, a mega- popular influencer who rocketed to fame as the child star of their family’s viral YouTube channel. Now, at eighteen, Evie has a multimillion-dollar career and everyone wants a piece of her—Evie’s followers, her YouTuber boyfriend and influencer frenemies, and even her opportunistic mother.
Ten years older, Hazel has nothing to do with the family business. But when Evie vanishes during an unsettling livestream, theories about her disappearance tear through the internet and Hazel must throw herself into the darkest parts of her sister’s world to uncover the truth.
Addictive and thought-provoking, Such a Bad Influence offers a razor- sharp commentary on influencer culture and social media.
“Wildly entertaining.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This story is as addictive as scrolling Instagram, and marks the launch of a talented new writer.”—Ashley Winstead, best-selling author of Midnight Is the Darkest Hour
“A twisty, propulsive story of a missing influencer. . . . I was riveted the whole way through.”—Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club Pick The House in the Pines
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Social media fame reveals its dark side when an influencer vanishes in Olivia Muenter’s smart and chilling thriller. Evie Davis is a multimillionaire YouTube sensation—though her camera-shy sister, Hazel, is dubious about the true cost of viral fame. When Evie goes missing, Hazel’s worst fears about Evie’s meteoric rise are proven right. As wild theories tear through the internet, we get to follow Hazel as she plunges into the seedy shadows of the influencer industry on a thrilling hunt for the truth. Muenter weaves an ingenious mystery around the dark consequences of turning real lives into online content, with Hazel’s sharp, sardonic voice guiding us through the digital noise. Along the way, forum posts and podcast snippets add unique texture to the twisty, fast-paced narrative. Clever, cutting, and utterly unputdownable, Muenter’s ice pick–sharp tale is a thoroughly modern pageturner.
Customer Reviews
WOW WOW WOW
This book is as addictive as the social media obsessions, if not more. When Evie, is thrown into a viral frenzy after her mother posts a video of her and Dad dancing hours before he dies in a car crash and profits from his death, her mother continues to use Evie on the platform and monetizes everything in her life from the time she is 5. At 17, Evie disappears and not even her sister Hazel who is her closest confidant and who is estranged from the mother who’s used her sister to become an influencer in her own right and has been the management behind her sisters branding and the revenue stream she’s received from them. When Hazel learns her mother has spent millions of her sisters money, she is blackmailed by her mother into accepting money for silence and since she was unemployed and has outrageous debt from cc and student loans she agreed. When she is staying at her mother and sisters home while they were trying to find Evie she sees something that sickens her in her sisters room and knows her mother is behind it. The police have found Evie and assured them she is fine and is where she wants to be but Hazel isn’t convinced. She continues to searching and where she finds her sister is concerning to say the least. Her sister asks her to ghostwrite a story for her, they appear live to promote it and Evie drops a bombshell on her sister The child who had no say in her life her finances and her choices or privacy has turned the tables on everyone who’s exploited and gained monetarily from her. It ends with a bang and was worth the long drawn out apprehensions and questions about where Evie had escaped to and why she was there and what her plans regarding the future were. Wonderfully executed!!
A fun, thought-provoking debut novel
If you like your cultural commentary in the form of well-paced, well-written fiction (a la “Such a Fun Age”) you will like this book a lot. Fun twists and turns in the plot. Great writing, creative plotting, and characters that are multi-faceted.