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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
3 1/2 stars. Overall, this was enjoyable. The ending seemed pretty anticlimactic and a little rushed.
I saw this advertised on Goodreads and thought a cult like influencer in a high school social media setting was interesting. I was blown away/shocked by how this book developed and ended.
This book does have a lot of trigger warnings. It was originally made as an audiobook and then adapted to a physical book.
Going from TBOSAS having to read snows pov to this crazed, psychotic man made snow look somewhat normal. At least snow had reasoning and logic (even though it wasn't sound). This antagonist has absolutely no rhyme or reasoning for the crimes he is committing in this book.
This book starts off with a gripping prologue/intro. It has dual pov between the main female character and the crazed psycho male character. I did not enjoy being in that man's head. It was gross, and I felt no empathy for him, nor could I try to see his reasoning because there was none.
This book went into a lull after the introduction and did not pick up until the very end. The ending was a good thriller ending.
This book is a quick read with good writing.
This book does have a lot of trigger warnings. It was originally made as an audiobook and then adapted to a physical book.
Going from TBOSAS having to read snows pov to this crazed, psychotic man made snow look somewhat normal. At least snow had reasoning and logic (even though it wasn't sound). This antagonist has absolutely no rhyme or reasoning for the crimes he is committing in this book.
This book starts off with a gripping prologue/intro. It has dual pov between the main female character and the crazed psycho male character. I did not enjoy being in that man's head. It was gross, and I felt no empathy for him, nor could I try to see his reasoning because there was none.
This book went into a lull after the introduction and did not pick up until the very end. The ending was a good thriller ending.
This book is a quick read with good writing.
dark
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this book—it was fast-paced, addictive, and had some standout characters that kept me hooked. I actually loved the villain, Aaron. He was manipulative, yes, but also incredibly charming in that unsettling way that makes you almost root for him. Trevor was another favorite—such a fun and likable character.
Crystal, on the other hand, tested my patience. She was so naive at times I genuinely wanted to shake her, but I’ll admit she grew on me by the end. Her development felt believable, even if frustrating at first.
I flew through this story—it definitely delivered on tension and drama. The only thing that held me back from giving it a full 5 stars was the ending. I didn’t hate it, but I wanted something… different. I’m not even sure what exactly, but it didn’t hit quite right for me.
Still, Influencer was a great read overall—dark, twisty, and totally bingeable.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Normally I think Audible Originals are cheesy and expected but I actually loved this.
Very creepy for YA.
Very creepy for YA.
One of the more welcome and unintended side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and an extended nationwide quarantine that saw many schools switch to virtual instruction was the halting of mass school shootings. Of course, we're no longer in quarantine, and the start of the 2024-2025 school year was marred by that most American of all pastimes as a 14-year-old shot and killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia on Sept. 4. According to CBS News, this was the 218th gun incident at a school in 2024.
To say that Influencer is a timely read feels a bit on the nose. I began reading Adam Cesare's latest in the shadow of this most recent tragedy because, let's face it, school shootings have become an inescapable facet of American life that we simply refuse to do anything about or care a whit about at all, as evidenced by our continual reelections of politicians who proudly wear AR-15 buttons on their lapels and shrug off scores upon scores of dead kids with a "whaddaya gonna do" indifference. Sure, I could have held off on starting Influencer for another time but, odds are, there'd just be another cycle of mass violence and thoughts and prayers, so may as well dive on in.
Take two parts disturbed teen and school violence, add in social media obsession, teenage angst, and perpetually techno-savvy kids keeping at least ten steps ahead of their parents, it feels unlikely that Influencer will feel dated anytime soon. In some ways, it's a modern riff on Stephen King's yanked Rage, by way of a Zuckerbergian American Psycho for the YA crowd. Aaron Fortin (pronounced with Frenchie flair as "fourteen," which also makes our central antagonist sound like a walking, talking username handle) is a minor Instagram celebrity, broadcasting anonymously as the masked The Speaker. He's built up a steady cult following, with Cesare spectacularly highlighting the cult aspect, à la a young, upstart Charles Manson.
Aaron's parents have yanked him across the country to a Long Island suburb, giving him a chance to reinvent himself as the new kid on the block and expand his profile. At least until Crystal blows his cover and quickly identifies him as The Speaker in front of her friends. It's something Aaron hadn't planned on, and he is nothing if not a meticulous planner. He's unsettlingly intelligent and charismatic, and he stalks through these pages like a spider tracking its prey across dangerous webs he's woven. Crystal immediately becomes his sworn enemy, even if she doesn't realize it right away, and Aaron sets about enmeshing himself with her friends on the road to completely destroying her, mentally and physically.
Cesare delicately and deliberately engages the two in an escalating game of cat-and-mouse. Crystal is driven out of the group, her friends banishing her in favor of the new, attractive, and mysterious Aaron. Aaron subtly and effectively manipulates all of them, engaging in their desires and influencing their decisions, shaping them into the killers he wants them to become. It's not his first rodeo of course. Cesare lays out the stakes immediately in a wildly fraught opening sequence revolving around a home invasion that has been staged by Aaron and ends in a confusing symphony of violence, murder, and arson. What Aaron has planned for Crystal and her ex-friends will make all that look like small potatoes.
High school and horror are simpatico bedfellows, and the horror genre is rife with what Roger Ebert derisively called "Dead Teenager Films." Influencer doesn't feel derivative of works like Scream or Prom Night, but it certainly wears those cinematic influences on its sleeve, along with plenty of true crime inspo, while also engaging in the hot button topic of deranged kids who kill. It's a taut, and often uncomfortable, work of psychological suspense, cult horror, and with a few moments of slashery goodness for some extra oomph, but one that exists within a uniquely American political flashpoint we perpetually choose not to extinguish.
To say that Influencer is a timely read feels a bit on the nose. I began reading Adam Cesare's latest in the shadow of this most recent tragedy because, let's face it, school shootings have become an inescapable facet of American life that we simply refuse to do anything about or care a whit about at all, as evidenced by our continual reelections of politicians who proudly wear AR-15 buttons on their lapels and shrug off scores upon scores of dead kids with a "whaddaya gonna do" indifference. Sure, I could have held off on starting Influencer for another time but, odds are, there'd just be another cycle of mass violence and thoughts and prayers, so may as well dive on in.
Take two parts disturbed teen and school violence, add in social media obsession, teenage angst, and perpetually techno-savvy kids keeping at least ten steps ahead of their parents, it feels unlikely that Influencer will feel dated anytime soon. In some ways, it's a modern riff on Stephen King's yanked Rage, by way of a Zuckerbergian American Psycho for the YA crowd. Aaron Fortin (pronounced with Frenchie flair as "fourteen," which also makes our central antagonist sound like a walking, talking username handle) is a minor Instagram celebrity, broadcasting anonymously as the masked The Speaker. He's built up a steady cult following, with Cesare spectacularly highlighting the cult aspect, à la a young, upstart Charles Manson.
Aaron's parents have yanked him across the country to a Long Island suburb, giving him a chance to reinvent himself as the new kid on the block and expand his profile. At least until Crystal blows his cover and quickly identifies him as The Speaker in front of her friends. It's something Aaron hadn't planned on, and he is nothing if not a meticulous planner. He's unsettlingly intelligent and charismatic, and he stalks through these pages like a spider tracking its prey across dangerous webs he's woven. Crystal immediately becomes his sworn enemy, even if she doesn't realize it right away, and Aaron sets about enmeshing himself with her friends on the road to completely destroying her, mentally and physically.
Cesare delicately and deliberately engages the two in an escalating game of cat-and-mouse. Crystal is driven out of the group, her friends banishing her in favor of the new, attractive, and mysterious Aaron. Aaron subtly and effectively manipulates all of them, engaging in their desires and influencing their decisions, shaping them into the killers he wants them to become. It's not his first rodeo of course. Cesare lays out the stakes immediately in a wildly fraught opening sequence revolving around a home invasion that has been staged by Aaron and ends in a confusing symphony of violence, murder, and arson. What Aaron has planned for Crystal and her ex-friends will make all that look like small potatoes.
High school and horror are simpatico bedfellows, and the horror genre is rife with what Roger Ebert derisively called "Dead Teenager Films." Influencer doesn't feel derivative of works like Scream or Prom Night, but it certainly wears those cinematic influences on its sleeve, along with plenty of true crime inspo, while also engaging in the hot button topic of deranged kids who kill. It's a taut, and often uncomfortable, work of psychological suspense, cult horror, and with a few moments of slashery goodness for some extra oomph, but one that exists within a uniquely American political flashpoint we perpetually choose not to extinguish.