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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
It's like a modern, YA American Psycho. The audiobook was flawless.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Influencer is a split POV following Crystal, a high schooler who gets through the day by remaining 'invisible', and Aaron, the new kid, anonymous influencer, and sociopathic killer. Two of Crystal's friends are fans of The Speaker, enamored by his anonymous livestreams and enjoy decoding his posts, and maybe Crystal could see the appeal. But not when they meet in person. She sees through his lies and manipulation, clumsily exposing him to her group and setting herself up as his next target. Her friends soon succumb to his influence and follow him to death and destruction.
The opening chapter is incredible, setting the tone, tension, and story well right off the bat (no pun intended). We learn quickly how Aaron manipulates everyone and everything in his life, juxtaposed against an anxious Crystal who would prefer not to be noticed by anyone. She's highly relatable, she doesn't feel like she fits in, so rather than try, she hides. She keeps a private youtube account with video blogs of thoughts she's too scared to share (whether that's her opinion on crisps, how sad she is, or her concerned wondering about her friends). The characters are intriguing, with some I would've liked to have gotten to know more. Aaron was not as clever as he thought he was, and made things quite obvious in my opinion. Crystal's best friend, Gayle, was probably featured the least out of her group of friends, with more attention on The Speaker's fans Harmony and Paul, and Paul's closeted ex Trevor, who was just really trying his best - no one really seemed to know him as a person, or care enough to ask, which was sad treatment for the only black character. (spoilers ahead) Harmony and Paul quickly fall for Aaron's charms and almost immediately reveal deep and personal information about themselves and their friends. Clearly their infatuation with Aaron's influencer persona facilitated this, but his interest was very suspicious - I'd find this stuff weird, even if it was David Tennant asking me y'know? Their devotion continues and they quickly descend into murder. Trigger warning: there is pet death. Harmony in particular is so callous, she could have similarly been manipulating everyone before meeting Aaron, though we never get this insight nor into why Harmony and Paul are so ready to kill for him after only a couple of days, making it hard to believe. Not impossible, but it lacked the 'why'.
I did note some inconsistencies which took me out of the story - I even had to check with my American friends how their school worked as a result - and some parts were written confusingly. The dual POV meant that on occasion, the next chapter was before the preceding one which was very confusing, and was written in a leading way that made this even more confusing (eg. Crystal talks about reading Frankenstein in her English class, which Aaron is now part of. The next chapter is Aaron's, which begins with his thoughts on Frankenstein, but it transpires that these musings are before said English class. It's not a big plot point, but this could've been written clearer and I wouldn't have had to question what the hell was happening for a minor point). Scenes were also repeated unnecessarily due to the dual POV. It worked well for the most part, but these instances did take me out of the book and knocked it down from 5 stars for me.
The plot was decently paced, with peaks and troughs, but enough intrigued to see how it would play out. The end was mostly satisfying, but it could've been more brutal to mirror the brutality in previous scenes. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, not quite living up to my love for Clown in a Cornfield but that may be a high bar. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I throughly enjoyed this. Cesare does a great job of diverse characters and keeps the story going so it's non stop tense and excitement. A definite read if you enjoyed CiaC.
Adam did it again! I loved this book. The beginning really reeled you in. The middle part of the book I was like eh, hope this isn't about some lame high school story, but the farther I got, the more I was invested. Aaron really made me mad a serial killer/ bully. Crystal trying to survive her senior year in high school. When her youtube channel is highjacked. I liked all the action this book had and how it kept you wanting more even at in the end. I wanted to know more than what the ending had! Hopefully, there is a number two in the works.