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A review by snowreo
Chloe Cates Is Missing by Mandy McHugh
3.0
I requested this ARC on Netgalley after finding the description really interesting. The premise of influencer culture in a contemporary novel as well as how that fits into the mystery/thriller genre ws extremely promising t0 me.
The book follows the disappearance of 13-year-old Chloe Cates, a child internet star carefully groomed into her status by her controlling mother Jennifer. In an effort to bring back her perfect life she worked so hard to cultivate for herself and her daughter, she takes to social media for help bringing her home. After a country-wide buzz ensues, investigative detective Emilina enlists her services. However, Emilina is much more intertwined in the case and the Cates family than she initially realized, and it'll take everything she's got to be objective and find Chloe before it's too late.
In general I liked the book. That is to say, there was nothing in particular that made it unreadable. I did enjoy that the characters were unlikeable because I found that it fell in line with the whole idea of internet personas or on-camera personalities and how cutthroat the industry is. However, that's the only specific thing that I can say that I liked. Unfortunately, there were things that fell flat for me. I didn't like how long it took for me to actually care about the story and for the action to pick up. I almost DNFed it but seeing all the 5 star ratings convinced me to keep going. I didn't enjoy how many side plots and the number of characters being introduced at once because it was a lot to keep up with. There was also a lot of pacing issues for me, where it never felt consistent and was either too fast or too slow.
That being said, if you like stories about the perils of social media or stories with a complex web of events and interpersonal connections, this could be for you.
The book follows the disappearance of 13-year-old Chloe Cates, a child internet star carefully groomed into her status by her controlling mother Jennifer. In an effort to bring back her perfect life she worked so hard to cultivate for herself and her daughter, she takes to social media for help bringing her home. After a country-wide buzz ensues, investigative detective Emilina enlists her services. However, Emilina is much more intertwined in the case and the Cates family than she initially realized, and it'll take everything she's got to be objective and find Chloe before it's too late.
In general I liked the book. That is to say, there was nothing in particular that made it unreadable. I did enjoy that the characters were unlikeable because I found that it fell in line with the whole idea of internet personas or on-camera personalities and how cutthroat the industry is. However, that's the only specific thing that I can say that I liked. Unfortunately, there were things that fell flat for me. I didn't like how long it took for me to actually care about the story and for the action to pick up. I almost DNFed it but seeing all the 5 star ratings convinced me to keep going. I didn't enjoy how many side plots and the number of characters being introduced at once because it was a lot to keep up with. There was also a lot of pacing issues for me, where it never felt consistent and was either too fast or too slow.
That being said, if you like stories about the perils of social media or stories with a complex web of events and interpersonal connections, this could be for you.