I had high hopes for this one, but, it just didn't live up to the hype I had in my head for it. The writing style was enjoyable, and the book itself probably has an audience that thoroughly enjoys it, I just wasn't captivated. The similarities to Misery were maybe too much for me to handle?

Number One Fan is a tense, slow-burning thriller that is essentially a gender-swapped, modern day Misery. Such a genius concept and Uber being the captors way in just creeps me out knowing how easily something like this could happen. Meg Elison writes an unpredictable thriller that captivates from start to finish. I love that we get POVs from both the captor and the captive. Here's to hoping we get more jaw-dropping thrillers from Meg Elison in the future. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Number One Fan today.

Meg Elison’s Number One Fan Rewrites Misery for the Modern SFF Publishing World

One of the most unforgettably chilling moments in Number One Fan, Meg Elison’s gender-swapped update of Stephen King’s horror classic Misery, happens in the opening pages: Urban fantasy author Eli Grey has just gotten into a rideshare with a male driver, only to get a notification that her female driver has cancelled her ride. Rather than note that red flag, Eli automatically assumes that she must have booked two rides—whatever makes it her fault for the mixup, and not worth confronting why a strange man might have picked her up at the airport. As the ride stretches on uncomfortably, Eli twists herself into mental knots justifying her mistake rather than looking for any malevolent intent. And then she gets roofied and wakes up in the basement of—you guessed it—her number one fan.

That is, unfortunately, exactly how a woman might react in a dangerous situation, socialized as we are to disregard our own intuitions (doubly so in horror). Amplify that with being an author; as Elison said in a recent interview, “Artists are supposed to be temperamental, but authors on tour are creatures of shambling gratitude and absolute discipline.” Such keen insights come from Elison’s decade-long career as a published author; but before that, she was a fanfiction writer and cultural critic, so she also understands how much personal investment that readers and other professionals on the fringes of the industry put into their favorite works. Eli in the Uber is entrusting her safety to a stranger, but little does she realize the extent to which her fans have placed their own trust in her, despite not knowing her at all, to make them feel seen in her creations. Those claims—on her worlds, on her characters, on her—can oh-so-easily slide sideways into toxic entitlement.

Number One Fan interrogates this push-and-pull dynamic within the contexts of social media and the last two decades of SFF publishing and fandom; it throws Misery, Harry Potter, Seanan McGuire, Brandon Sanderson, Wheel of Time, fanfic, the Hugo Awards (including the 2015 slate), and more into a bag and shakes it. The details and mashups that emerge provide the texture for the horrific ordeal between Eli, chained to a bed in a basement with a camera tracking her every move; and Leonard, who employs torture tactics like sleep deprivation in an attempt to break down the author. But the atrocity doesn’t stop at the level of Annie Wilkes forcing Paul Sheldon to burn his manuscript and write a new ending for Misery Chastain; Leonard not only wants to own the magic-wielding heroine Millicent Michaelson, but he also wants to possess Eli Grey herself.

Elison (winner of the 2015 Philip K. Dick award for Book of the Unnamed Midwife) is an astute, cuttingly clever writer whose SFF short fiction includes the gorgeous Locus Award-winning novelette “The Pill” and the bleak yet hopeful story “Dresses Like White Elephants.” However, that cleverness is in limited supply here in a book whose plot relies less on inventive worldbuilding in a limited space and more on inside-baseball knowledge of the last few years’ controversies in the genre. In this case, hitting SFF bingo feels more exhausting than celebratory.

Bouncing between Eli’s present imprisonment and flashbacks from both perspectives, Elison traces how seemingly innocuous tweets and brief interactions at conventions slowly erode the barriers between creator and fan. Leonard is clearly disturbed, though it’s unclear if any blame can be put on a traumatic background (it’s only shallowly hinted at), or if he were always going to treat women as fantasy objects rather than actual, imperfect people. (Content warning for rape and other violence against people with vaginas.) Despite Leonard radiating low-grade creepiness from the start, he gains just enough access to the SFF publishing world to build up his own narrative of both writer and victim, depending on the circumstances. A late-stage reveal of key information even engenders a brief, curious sympathy for Leonard’s career stumbles, but it’s presented too late in the game to at all balance his torture of Eli.

Speaking of—where it comes to gender and to torture, Elison nails every gruesome point. She inverts the novel’s setting, replacing Misery’s icy Colorado with the brutal California desert, without losing the sense of utter remoteness and disconnection from the outside world. For a protagonist like Eli, who has few friends aside from fellow author Nella and personal assistant Joe, it’s shockingly easy to be cut off despite living with our phones nearly surgically attached to our hands. The meticulous consideration that Elison brought to the speculative thought experiment of “The Pill” means that Number One Fan accounts for every single uncomfortable detail of imprisoning a cis woman, including a persistent yeast infection and how her body reacts to being alternately drugged and starved.

The multiple perspectives provide Elison ample opportunity to really examine this scenario from all sides outside of Leonard’s prison, with supporting characters operating on their worst impulses: The female FBI agent brought on to this missing persons case suspects Joe just enough that she juggles following his hunches with doing her own background check on him—each delay further weakening Eli’s chances of getting outside help. Even those closest to Eli doubt that she’s in what feels like a melodramatic amount of danger, due in part to how unapologetically she keeps everyone at arm’s length. Maybe some of them even want to see her suffer a little. It’s the kind of unflinching honesty that Elison excels at.

Number One Fan is a discomfiting read from its first unsettling moments to its final, violent catharsis. Some of the pop cultural touchstones and Easter eggs in the middle could have been excised without changing the emotional core of the story, which is a thorough examination of the greater demands made on female creators even in gender-swapping a well-known story of fan entitlement. By the end of Misery, Paul winds up writing the best book of his career due in part to Annie’s challenges. By contrast, Eli doesn’t need to change for Leonard. She breaks, certainly, but she breaks for herself, not for him or for anyone else. From Elison, I would expect no less.

Unfortunately, I have been locked out of my netgalley account for a few months and was not able to see which books I had on my list, in order to properly read and review. I do apologize and am doing a 3 for neutral. Will update once I’m able to obtain a copy and read!

This one had me up all night guessing. It was a bit too gritty at times for my comfort, but overall kept me guessing. Enjoyed the twist!

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Number One Fan by Meg Elison follows a successful fantasy writer who has been kidnapped by one of her most rabid fans. Ms. Elison is an award-winning writer, specializing in the science-fiction/fantasy genre.

Eli Grey, an author of a successful franchise that branched out into movies, enters a rideshare she believes basically came to pick her up. When she wakes up Eli is bounded, and soon tortured by a “fan”.

The fan, a delusional failed author, believes Eli is her main character, as well as being the rightful heir to the franchise. Eli, a reclusive woman, realizes that, surely, almost no one will know she’s missing.

The scariest part of Number One Fan by Meg Elison, is how plausible the story is. Not only with the kidnapping, and treatment of women, but also how some men will get away with it in court. Not to mention how the antagonist justifies his actions to himself.

Ms. Elison wrote about life that all of us who have ever been part of a fandom recognize. The conventions that are very often a delight, a place to meet like-minded friends. However, they can hide the dark side of delusional others who live in their own worlds.
To be fair, those are far and few in between, and I have never met any that I know of. I, however, have never been to a convention of authors, only to comic conventions and I stopped going many years ago.

Eli Grey, the protagonist author, lives in our modern world. She’s a lonely woman who doesn’t think she’s lonely and uses social media and email to live her digital life. Her captor fools almost the whole world by taking control of her accounts. Not a big accomplishment in a world filled with disinformation, even us savvy folks get fooled.

Another interesting aspect of the book was the author’s commentary about the industry, as well as its fans. The way celebrity writers stick together, and how difficult it is to break into that club. It was a fascinating view, looking both from the inside out, and outside in.

I certainly enjoyed reading this book very much. The story has many aspects, a fascinating look at worlds that co-exist with me, but which I’ll never be a part of (hopefully). The narrative is tight, the characters are all believable, as well as fascinating, and the story is easy to keep track of.

If you have read Misery, you've read this one with a role reversal. I didn't love it. There were WAY too many flashbacks that it took me out of the tension. The book took me forever to finish. Not even the audio helped. I don't recommend this one.

Favorite Quotes:

It was a line that she had hated. Had, in fact, told the screenwriter that it dripped with cheese like a plate of truck stop nachos...

Some men have a way of eating you with their eyes, and she had been gobbled up before. She knew that look. He wouldn’t look anywhere but her face. He blinked slowly, like a creature of the depths of the sea that rarely saw the sun.

… relief welling up in her like an intensity like she’d never known. It was like every safe plane landing she’d ever had, the feeling when her credit card went through, the fall into a comfortable chair with her bra off at the end of a hard day all rolled together and sharpened into a needle.

My Review:

Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, what did I fall into? This was a tense and distressingly and painfully realistic read that was skin-crawling creepy. Much like coming upon a bad accident or train wreck, I was compelled to look but didn’t want to see at the same time. I cringed and flinched while reading but was also intrigued and couldn’t seem to leave it alone, and finished with ragged cuticles, my shoulders in my ears, and a sigh of relief. Tomorrow needs to be a spa day to work the knots of tension out of my neck. Meg Elison is one twisted sister but weaves a mighty tale.

Meg Elison’s Number One Fan has been pitched as an updated, gender-flipped Misery, and that’s accurate, to a limited extent. The setup is similar to Stephen King’s classic work, but after establishing it in the early part of the book, the similarity fades, and the reader embarks on a deeper, less familiar and thus more terrifying psychological thriller. It’s a harrowing tale, and visceral is something often used to describe this genre, but it definitely applies here. I can’t tell you how many times I recoiled and felt physical pain just from reading Elison’s words. I also really enjoyed the references to the writer’s life that are now too relatable to me, as well as the touches of tech horror that comes in the very-online way we live now.

Fans of Misery will love this type of story. A fun read with captor and captive. right in my wheelhouse and i look forward to more from this author.

Relentless and wholly entertaining. A recommended first purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

Number One Fan is thoroughly creepy and totally disturbing. I don't scare easily, but this one had me looking over my shoulder - and I don't have a fan, number one or otherwise. The whole idea of a stalker creeps me out anyway, and this one was pretty graphic with the torture. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. I won't give details, so I don't spoil anything. What I will say is the blurb just scratches the surface of how unsettling this book is. To me, it's more horror than mystery, but either way, it's a story I won't soon forget. If you like that spine-tingling feeling, you should give this one a chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

A++ to this book to being one of the only books that, while I'm reading it, made me want to throw my digital reader at a wall, and made me almost throw up while reading it! Yes, the premise of this book is basically Misery, but the genders are reversed, and it's updated for the modern entitlement fans can have this day in age. In this case, it's a male fanwriter who kidnaps the author and tries to make her into an IRL version of the character that she writes, and even worse, his IDEA of the character. My best suggestion is don't read this if you're in an altered state or at night! Elison goes straight to basic visceral fears, and really, put it this way - he takes out her IUD at one point and that might've been the point where I started whimpering. Props to her for being able to get straight to those base, visceral fears! You start to be glad for the breaks in POV, because if nothing else it's a break from the unrelenting horror, even if the FBI agent made me want to headdesk a bit and the defense attorney is maybe a bit over the top devil's advocate at points. Definitely read this! Just be aware, it leans into body and psychological terror real hard, you will be viscerally terrified. This is one of those Dead Dove, Do Not Eat books, and if you're up for it, fucking go for it! This was a great ride, but I made the occasional mistake of reading while high, and actively was afraid of it getting into my nightmares. And hell, I'm now interested in the rest of her books!

Wow, what a wild ride! From the very beginning, I was completely hooked and I couldn't put this one down. I found myself racing through the pages to find out what was going to happen next. This book tackles some important topics, such as the MeToo movement, and I always love it when thrillers can do that. This is the first book by Elison that I have read, but I know it won't be my last! Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read a digital early copy of this book.

I love an action packed thriller that gets up and goes from page one and this book did exactly that; we don't have to wait long for Eli to be sucked into a nightmare that they don't know how to escape when an overzealous, possessive super fan of their writing takes them hostage and chains them in their basement.
If this sounds familiar, it should,
It's a loving, if awkwardly executed nod to the Stephen King classic, Misery, and this is exactly why I jumped straight on it when it was offered up to read for review.
The writing is strong, the story promising; for me, it is the pace of the story where it all falls apart.
It just doesn't move quickly enough for something that started off with such a bang.

I think this book gave me something new to be afraid of. Of course I'm cautious about things like rideshares, of course I've worried about abduction-- but Number One Fan really brought it all home with an intensity that I'll never forget. I could not stop reading. I also appreciated the care Elison took with the "after" part of the book-- it felt real and believable because you just don't walk away from a situation like the one Eli was in without needing do some serious work to reintegrate into society.

This had me hooked from the very first page. It gives off major modern-day Misery vibes while still being its own unique story. The way she was stalked and kidnapped was totally believable in today’s age and made this all the more horrifying. There is plenty of physical and psychological torment this poor woman goes through while being held in captivity.

I love that we got the POV of the woman being held as well as the captor. It really made this more well-rounded and I loved seeing his twisted perspective. There are themes of obsession, stalking, control, and how the internet can affect the lives and mental health of those in the public eye.

This wasn’t terribly unpredictable but it was entertaining nonetheless. Fans of Misery will like this and those that like a bit of violence with their thrillers.

SERIOUSLY CREEPY! This one is not for the faint of heart and there are some scenes that made my stomach turn, but what a ride. There is not a ton of "mystery" in this one, since we know "whodunnit" from the beginning, but this does not take any of the creep factor away - I was on edge from the beginning and could not put this one down.

Thank you to MIRA for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

This is a book that will be a perfect fit for readers who enjoy a slow burn, psychological thriller with big payoff. And of course, for readers who loved Misery and want to enjoy a beautifully done homage to it.

Right from the start this one dives into the action, which literally does not let up until the very last page. I really enjoyed getting into this one, despite the absolute frustration you feel for the main character and her literal helplessness in the face of a nightmare situation.

No spoilers - but this is a perfect spooky season read!

Propulsive, compelling, and terrifying, Number One Fan is Elison's modern day MISERY. This book is a chilling horror story and also a commentary on parasocial relationships, social media culture, and what we feel we are owed by people who don't even know us. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.