Step into the world of social media influencers, private islands, and murders?! Chloe and Julie are twins. At age 4, their parents die in an accident. One twin goes to live with a poor aunt. A rich couple adopts the other twin. How do their lives intertwine 15 years later? When Julie gets an eerie phone call from Chloe, a whole mess of events takes place! You do not want to put the book down. It is hip, irreverent, culty y crazy! If you love murder mysteries with dark humor, this is for you!
Thank you, Atria Books and NetGalley, for my eARC.

I love a book about an influencer, and Julie Chan is Dead is a thriller set in an influencer story, so it was a perfect book for me. When Julie's mega-famous influencer twin calls her for help, she ends up needing to pretend to be her in a world that's completely foreign to her. As she navigates this new world, however, darker elements of her twin's life start to unfold. This book was a good combination of twisty and suspenseful, while also being funny.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Enjoyable thriller with a unique premise.

Julie Chan Is Dead starts as a sharp, compelling critique of social media’s attention economy and the dark side of jealousy, but by the second half, it veers into unexpected territory.

I enjoyed the debut from this author—it started strong with themes of online obsession, influencer culture, and the consequences of viral fame. However, as the story progressed, it felt like three distinctly different books woven together. The early focus on self worth and digital-age envy gave way to a sinister family cult subplot, along with the Julie’s aunts’ abuse and blackmail, which was once relevant but then doesn’t pick back up until the end of the book. This made the narrative feel disjointed. While each element was intriguing on its own, the shift in tone was jarring, and the cohesion suffered.

Still, the writing felt exciting and let me excited for what the author writes next. Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Atris Books for sending me an arc of this story. It has been on my radar since CBC Books did an article involving it. This book has been described as Bunny meets Yellowface, and I definitely see the parallels between the two books. I would like to add though, that this book was everything I had been hoping to get from Mona Awad’s Rouge. Both involved creepy cults and provided important social commentary; Rouge with the beauty industry and Julie Chan with social media. While I found Rouge to be confusing, I felt that Julie Chan had been the perfect blend of cult horror and social commentary. You get to see the work that goes into being an influencer, while also seeing the inequality and prejudice present in the social media industry. There was a section in the book at about 60% where a character really dives into the unfair advantages such as race and socio-economic status that a lot of social media influencers have when they are starting out.

Overall, I found this book to be both gripping and thought provoking. My only hesitance with giving this book a perfect five stars is that I feel like the story took a sharp turn at the 2/3rds mark and that more could have been done to prepare the reader or hint at some of what was to come. I feel like some aspects surrounding the cult were just thrown at us out of nowhere and that the characters' personalities did a complete 180. If the information had been provided more gradually throughout the novel, this would have been a perfect five stars for me. All in all, I still highly recommend checking out this book by Liann Zhang.

This was a very unique thriller and I'm so impressed it's a debut. I love the identical twins trope where they switch lives and having this one center around an influencer was so fun! It delves a lot into the influencer culture and how removed it feels sometimes. The first half I was all in but I felt the second half went a bit off the rails to be honest. My overall thoughts - super weird, but pretty entertaining.

Blistering pace and a zany proposition rolls into an intriguing read in Julie Chan Is Dead. Devoured it in one sitting but still wide eyed at the huge twist near the end. Gets more and more bizarre as the story develops but is captivating in the cast and concept.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

What if you could have everything you wanted, but the price was your soul? This witty, insightful book takes a look at the cult-like aspects of influencer culture as one teen decides how much she'll sacrifice to step into a new life.

Julie Chan’s life is anything but exciting—she spends her days working at a supermarket, her only family the aunt who raised her without affection. Her only brush with fame came when her long-lost twin, Chloe Van Husen, who was adopted outside the family, showed up out of nowhere, surprised her with a house Mr. Beast-style, and then vanished just as quickly. But when Julie discovers Chloe dead, she faces an irresistible temptation: to step into her sister’s life. After all, they’re identical.

But before her death, Chloe may have been playing with fire—and Julie has no idea what she's stepping into. As she studies the lingo and masters the art of being an influencer, she soon realizes she's in over her head.

This page-turner of a thriller is mesmerizing, capturing Julie’s simultaneous fascination with and disgust for influencer culture. When the influencers head to a retreat, the groupthink intensifies, boundaries blur, and the stakes grow even higher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this novel was intriguing. After Julie Chan, a struggling supermarket cashier, finds her estranged twin, Chloe, dead, Julie assumes Chloe's life. Chloe Van Huusen, a popular and wealthy social media influencer, was part of a close group of female influencer friends, led by the enigmatic Bella Marie. During a week-long island vacation, Julie (masquerading as Chloe) begins to realize that things may not be what they seem. I enjoyed the first half of this novel (Julie learning to live as Chloe), but once the story moved to the island, things went off the rails quickly, and honestly the plotline became just a little too unhinged for me. That being said, this is definitely an inventive and memorable debut novel - just keep an open mind and be prepared for many surprises.

This book immediately swept me in and had the perfect amount of real life, snark, and intrigue for me to devour it within a few days. While some parts were a bit too fantastical, it also made perfect sense - if that makes sense. Kind of a midpoint on the suspension of disbelief scale.

However, once the retreat happens, it became a bit too much for me. Unlikely and unsettling moments had me skimming just to make sure I didn’t miss any important plot points. After the retreat, it seemed back on track - this was the book I was enjoying for the first third! But then the ending…I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Much of the first half of the book illustrates how Julie learns about the world of high-level influencers, both the dizzying heights of money and adoration, and the lows of nonstop effort to keep the gravy train running, haters, and a much more complicated life.

In the second half, things go completely bonkers, just next-level bizarre, when Julie-as-Chloe goes on a trip with a set of other influencers. If you think White Lotus or RHNY trips are wild, forget it.

This high concept novel had its moments of biting satire, but ultimately it didn’t work for me. I’m just not interested in all the algorithmic and statistical details about influencers, or the twisted interpersonal relationships within their ecosystem. And, unfortunately, the bizarre island half of the book is way too drawn out and repetitive, heavy with dialog of the influencers all saying the same thing. This second half also includes an unnecessary and lengthy scene of animal cruelty.

This book may work for someone who can treat it all as satire, particularly for someone who is strongly interested in influencers and social media. For me, it missed the mark.

I really enjoyed this one! I feel like it started to drag toward the end, but I was flying through it at the beginning.

This book is quite strange, so I don’t know how to will resonate with the general population, but I was so intrigued and needed to know what was going on.

"Julie Chan is Dead" was fast-paced and very easy to read, and would be a great choice for anyone looking for a popcorn thriller with a bit of a crazy edge.

The premise of this book sounded unique and intriguing—a woman finds her mega-successful influencer twin sister dead and decides to take over her life—and as a twin sister myself I was itching to dive in. And unraveling Chloe's secrets was enough to keep me hooked! But as Julie got deeper into the mystery of her sister's life, the plot started unraveling for me too.

It was fun to explore the idea of toxic influencer culture, and the book definitely had a lot to say about it, but there was some literal craziness that was too much for me to buy into. This craziness itself I think is part of that exploration, but I think I can appreciate while also not totally loving it. Some of that is surely personal preference, though, and I know others will enjoy the twists here! I prefer clever-but-realistic thrillers, and this one dips a toe into otherworldly, unguessable territory. To each their own!

I was also somewhat unsatisfied with the ending, though I will say the wrap-up could've been MUCH worse so kudos for not entirely letting us down. So it's a middle-of-the-road three stars from me; I enjoyed the ride, but it was a little too all over the place for me to merit more stars.

[Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance reader copy of this book!]

How fast can we make a movie or TV series out of this one? It's that good. What would have been a standard backstabbing story about the influencer world became much more frenzied—crazy even. Julie is a protagonist you certainly root for, even if she's behaving in a way that you'd think twice about.

The island? What????!!!! I had no idea what I was in for.

That's all I'll say. Get a copy of this book as soon as possible. Thank you for giving me the chance to read such a thrilling book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Liann Zhang's Julie Chan is Dead!

Whew! From start to finish, this was a fun ride. I wish we could give half stars because this was a solid 3.5 from me. It had me giggling with all the ridiculous (but almost certainly accurate) goings on of social media darlings and influencers. The story was engaging, the characters fascinating and comically crazy at times.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in social media and the way it influences just about everything in our world.

This book was an absolute rollercoaster in the best (and most horrifying) way possible. The twists were wild, the tension was palpable, and there was one scene in particular that had me saying “WTF” over and over to myself—I might have even gagged. But despite that (or maybe because of it?), I loved every second of this book!

One of my favorite things was how it explored the higher world of influencers and social media—it truly felt like a cult where you have to sign your soul away once you make it. The way Liann Zhang captured that eerie, all-consuming side of internet fame was chilling and so well done. Dark, gripping, and completely unputdownable. Highly recommend! 😂❤️

Julie Chan is Dead - Liann Zhang
Pub Date - 4/29/25
Rating - 2/5
Thoughts - Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the gifted advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. The premise of this book was so interesting and I really wanted to like this book. The first half was done very well, with the backstory of the twins and Julie taking over Chloe's life upon finding her dead in her apartment. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the lives of influencers and how consuming their lives become. The second half.....turned pretty insane and I found myself skimming the book to get the gist so I could finish it. I nearly DNF'd many times but pushed through and honestly, it wasn't worth it. The cult portion of the book was absolutely unnecessary and in a way made me feel disgusted. Also, the girls were unbearable and made me want to CRINGE. Wasn't for me.

**2.5 Stars**

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier with little to lose, suddenly finds herself stepping into the dazzling yet dangerous realm of her late twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, a well-known influencer. The twins were separated when they were young and had grown apart, only connecting through a viral video that Chloe had created. When Julie stumbles upon Chloe’s lifeless body under suspicious circumstances, she seizes the opportunity to embrace the life she has always dreamed of. Adopting Chloe’s persona turns out to be surprisingly simple for Julie. She quickly immerses herself in the glamorous world of influencer culture, donning designer outfits, following an elaborate skincare regimen, and gaining millions of fans who adore her. However, it doesn’t take long for Julie to realize that Chloe’s seemingly flawless existence was riddled with hidden troubles.
As chaos unfolds around her, Julie begins to uncover dark secrets that may have contributed to her sister’s tragic end, and she starts to fear that she could be the next victim in this twisted game.

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
I have a bit of a mixed reaction to this book. The author shows promise, and the premise was quite captivating, but the plot and character development didn’t quite hit the mark, leaving me unable to connect with any of the characters. It felt like what others have mentioned—two stories awkwardly combined. This made it hard to believe, which affected my ability to stay engaged. The first two-thirds were enjoyable and provided a light-hearted look at influencer culture, but the last third took a strange approach, discussing how some influencers are willing to compromise their integrity for fame in a way that felt unrealistic. While it may find its audience, it just didn’t work for me.
Thank You @Netgalley and @atriabooks for allowing me to review this ARC.

After their parents' deaths, Julie was taken in by their spiteful aunt while her twin Chloe was snatched up by a wealthy white couple. Two decades later, Chloe is a glamorous influencer while Julie slogs through a dreary existence. When she stumbles upon her sister's corpse, Julie seizes the opportunity to slip into her life. She switches instantly from scornful envy of the influencer lifestyle to wholehearted endorsement. However, an island retreat with a gaggle of internet-famous blondes exposes the toxicity at the core of her new life. Things get real trippy. This thriller has teeth.

Wellp, I don’t know what I expected this to be like… but damn it was addicting and had all the wtf moments! There were specifics parts toward the beginning that had me like, WTF is ACTUALLY going on right now! Then ALL the shit hits the fan and its jaw dropping like, are these chicks for fuckin real right now!?!? I really enjoyed this book and all the messages it sent! An absolute recommend!!!!