I’m sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was last week. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about.
First up, I’d like to talk about Last Seen Online by Wren James. Thank you to Kirsten Cozens at Walker YA for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
When Delilah meets Sawyer Saffitz (son of the Anya Saffitz, aka Hollywood royalty), she becomes hooked on a decade-old scandal. In her quest for the truth, Delilah uncovers blogposts written by the mysterious “gottiewrites” and is soon caught up in a world of greed, fandom conspiracy theories … and murder. And the deeper Delilah digs, the more dangerous it becomes – because someone is willing to kill to hide the truth.
Publication Date: 1st August
TW: death, murder, stalking, obsession, incarceration
My Thoughts:
Last Seen Online is a smash hit of a YA thriller, exploring online fandom, true crime and coming of age in a unique and compelling narrative.
I absolutely adore a multi-media narrative, especially for a mystery story. I just adored the interplay between fandom and reality that characterisated this mystery. It really digs into parasocial relationships and the pitfalls of true crime obsession. James makes full use of this here, pulling us between Gottie’s online posts and Delilah’s modern day investigating. It just felt so familiar, even if I was not part of some of the particular fandoms that clearly influenced this portrayal. Gottie’s blogs drew you in but also had a darkness to them, even before murder came into the equation. There is a level of obsession that is unnerving and the comment section rewards and spites this. The inclusion of these comments was genius, adding an element of realism and some fun threads for readers to follow.
James walks a fine line here with a love letter to fandom and community, but also strongly emphasises the potential pitfalls. Sometimes it can spiral into dangerous levels of obsession and there is always somewhat of a risk with speculating about real people and turning them into their fictional characters. There is a dehumanisation about it, a removal of who they are and instead reconfiguring them to solely fit your narrative. Similarly, the true crime sphere can do this – reducing real people to tropes and roles to better fit the overall narrative they are trying to create. There can be almost a recklessness in the sensationalisation of events that disregards any real life impact.
We get elements of this within Delilah’s narrative as well, as she tries to work out how to leverage her new connections for her own career and sleuthing. On one hand, it makes sense in the storyline and also to burst into a tightly knit bubble where it is all about who you know (read classism and connections). On the other, it is occasionally slightly nefarious and exploitative. Delilah overall is an excellent character that I really connected with. She just goes for things with wild abandon, pouring her heart and soul out. There is a deep passion and loyalty there. She is driven by a desire to uncover the truth and right any potential wrongs. I found her voice endearing and relatable in that teenage awkwardness. Her dynamic with Sawyer was brilliant as well, feeling like it built naturally and crackled.
Last Seen Online is a marvellously meta blurring of reality and projected fantasy, combining true crime and fandom into one unforgettable YA mystery.
Next up, I’d like to talk about Such Charming Liars by Karen McManus. Thank you to Delacorte Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for forty-eight hours twelve years ago when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in a swift divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.
Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job – at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s 80th birthday party. Kat has figured out a way to tag along to the dazzling Sutherland compound, but neither she nor her mother know about the other surprise guests that weekend: Liam and his father, a serial scammer who has his own sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.
Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. They can’t trust anyone—except each other. Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.
Publication Date: 1st August
TW: death, murder, gun violence, physical violence, domestic abuse, blood, attempted suicide, catfishing
My Thoughts:
Such Charming Liars is a high stakes mystery filled with deception and lies.
I love a book where you can never fully trust anything and this is one of those, delivered with aplomb. McManus is known as a Queen of YA Mysteries for a reason and she proves it every time. Her books are slick, suspenseful and full of great characterisation and some killer twists. This takes it up a gear with a focus on cons and crimes, with some excellent heist style shenanigans. For me, it was like Ocean’s Eight meets Knives Out, that high octane thriller meets the Golden Age of Crime with a sprinkle of privilege and wealth beyond imagination.
It more than lives up to its premise, delivering a brilliant mystery. I loved the exploration of class and privilege, in the extreme bubble of the Sutherlands. It is like peeking into another world and you get caught up in the glamour and prestige of it all. However, underneath there are plenty of simmering tensions and long held feuds that corrupt everything. It is very much a flawed and fractured family where the pursuit of power and wealth has shifted the moral landscape. Their upbringings have been tricky with tensions that rise to the surface quickly. You get the sense of a ticking time bomb and that’s before you add in the contrasting schemes at hand. It is a giant game of chess, but who’s ultimately overseeing it?
We focus on Kat and Liam, with Kat being brought up in difficult households with a fraught dynamic and a lifestyle reliant on scamming. On the other hand, Liam had some more love and stability, but lost this when his mum died. Since then he’s been used as a tool in his dad’s cons. As a result they’re used to being chameleons and fitting into whatever role the situation requires. This allows for some interesting adaptation and manipulation of their expected roles throughout the narrative. Their pasts have fundamentally shaped them and their long ago crossover brings out some skeletons in the present. It adds so much tension to the narrative and McManus just keeps raising the stakes higher and higher.
Such Charming Liars exposes the gilted, glamorous and ultimately glib underside of privilege where every move is a power play. It is another excellent thriller from a Queen of YA Mysteries.
Finally, I’d like to delve into Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum. Thank you to Gaby Young at Penguin Michael Joseph for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
When Caitlin accepts a new high-powered job at Aurora, she already knows she’s going to have to take the good with the bad.
On the one hand, the senior team she’s joining is full of big personalities, never happier than when nursing a bitter grudge or pursuing an illicit affair.
On the other, the company is up for sale, and if they can just hold it together at their glamorous corporate retreat, each is set to make millions.
But when the group heads out on the first night of the trip, everyone drinks too much. People say – and do – things they’ll soon regret.
And next morning, one of the team is missing. The stakes couldn’t be higher. They are each on the brink of being set for life. Unless someone is intent on making a very different kind of killing . . .
Publication Date: 8th August
TW: murder, death, violence, drug use, addiction, infidelity, sexism
My Thoughts:
Very Bad Company was a slick and sharp-edged thriller that skewers corporate culture at an elite level. It is full of scheming, back-stabbing, scandal and secrets. All of this makes for an incredibly addictive read.
Mix sun, sex, scheming and scandal and you have yourself a recipe for a perfect summer thriller. Rosenblum delivers all this and so much more in a thriller that buries itself in your brain and will not let you go. You get hooked by those opening pages that promise death and destruction, then get pulled in by this peek behind the curtain into a world of wealth that most of us can only dream of. The book is characterised by an acerbic humour – the casual references to extreme status symbols and pay remind you just what a different stratosphere these people inhabit. There is a snide glance to it all, which makes it even more delicious. As I found with Bad Summer People, Rosenblum is exceptional at writing characters that you love to hate. The vast majority of these people are deeply unlikeable and caught up in a web of their own hubris and secrets. You can recognise certain stereotypes and types, which Rosenblum works to enrich and give them all three-dimensionality. All of this effective character building does make the chaos more relishable though. The consequences of their actions have finally arrived and they burn.
It also looks at the common nightmare of corporate team-building and the false promise of being a ‘family’. We can all enjoy time with our colleagues, but an enforced and strictly time tabled holiday together would be pushing it. In this pressure cooker, old tensions and rivalries push to the surface, as well as hidden dynamics and scandalous connections. Rosenblum also weaves in an interesting thread about false facades, happening at both personal and more wide spread scales. It is all about appearances and adds a new level of deception to proceedings. There is also an all too believable thread about sexism within this high level echelon and tokenism of representation. I also really enjoyed the discussion around originality and the possession of an idea, which has such grimy connotations and exploitative reach.
Very Bad Company is an enthralling and exhilarating thriller that takes aim at the very top, delivering the best kind of unravelling, messy personal drama.
A Short Book Lover 
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