Today, I’m excited to be reviewing the intense thriller You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto, who has quickly become one of my must-read authors. Thank you to HQ for sending me an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
This review originally appeared on The Nerd Daily.
Best friends make the worst enemies…
I’m stalking my best friend. There’s no use denying it. Aspen Palmer, with her millions of followers and beautiful family, has everything I want. The worst thing is, I showed her how to get it. And now I’m dead to her.
But I’ve found a way to get revenge. If Aspen’s world starts to crumble and I’m there to pick up the pieces with her brands and sponsors, then I’m just getting what I deserve. What my son deserves.
Aspen won’t go down without a fight. Nothing gets in the way of her perfect life. But I made Aspen, and I know exactly how to break her…
Publication Date: 29th August
TW: death, murder, violence, cheating, infidelity, online harassment, grief, loss of a parent, racism, fatphobia, domestic abuse, toxic relationships, obsession, stalking
My Thoughts:
You Will Never Be Me is a suspenseful and all-consuming psychological thriller that will draw you into its obsessive, toxic relationship. It combines social insights with smart and sharp humour to excellent effect.
This peels back the facade of perfectly curated social media lives to show the hard work and sometimes deception involved. Both Aspen and Meredith are incredibly self-obsessed and have their lives determined by their status and need to be liked. They fit that mould of influencer that is obsessed with their follower count and perception at all costs. Some of the best scenes involved the behind the scenes work to create that idyllic feed. This warps their entire perception of themselves and the world around them – everything has to be just so for the aesthetic of it all. This means that the line between fantasy and reality becomes increasingly blurred. I loved how we saw this across a collective of influencers though, creating this wider-spread atmosphere where the currency is your influence and that is a precarious place to be in. The mighty can always fall. It is also interesting that both of them eventually become family influencers, reminding you of the exploitation of children often used in that industry. There has increasingly been conversations coming from the ‘child stars’ of these family influencers that shows just how dark and uncomfortable these channels can be for the real people behind them. Of course some aspects of this are exaggerated and do not necessarily reflect all the real life examples, but you can imagine some of this is very close to reality.
Ironically Sutanto exposes the false sense of authenticity and vulnerability as an additional weapon in the arsenal of influencing. Nothing is real, everything is filtered just so. It makes for darkly hilarious reading at some points and deeply disturbing at others. This toxic bubble also lends itself perfectly to the unhealthy relationship at the core of the book. It is a minefield of jealousy and unspoken competition. The methods Aspen and Meredith use to one-up each other are underhanded and downright nefarious. Sutanto pushes things to the extreme, but only in increments so that the tension and stakes feel like they build somewhat naturally. It is a cesspool of negativity and toxicity which completely contrasts the positive outpouring of their content.
Sutanto magnifies this further with the use of dual timelines, following each ‘friend’ at the pinnacle of their fame as they grow increasingly envious of the other. You chart their rise and fall in this claustrophobic social bubble. It also allows for some sprinklings of surprises as the twists and turns unfold. I also enjoyed how certain relationships were skewed very differently through each perspective and timeline. Neither one of these protagonists are particularly likeable, even if you can understand elements of their motivations. They also constantly feel like unreliable narrators, adding another element of manipulation and control. It means as a reader you are always on the backfoot and second-guessing what is in front of you. After all, within this space, what is an influencer if not a manipulator.
In addition to the space of beauty and family influencing, there is also an element of true crime. Sutanto focuses particularly on influencers within this industry and how easy it can be for cases to become sensationalised, to the extreme of dehumanising the real people involved to treat them as characters in a story instead. They become vessels to project your theories and preconceived ideas on. However, Sutanto adds a brilliant twist to this that slots in perfectly with the manipulation and unease throughout.
You Will Never Be Me places obsession and toxic influencer culture firmly in its crosshairs and delivers an explosively entertaining and skin-crawling story.
A Short Book Lover 
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