Becca Reviews: Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

You can read the exclusive author interview here. - COMING SOON

I was lucky to receive an ARC of this book in order to write an author interview for The Strand Magazine blog.

Julie Chan is your pretty typical 20-something supermarket cashier with a chronic addiction to doom scrolling. Julie has a sister, a twin. However, her and her sister, Chloe, were separated at a young age after their parents died in a car crash. As luck would have it, Chloe is adopted by a rich couple in New York City and Julie is adopted by her aunt who sees her as not much more than an inconvenience and potential income.

Chloe's nepotism shines and she becomes an online influencer, kept afloat by brand deals and selfies. I have never read a novel with any mention of influencers before, let alone one that really explored that sphere so this was very interesting.

In stark contrast to this, Julie struggles to make ends meet and resorts to stealing food from work to get by. That is until Chloe has a new plan for a viral video - Finding My Long-Lost Twin And Buying Her A House #EMOTIONAL.

After some more background story and insight into Julie's early years, Julie receives an extremely odd phone call from Chloe, not a regular occurrence! In a panic, Julie heads to NYC to check in with Chloe and everything takes a turn, a The Parent Trip-esque turn...

It's certainly a book of two halves and I have seen some folks rate the second half less than the first. I can see where they are coming from but I think, in true media/Hollywood movie style, the ball has started rolling and there's no stopping it. The plot is giving very much runaway train.

I loved it! As I said, I've never read a book focused on Influencers. There was some interesting discourse regarding the potential for Influencers to do some good with their reach and wealth, versus just plugging brands and encouraging young girls to try a new diet tea. Furthermore, there was plenty of discussion (which felt both ironic and post-ironic) regarding how tough it is to be an Influencer because they never get a break. Even when they're on holiday at a 5-star hotel they're still suffering through creating content. Now, I understand the opinion but I don't think it lands and I think, whichever way you look at it, it's not an argument in good taste.

I enjoyed the idea of the inner circle of influencers, which you do see/hear about online, and end up wondering if these people are really friends or are they just after another million subscribers.

There are several mentions of other Influencers and celebrities, some of whom we meet and discover in more detail. All of whom I googled their names JUST in case any were real (some were). This felt very meta, highlighting to me that even though I don't typically buy into this sphere, I still wanted to be in the know!

There are some confronting scenes, namely an Influencer capitalising on what can only be described as trauma (see content warnings). There is also some clever foreshadowing, both through the use of emojis in captions and DM's, and through the mention of Donna Tartt's The Secret History... If you know, you know, and if you don't—you'll probably google it.

A conceit of this novel is whether Chloe truly loved Julie, because, for better or worse, Julie certainly loved Chloe. I think there's one tell-tale incident that proved Chloe did love her sister, even if she did use and abuse her for views, but that's purely my opinion.

If you've seen the movie Blink Twice, it kind of, almost gets as insane as that, although no, or less, SA. As I said the ending is a runaway train, in the best way, and I couldn't put the book down. I can't believe this is Zhang's FIRST novel. I think she's going to take this genre by storm and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Read: 16/03/2025

Published: 29/04/2025

ISBN: 9781668067918

Price: £14.19 (GBP)