This is the story of two very different women, Melanie Claud Diore, who, along with her family is an Instagram/You Tube star and Clara Roussel a young police officer. They have joined forces to search for Kimmy, Melanie’s six year old daughter and one of the stars of her channel which has five million subscribers who has gone missing or been kidnapped. Diore’s family which includes husband, Bruno and son Sammy, age eight, all have secrets.

The book follows the aftermath of the loss of Kimmy then picks up with all the characters twelve years later and examines their lives.

Predictably the book looks at the effects of social media on our lives. Clara, raised by activists and living a life completely outside social media cannot fathom what Melanie is doing, but watches the family’s videos, trying to understand the motivation, noting “and now the hearts, likes and virtual applause had become her mainspring, her reason for living: a sort of emotional and affective return on investment which she could no longer live without.” And the scariest part about that is, in that, Melanie simply belonged to her era. She was no outlier.

The author has a keen eye for her characters, and does an especially good job with the more difficult to pin down Clara (Melanie is a bit easy,) noting of the childless by choice Clara, “and because she hadn’t become a mother herself, perhaps she’d remained a daughter more than anything.” Very good book, translated from the French. Recommended.

Thank you Europe Editions for the ARC. IYKYK, my reviews are ALWAYS honest.

Writing: sparse prose | Plot: great premise | Ending: last 30% went off the rails

SYNOPSIS

An exploration of the devastating costs of social media fame.

MY OPINION

First things first, THIS IS NOT A MYSTERY OR A THRILLER. Don't let the synopsis or NetGalley fool you. Yes, the bare bones of the plot is Clara, a young 'detective' of sorts, is investigating the disappearance of Kimmy, a famous child YouTuber who is managed by her clout-chasing mother, Melanie. But this isn't your typical police procedural wherein you're bagging forensic evidence and running tox screens.This is more of a social commentary on how lost in the sauce people get trying to be famous on Al Gore's internet, and how messed up it is when adults pimp out their children for clout.

I absolutely loved Delphine de Vigan's The Loyalties, but this is a totally different vibe. The prose is very minimalistic and there's little world-building or dialogue. If you don't enjoy being inside the characters' heads, skip this one. It's inner monologue after inner monologue, with some 'interviews' thrown in here and there. Also, if you need someone to cheer for, you won't find it here.

I enjoyed the commentary about the addiction of fame and how people will do anything, even put their children at danger, for a lil notoriety. But was it groundbreaking? No. Profound? Not exactly. But it's an important discussion and a worthwhile read if you're not chronically online. I thought the parts about introducing laws to protect the rights of children and ensure they get their cut financially were interesting and necessary. I think it would spark some great book club debates.

Everything was alright until the last 30%. I would've given this four stars just for kicks but that last third felt like a second book penned by John Marrs that was tacked on the end. Maybe it was done to lend credence to the book being slotted as a mystery/thriller? Idk. But... one star because wtf?? There was way too much crammed into the end and it drifted into "OK BOOMER" territory. Not Clara, a law enforcement officer who has directly benefited from technological advancements, moaning on and on about how she wished she could go back to pre-Internet times. Girl no one is forcing you to be on Instagram.

Anyways. This was a bit of a letdown for me, but I do recommend it to older readers who are not chronically online. Highly recommend you tackle it with a pal, or a couple of pals, so you can rant and debate amongst each other.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: interesting concept, great look into the consequences of being a child social media star and how whackadoodle the parents are, more showing than telling (until the last 30%)

Cons: last 30% should've been kept in the drafts; felt very preachy also the pace went 0-100 and not in a good way. tbh if you told me John Marrs ghost-wrote (lol?) that last third I wouldn't be shocked

Very interesting to explore the media obsessed culture we are living in at the moment. It really did strike me and make me think more about the way we live now.

This was an interesting book to read as it was translated from French to English. I was intrigued with the story and as someone who is pretty public on social media, I was taken with this focus on the topic. de Vigan does an excellent job exploring the past, present and even future of the media we consume and the public ways we show up online. It left me with a lot to think about. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.