A collection of short horror stories that mixes themes of modern day society,social media,and satire.

Personally I did not enjoy this,the stories themselves fell flat for me. Not one story stood out and after I finished them I forgot what they were even about.

Thank you NetGalley and to the Publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It's nearly criminal how little this book is talked about! Reading this book exceeded way beyond my expectations! The writing is so amazing and the ideas are creative and interesting. Influence is a collection of 6 short stories, all surrounding the theme of modern society/internet culture/social media with a satirical spin to the horror. Each and every one of these stories could very easily be a Black Mirror episode.

In 'The Sky is Full of Snakewolves' we have a woman in a lockdown type situation forced between choosing the dangers inside her home with a DV situation or facing the body tearing monsters that have invaded her city. Reminded me a lot of the COVID lockdown days when we were isolated and afraid to go outside and honestly the one I can't get out of me head.

In "Get Me Out of This Shimmering Oasis" a woman livestreams her wellness retreat where things might not be as it seems. This reminded me of Instagram influencers who are perhaps overselling how amazing their brand deals are.

'Karen' follows the life of the worst Karen (of the 'I'd like to speak with your manager' variety) that you'll ever meet. This one was hard to read only because she is the worst person to ever exist and being in her head was a horribly wonderful experience.

In 'The Shoebox Challenge' we learn about the newest challenge the kids are doing (like eating Tide Pods). The story is basically about how teens do stupid and dangerous things for a chance to go viral.

'Xorcize.Me' is in the format of a podcast transcript. It is the interview of a man who has invented an exorcism kit including an AI exorcist. I loved that sponsorships and discount codes were included. It touches a lot on the pseudoscience that gets shared around easily as well as people giving theirselves self diagnosis of mental illnesses as an excuse for their behaviours.

"The People Around You" is a group of friends where their conversation gets off the rails. Basically portrays how it would look in real life if people talked or treated each other like some do in the comment section.

My personal favourites were 'The Sky is Full of Snakewolves', 'Get Me Out of This Simmering Oasis', and 'Xorcize.Me'.

The only one I did not really enjoy was "The Shoebox Challenge'. I felt I didn't really have a sense of who the narrator was and I just was struggling to even visualize how cardboard boxes could even be used to slide down a road logistically. Wouldn't they get stuck? Maybe I'm wrong, it's just a minor complaint.

The book also ends with an excerpt of the authors newest book which I was excited to read as I am definitely now a fan. Thank you to Netgalley and Blood Bound Books for providing me a copy of this book and bringing it into my life.