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Idol: The must-read, addictive and compulsive book club thriller 2022

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The best friend, who has come forward with her allegations and is obviously not well, literally only suffers for trying to speak her truth and will continue to do so now that the truth is finally out in the world. By the end there were two characters that really stole my affections, one of which managed to bring a huge smile to my face as they showed their true cunning and strength. I was completely captured by the story being told and, even though at times I was annoyed with the characters or felt like the plot was stagnating a bit, the way the book was written kept me turning the pages, eager to know more. I am utterly bewildered by the amount of good reviews it received, and am struggling to figure out what O' Neill was trying to say with her story.

Before the release of her latest book, Sam is accused of sexually assaulting her former best friend, Lisa. Videos and reels like Observe While I Try on These 75 New Outfits, or Watch Me Obsessively Clean My House/Heat Up My dinner/Unbox Expensive Stuff I've Been Given For Free is big business these days and this story very much taps into that. There's an interesting yin yang in my feelings about Idol - written by an author who in her previous novels, especially Asking For It, has always challenged my world views and had me thinking long into the night about the narrative she has presented. She has released books, and has a strong online presence, guiding her "girls" on how they can be the best in their lives. IDOL is fresh, glamorous, and surprising, taking an issue we all care about and with a deft twist, recalibrating our position.

And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events. It's Sam's word against Lisa's - so who gets to tell the story Whose 'truth' is really a lie 'You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha.

The pitfalls of social media are highlighted by O'Neill and Idol should be on any budding influencers radar! Everything is presented through this lense of contempt and bullshit to build tension that O'Neill obviously didn't know how else to build, to then falls entirely flat in the last reveal. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Idol isn’t interested in black and white, baddies and goodies, and O’Neill resists the urge to tie up her zeitgeisty romp with anything so trite as a moral.For some reason it’s even more compelling if said woman has absolutely no idea who said rock star is. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their ‘truth’.

This is Sam at her peak, literally moments after her speech to her “loves“ the world she has created with all its power and monetary benefits begins to implode. As the trial by social media raises its ugly head, the toxicity starts to spread and Samantha sees the empire she has worked so hard to establish slowly begin to crumble. It’s certainly not a book that is easy to read because it’s so dark but it’s equally impossible to put down.

An uncomfortable look at the world of online influencers follows, trial by social media, and how two people can remember an encounter in different ways, flitting back and forth between present day and 1999/2000. And we also see in Idol the truth of the adage that if you tell a lie enough times, you start to believe it yourself. She has her audience (young, mostly white and female) in the palm of her hand, this is the power of the cult idol with over 3 million social media followers.

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