Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang Book Review

Hi Readers! On another one of moods, I was tempted to read a mystery, so I picked Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang because I saw a few great reviews talking about how thrilling, unhinged and even disgusting it was. Well, it was the perfect to book to read as I really wanted to immerse myself in fictional characters’ problems. Well, it sure took my attention, and a lot more. So, read more to find out if I loved it or hated it.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

In this razor-sharp, diabolical debut thriller, a young woman steps into her deceased twin’s influencer life, only to discover dark secrets hidden behind her social media façade.

Julie Chan has nothing. Her twin sister has everything. Except a pulse.

Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier with nothing to lose, finds herself thrust into the glamorous yet perilous world of her late twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, a popular influencer. Separated at a young age, the identical twins were polar opposites and rarely spoke, except for one viral video that Chloe initiated (Finding My Long-Lost Twin And Buying Her A House #EMOTIONAL). When Julie discovers Chloe’s lifeless body under mysterious circumstances, she seizes the chance to live the life she’s always envied.

Transforming into Chloe is easier than expected. Julie effortlessly adopts Chloe’s luxurious influencer life, complete with designer clothes, a meticulous skincare routine, and millions of adoring followers. However, Julie soon realizes that Chloe’s seemingly picture-perfect life was anything but.

Haunted by Chloe’s untimely death and struggling to fit into the privileged influencer circle, Julie faces mounting challenges during a weeklong island retreat with Chloe’s exclusive group of influencer friends. As events spiral out of control, Julie uncovers the sinister forces that may have led to her sister’s demise and realizes she might be the next target.

~~THOUGHTS~~

Julie Chan is Dead is the story of Julie Chan who assumes the life of her twin sister Chloe Van Huusen after her death. The twins were separated at a very young age when their parents die in a car accident. Only Chloe was adopted by rich white parents, while Julie had to live with her aunt who tortured her. So, when the opportunity presented itself, knowingly or unknowingly, Julie became Chloe and lived her life.

The first half of the book was about Julie adjusting to life as Chloe, manoeuvring the social media influencer life. Taking up sponsorship deals.. going to other pretty girls’ parties.. earning insane amount of money by endorsing overconsumption.. and basically capitalizing at every opportunity. It was disturbing at two levels. The first level was of course how social media has become a place to seek validation. And suddenly everything is up for sale – loss, grief, mental health, dignity and self-respect. Julie (as Chloe) throws actual Chloe’s ashes in the river in an emotional video which is sponsored by BetterTherapy. I mean, seriously? Capitalizing on death? It was unhinged, unreal but also unrelatable.

The second level was darker where some characters talked about how their work was SO important and how they sacrificed SO MUCH to be at their level. Yes, for any job, an individual has to put in efforts to succeed. But, the blasé lack of acknowledgement of privilege (especially race and ethnicity) was written very well. So, basically first half of the book was all about this, and then it morphed into something else entirely.

Second half is when Chloe and the troop of influencers led by Bella Marie go to her home island to ‘disconnect’. What is supposed to be rich girl fancy beach trip soon turns chaotic. And, that’s all that I will say about it.

The verdict is that I did not like the book. When I started reading, I understood it was a twin-thing on the first page itself, which made it very predictable and boring. I have read books and seen movies where this concept is done to death. What followed next on the beach trip was like it was a different book altogether, all with different themes and shifted focus on other characters. This felt as if the author had a lot of ideas and wanted to explode them all in 320 pages.

The dialogues which were supposed to sound annoying were extremely annoying to the point that they made me speed-read through them. The character of Julie and of Julie as Chloe were also not well created. Flawed, yes. But, there was a righteousness to the flawed persona, which made her very unlikeable as either Chloe or Julie. It was the book Cover Story by Susan Rigetti meets Celebrity (a K-drama) on Netflix. The irony is that I loved both these stories a lot, so they perhaps set a high standard. I have rated Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang at 2/5 stars!

Until next time,