Fan Club Published by MIRA by Erin Mayer
on October 26, 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 320
Source: Netgalley
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Goodreads
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
ISBN: 0778311597
Rating:
In this raucous psychological thriller, a millennial office worker finds relief from her crippling ennui in the embrace of a cliquey fan club, until she discovers the group of women is bound together by something darker than devotion.
Day after day our narrator, a gloomy millennial, searches for meaning beyond her vacuous job at a women's lifestyle website—entering text into a computer system while she watches their beauty editor unwrap box after box of perfectly packaged bits of happiness. Then, one night at a dive bar, she hears a message in the newest single by child-actor-turned-international-pop-star Adriana Argento, and she is struck. Soon she loses herself to the online fandom, a community whose members feverishly track Adriana's every move.
When a colleague notices the extent of her obsession, she’s invited to join an enigmatic group of adult Adriana superfans who call themselves the Ivies and worship her music in witchy, candlelit listening parties. As the narrator becomes more entrenched in the group, she gets closer to uncovering the sinister secrets that bind them together—while simultaneously losing her grip on reality.
With caustic wit and hypnotic writing, this unsparingly critical thrill ride through millennial life examines all that is wrong in our celebrity-obsessed internet age, and how easy it is to lose yourself in it.
Sometimes I come across a book that sounds so promising–and then just doesn’t deliver for me, personally. I know it’s a me thing because there are other very positive reviews for this one.
But, I just had such a difficult time with this story. Mayer is a very talented writer–however, this story didn’t end up being what I thought. And, the fact that I had to slog my way through it from about 20% on, tells me that I should’ve known better.
I had a really difficult time buying what the main character was selling. It wasn’t believable. And when it’s not believable, I have a difficult time spending time on it.
About Erin Mayer
Erin Mayer is a freelance writer and editor based in Maine. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, Man Repeller, Literary Hub, and others. She was previously an associate fashion and beauty editor at Bustle.com.
