When Being an Influencer is Murder... Review of the thriller "Made You Look"

Jetting off for cool photoshoots in exotic places. 

Being the instantly-recognizable face of high-end luxury products and fantasy experiences.

Enjoying the rush from seeing “likes” numbering in the hundreds of thousands on your last Instagram post or TikTok video.

Ah, the glamorous life of the Influencer...

Or so it’s easy to think. 

But, like the old saying goes, “all that glitters is not gold”, there’s a less-shiny, less-sexy side to being a social media darling.

Tanya Grant peels back the curtain to give us a peek at what being an internet sensation is really like in her debut thriller, Made You Look. 

 

 

A week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to Reverie Retreat, a posh, not-yet-open-to-the-public ecolodge nestled deep in the Catskills.

For mega-Influencer Sydney Kent—along with her little entourage of fellow influencers, stylist, photog, and publicity manager—it’s a sweet gig, posting content hyping the new retreat prior to its grand opening.

What influencer wouldn’t jump at an invitation to create magical, golden-hour vignettes against a winter-wonderland backdrop of snow-covered pine trees, rolling mountains, and crystal-clear waterfalls?

And then, get to enjoy total relaxation and privacy in individual cabins lined up along the dramatic cliff’s edge?

It’s a dream gig, no doubt... and none of the team think their efforts over the next week will be anything short of amazing. 

Caitlyn, the beautiful, curvaceous foil to Sydney’s ethereal, waiflike beauty... who can only dream of someday achieving the same level of fame and adoration that Syd commands. 

Muscular, movie-star handsome Jeff—aka Sydney’s boyfriend—who boasts a sizable fandom of his own.

Nash, the creative genius doubling as stylist and makeup artist for all the shoots.

Brent, the straight-arrow manager who handles most of the bookings and all of the legal and fiscal paperwork.

And Lucy, best friends with Sydney since their freshman year of college, now the official photographer for Team Sydney.

                                                *****

For a group of twenty-somethings who’ll be spending an entire week together, things start off well enough... but that soon changes.

A blizzard-level snowstorm leaves the group with no Wi-Fi (so, no way to post content), no electricity (no heat), and no cell service (no calling for help).

When they realize they also have no food, the mood plummets even further.

But, when one member winds up dead—clearly not from accidental causes—the trip that was supposed to be so perfect turns into a nightmare.

Suddenly, no one trusts anyone... because either a murderous intruder is lurking somewhere out there, just waiting to strike again... or one of their party is a killer.

And as unbelievable as the latter sounds, if that is the case, well... what do any of them really know about anything??

 

 

While I remain utterly perplexed by the popularity of a great many Influencers, I find the whole trend a fascinating thing to observe... making Made You Look an easy must-read, for me.

Fortunately, author Grant proves herself more than up to the task of showcasing the best, worst, and everything else about those immersed in the strange new world of influencing.

Most importantly, all of the characters feel very real... like any of the older Gen Zs one might encounter on any given day, out in the wild. [I’m in L.A., so they’re pretty much legion, here.] 

But to her credit, in that realness she also makes them well-rounded, with plenty of ick factor, as well as a whole bunch of relatable, more likable stuff. (There are even moments of deeply-felt pathos and sadness, which raise the emotional bar on the whole story... but I won’t spoil those, here.)

In other words, it’s easy to sorta hate any of the characters one minute, then totally get where they’re coming from, the next. 

Grant also does an excellent job of creating an atmospheric space that grows progressively smaller (and more ominous) by the minute... not a “locked room” mystery, precisely, but certainly a tightly-contained suspense—which is highly-effective.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the “whodunnit” (and “whydunnit”) neither come out of nowhere... nor ring untrue; the ending feels satisfying, and worth the time spent invested with these characters.

Made You Look is a modern, timely, engrossing read for suspense and thriller fans... and if that sounds like you? You’ll grab a copy of this one pronto and curl up with it on a cold night, with the lights turned down low.

~GlamKitty

[Thanks to Penguin Random House and Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]