- Genre: Fiction, Mystery
- Published by: The Dial Press
- Publish date: April 15, 2025
- Number of pages: 448 pages
- Author’s website: http://author.annamariemclemore.com/p/welcome.html
- Support local! Buy the book on BookShop!
A social media influencer’s empire is burned to the ground—literally. The top suspects? The five daughters who made her famous.
What do you really know about the people you’ve made famous?
“Mother May I” Iverson has spent the past twenty-five years building a massively successful influencer empire with endearing videos featuring her five mixed-race daughters. But the girls are all grown up now, and the ramifications of having their entire childhoods commodified start to spill over into public view, especially in light of the pivotal question: Who killed May’s newlywed husband and then torched her mansion to cover it up?
April is a businesswoman feuding with her mother over intellectual property; twins June and July are influencers themselves, threatening to overtake May’s spotlight; January is a theater tech who steers clear of her mother and the limelight; and the youngest . . . well, March has somehow completely disappeared. As the days pass post-murder, everyone has an opinion—the sisters, May, a mysterious “friend of the family,” and the collective voice of the online audience watching the family’s every move—with suspicion flying every direction.
A campy and escapist exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and class, The Influencers is an evisceration of influencer culture and how alienating traditional expectations can be, ripe for the current moment when the first generation of children made famous by their parents are, now, all grown up—and looking for retribution.
Rating: 4/5
Lily May Iverson aka Mother May I’s seemingly perfect life is turned upside down when her husband is found dead and her house is on fire. May is known as an OG (original) influencer who documented motherhood for decades. This included constant coverage of her five children’s best, worst, and everyday lives. Now, May’s brand is in shambles with her children April, June, July, January, and March as the prime suspects of her husband’s murder– but maybe she could spin this?
Each character has their own chapters (and there are a lot of characters). We, the readers, get to partake, too, during the chapters referred to as “we the viewers of the influencers”. I found this a unique way to not only put the reader into the story, but to also highlight how we can be participants in the insidious environment of influencers who make a version of their lives consumable. We can’t look away. My favorite part of this was that it critiques influencer culture. Yes, so many of us partake in this phenomenon but how do we protect the children who have little say in their lives being scripted, crafted, and constantly on display?
Fans of reality television will love this. Especially the reality tv where you kind of become obsessed and form parasocial relationships whether from the invite to elite lives or the drama that you just can’t help but want to witness.
- Critique of influencer culture especially as it pertains to children
- Short chapters
- Commical parts – realty tv fans will love this
- I do think this book could have been shorter by about 100 pages
- The multiple POVs made it confusing at times — but I will admit this lent itself well to the mystery
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley and The Dial Press. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
Musings by Michelle 