You Will Never Be Me

You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto, 336 pages

Seven years ago, Meredith was a social media influencer on the rise when she met Aspen, a woman who was struggling to find her own footing in the cutthroat social media world. Meredith took Aspen under her wing, and showed how to grow her following. But as Aspen became more successful and eventually bypassed Meredith's follower count, the dynamic of their relationship changed — what looked peachy on the outside was rotten on the inside, much like the social media personas they created. With heightened competition and cutthroat tactics, who knows what they'll do to get ahead of each other.

Prior to this novel, Sutanto's novels have been funny and filled with quirky characters that you'd love to spend time with (even if it's just a short period of time because they're a LOT) — see Dial A for Auntie and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murder. This book, however, is a straight-up thriller with absolutely despicable characters (with the exception of six-year-old Elea, who I think I would get along with quite well) doing horrible things in the name of self-promotion and garnering a few more likes on Instagram. And you know what? Sutanto nails it. This book is full of slowly ratcheting tension, crazy twists, and everything you want out of a psychological thriller. Plus it drives a stake through the heart of influencer culture. Absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait to recommend it to everyone.

*This book will be published August 20, 2024.

Jillian

Jillian / Halle Butler, 227 pgs.

Megan works in a doctor's office with Jillian, a woman more than 10 years older who is irrationally optimistic and cheery even as her life is spinning out of control.  Megan is also losing her mind as her friends and acquaintances are building "real" lives while she is stuck looking at colonoscopy pictures to file in a mundane job with the irritating co-worker.  She even sort of hate and resents her boyfriend who is, generally, supportive and nice to her.  Jillian is on the verge of being crazy.  A single mother receiving no support from the father of her child, her car is impounded but she makes up a story about being in an accident and scores a sympathy pain reliever script from on of the doctors in her office. Jillian imposes on a friend from church to transport her child to and from day care because she can't afford to get her car back.  She makes poor choice, after poor choice, adopting a special needs dog that she can't take care of and liberally overusing her pain meds, even at work.  Megan is becoming so hateful, she really can't manage a nice facade at a party and ends up in a fight with long-time friend Amanda.  Megan's boyfriend begins to have doubts about the sanity of remaining in the relationship as Megan continues to become more unhinged.  Somehow, parts of this are very funny and you feel real sympathy for both of these women who continue down their chosen paths no matter how badly you want them to revise their direction.