Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

Wow! Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang takes you on a wild ride! At first, you think you’re reading a psychological thriller. Then you start wondering whether it’s more of a detective story, until a twist makes you consider that it might be a horror novel. All of this is packaged into a story about the life of an influencer.

Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

The main character is Julie Chan: the twin who didn’t get adopted by a rich couple but was taken in by her mean aunt. Her sister Claire was ’the lucky one’. She got a loving mom and dad. Julie, on the other hand, is treated like shit by her aunt, who even steals the money Julie painstakingly saved. Julie has a dead-end job at a local supermarket, and her life kind of sucks. There was a time when her twin sister Claire reached out to her, and even bought her a house. But Claire filmed their tearful reunion, gained compliments, new followers, and even a sponsorship — and then disappeared from Julie’s life again. So Claire only used her as a tool to become even more successful as an influencer.

Mistaken identities

Then one day, Julie gets a strange phone call from Claire, saying she’s sorry and sounding very odd. Even though Julie tries to ignore her worries, in the end she travels to Claire’s home in New York to check if she’s alright. There she finds Claire, dead on the floor. Julie calls the police, and they mistake her for Claire. At first Julie is too shocked to correct them, but then she starts to see this confusion of identity as an opportunity. And that’s when Julie Chan is dead.

Julie Chan takes over her sister’s life

Julie successfully takes over her sister’s life as an influencer. Although it’s hard at times and requires a lot of work, she enjoys her new luxurious lifestyle — even as her aunt starts blackmailing her, because she figured out Claire is actually Julie. So even though Julie is making a lot of money, she still struggles at times. Anyway, then Julie gets invited by this high-profile influencer on a holiday on her private island with seven other influencers. That’s where the story takes kind of a different turn, even though it’s still all about Julie keeping up appearances and living the life of an influencer.

How I feel about this book

Like I said in the beginning: this book is kind of a wild ride, and that’s because in a way it’s all over the place. It’s like the story has an identity crisis. Am I a psychological thriller? Am I a detective? Am I a horror novel? Even though I didn’t mind this all that much, I do mind that there are a lot of loose ends. Like the fact that Claire seemed to stiffen when her adoptive father enters her bedroom… Even though Julie observes this, it’s never mentioned again.

What I really liked about this book is that it’s quite funny. The unabashed fakeness of Julie as an influencer is both a critique of influencer culture and genuinely funny.

A critical look at the life of influencers

Apart from the story, Julie Chan Is Dead is also a sharp and critical look at the influencer phenomenon. How things work and how scary and precarious the life of a successful influencer can be. Because you’re only as good as your last post. You never know when your audience will get bored with you, or ditch you for the next new thing. You’re completely dependent on the approval of a fickle audience. So even though being an influencer pays very well, it comes at a great cost. You can never truly rest, you have to constantly share your life and you’re vulnerable.

So, summing up

If you enjoy stories that make you feel like you’re on a roller coaster, and you’re interested in the lives of influencers, you may definitely enjoy Julie Chan Is Dead. It’s a light read, but it also touches on heavier topics too, like the human longing for approval and love.

There’s also this cover, which kind of gives the plot away:

You can get your copy at Amazon.

Other novels about influencers

• You will never be me
• Under the influence