Julie Chan Is Dead By Liann Zhang Source Received from the publisher
Published by Atria Books on April 29, 2025
Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Rating:
Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier with nothing to lose, finds herself thrust into the glamorous yet perilous world of her late twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, a popular influencer. Separated at a young age, the identical twins were polar opposites and rarely spoke, except for one viral video that Chloe initiated (Finding My Long-Lost Twin And Buying Her A House #EMOTIONAL). When Julie discovers Chloe’s lifeless body under mysterious circumstances, she seizes the chance to live the life she’s always envied.
Transforming into Chloe is easier than expected. Julie effortlessly adopts Chloe’s luxurious influencer life, complete with designer clothes, a meticulous skincare routine, and millions of adoring followers. However, Julie soon realizes that Chloe’s seemingly picture-perfect life was anything but.
Haunted by Chloe’s untimely death and struggling to fit into the privileged influencer circle, Julie faces mounting challenges during a weeklong island retreat with Chloe’s exclusive group of influencer friends. As events spiral out of control, Julie uncovers the sinister forces that may have led to her sister’s demise and realizes she might be the next target.
This was a mixed read for me! I heard a lot of great things about it and was so eager to read it, and while I loved the first half, it took a turn that didn’t work for me. That said, if you enjoyed Bunny by Mona Awad and its surreal strangeness, I think you will like this too.
I was expecting a more straight-forward story about Julie looking into Chloe’s death, and this is not that. That’s probably on me for thinking the book would be something it isn’t. I really liked its look at influencer culture and the way Julie changed the more she spent time as Chloe (there was some very sharp humour that I got a kick out of), but I was initially surprised that she didn’t have any real interest in looking into and solving Chloe’s death. So while this has some thriller vibes by the end, I wouldn’t call it a mystery.
However, I found myself unable to put this down until I finished, so even though I didn’t enjoy the second half of the story the way I was enjoying the first half, it was very readable, and I had to know how it ended.
