I thought Idol well-written. It describes the event when uber-successful influencer Sam’s world starts to come crashing down when old friend Lisa describes their liaison of long-ago non-consensual.

Lisa, as suburban mother, wants little to do with Sam and her hyper-online world of social media, and is reluctant to help when Sam returns to their hometown to try to resolve the situation, although the attempts serve only to reopen previously closed wounds.

Idol explores a number of themes. The first explores what it means to be front and centre as a social media influencer with a massive following. Beyond that, it looks at the role of authenticity in connecting with those followings, and how fickle they can be. Lastly it looks at memories and how they get shaped to suit people’s lives and narratives.

Samantha Miller is idolised by millions of women. She is inspirational and gives her fans everything they need. To them, she is an open book and she is happy to share her darkest days with them. When she writes an article about a night she has long remembered, spent with her childhood best friend, Lisa, she opens a can of worms she struggles to close. Lisa doesn’t remember the night in the same way and her revelations threaten to ruin Samantha.

Louise O’Neill has no fear when it comes to writing about difficult subjects and she addresses women sexually assaulting another with ease. This book puts intense female friendships and the toxicities of fame under a harsh spotlight. This book is an extremely uncomfortable read but so good. From the first chapter I was completely hooked and couldn’t put it down.

Sam is an interesting character. She appears to have always got her own way and as the book progresses, you lose sight of what is is fact and what is fiction in her life.

When she returns to her home town to try and salvage her career, her old school friends don’t view her in the same way she thought they would. The relationship between Sam, Lisa and Josh is intense and excruciating at the same time.

The ending blew my mind! You come away questioning whether anything is actually true or not in your lives. It highlights our everyone views events to suit their own beliefs.

An utterly brilliant examination of the fine line between truth and deceit.

Good enjoyable read. Not my usual type of book. Very relevant to today's society and topical issues. Storyline relevant and interesting, characters well described but sometimes difficult to like.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Random House UK for an Arc in exchange for an honest opinion

How to even begin reviewing this book! I could not put it down, staying up late into the night desperate to uncover the truth of what really happened. This book discusses so many interesting and important themes, and touches on them so well. This author certainly knows how to hit at the tough topics, and she's not afraid to bring out the scalpel where needed. This story tackles sexuality, consent, cancel culture, mental health and so much more. This is such an addictive read and possibly my favourite of her work yet, it'll take you on a while ride and have you questioning a lot of things about yourself and what you believe

Samantha Miller is an influence with a massive following of young women, "my Girls" ,who see her as a mentor and empowerment Guru. Samantha guides her young fans through life by baring her own so they can learn by her mistakes, telling them of the traumatic episodes she's suffered so they can hopefully avoid making the same mistakes themselves. With 3 million women hanging on her every word Samantha is a celebrity who mixes with the stars and has even had her life story made into a movie.
In one of her books Samantha details an intimate experience she shared with her former best friend Lisa after the other girl's 18th birthday party, over 20 years ago. Lisa contacts her for the first time in decades to say that far from intimate the events of that night were an assault.
As rumours spread like wildfire on social media Samantha's image.....and following,begins to crumble and she takes a journey back to her hometown.......and the past.
It turns out that the incident isn't the only issue where Samantha' has different memories to events in her teenage years to others.
This book is a psychological roller-coaster as the reader tries to discover who is the "real" Samantha and decide if she's the victim or a predator. the social media "Wellness Queen" or a basket case living a lie.
Louise O'Neil specialises in getting inside the head of her characters and often that's a very dark place. There are some very complex relationships in this book,it's a bout friendship,manipulation,lies,secrets,damaged people and so much more.
A very powerful read that will make you think and will stay in your mind long after you've finished it.

Idol is O’Neill’s third adult novel, following Almost Love and After the Silence and two YA novels Only Ever Yours and Asking For It. Idol continues O’Neill’s exploration of troubled femininity navigating contemporary image-obsessed culture. It’s a quick read with some thought-provoking moments but lacking the bite and depth of her superb YA novels.

Thankyou for giving me the chance to read in advance. Very relevant and apt for todays times and although not My usual read I was able to read until the end due to the relevance.

Set in the modern age of obsession with celebrity and social media, Idol grips you from the beginning. Samantha Miller, a celebrity/health guru/social influencer, is flawless on the surface but a scandal sees her desperately try to salvage her reputation as she travels back to her home town. Moving between the past and modern day, the reader is taken on a journey, where along with the Samantha, they must work out what really happened at her best friend’s 18th birthday party. What I loved about this book was how, even though it is written from Sam’s point of view, the characters, and particularly the dialogue, are so well written that you can see vulnerability and motive in all the key characters. I liked how the book moves back in time to slowly reveal events that not only explore Sam’s complicated relationship with her high school circle, but also with her current team and followers who serve her need to be accepted. Idol is a captivating, modern thriller that will have you guessing right up until the very end.

Such an interesting, and relevant, topic but I did struggle to get into this book. The main character was hard to relate too and it felt a bit waffly for my liking. A good view on the toxic world of influencing but not really for me.

Absolutely exceptional book from Louise O Neil. It was so electrifying so current and relatable.

I simply adore everything the author does, her play was mind blowing and I just can’t wait to see something captured on film!!

This is the latest book by Louise O’Neill, an author who explores themes that are very relevant to the times we live in. In Idol we are taken into the world of influencers, cancel culture and teenage obsessive, toxic friendships and whether we can really rely on our memory of events years ago. A hugely successful wellness “guru” publishes an essay about a passionate encounter she had with her best friend when they were teenagers.. the only problem is her best friend remembers it differently and accuses her of sexual assault. The story then splits into two timelines, the current day where Sam tries to deal with the fallout of the accusation while trying to clear her name and the past where story of teenage Sam and Lisa’s friendship is revealed. Why would her childhood best friend lie about something as serious as sexual assault? Is Sam telling the truth when she claims the encounter was consensual? Who’s version of their “truth” is correct? This is interesting page turner with thoroughly unlikeable characters and would make a great movie! Not to be read as social commentary as ultimately it doesn’t really have anything to say about the themes it explores but an enjoyable read nonetheless and I expect to see this beside many a sun-lounger this summer!.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Louise O'Neill so really pleased to have been given an advance copy of Idol.

I loved this tale of influencer/girlboss(charlatan?!) Sam. My love of unreliable narrators was indulged to the max and with each chapter I *still* didn't know who to trust!

I was not prepared for this.

I'm not even sure where to begin with my review. I guess I'll start with that I couldn't put this book down. At times, I wasn't even sure what I was reading; I only knew that I had to find out where this story was going and how it would resolve. Idol takes on a LOT of fascinating themes without ever becoming weighed down by them.

We start by meeting our protagonist, Samantha Miller-- a social media lifestyle guru who has built a business empire and sold books on the back of recreating herself after her sexual assault and struggles with addiction. Samantha recently penned an essay about a formative sexual experience with her best friend and the essay went viral. But now her manager has received an email from Lisa, the aforementioned best friend, saying she remembers it quite differently.

As the persona Samantha has created for herself starts to crumble, she decides to revisit her old friend and the past.

On the one hand, the book is an exploration of the nature of memory and truth. How well do we really remember the past? Most people today have heard the phrase "my truth". The question is: is this something to be sneered at? Surely there isn't "my truth" and "your truth" but only "THE truth", right? But what if there isn't? What if the "truth" is dependent upon your point of view? What if someone else has a very different view of an experience you had? It's a chilling thought.

And we also see in Idol the truth of the adage that if you tell a lie enough times, you start to believe it yourself.

On the other hand, the book delves deep into the life of social media stars and "cancelling". We often place unrealistic expectations on "influencers", expect them to be perfect, and far too many people delight in tearing them down when it turns out they weren't as perfect as they were pretending to be. Nothing makes us smell blood like hypocrisy, after all.

Sam is a mess, there's no other way to say it. Flawed, manipulative, caught up in herself and the version of her she presents to the world, but O'Neill has created a messy character that I couldn't tear myself away from. I wonder if I was reading as wide-eyed as I felt.

While reading this I kept thinking about a quote I've seen now and then-- "Life is the story we tell ourselves" --a phrase which has always struck me as lovely and poetic. After finishing this book, it seems downright sinister.

This book was absolutely riveting. The protagonist is pretty unlikeable, but you are deftly manipulated into wondering if she isn’t so bad after all as you progress through the book. There isn’t much more to say than that without spoiling it. But it’s a real warning to anyone on the perils of putting your whole life out on the internet or in print and the value of remembering that no everyone will see things from your perspective. It also deals with past trauma and the way it impinges on the present even in the seemingly most stable people. An excellent and ultimately disturbing book about fame and friendship. Wholly recommend.

I didn’t really enjoy this book. I couldn’t engage with the main character although it gave an interesting insight into influencing. Thanks to Netgalley .

Miss O’Neill’s tense plotting and believable characters, certainly keeps you guessing right to the very end. And, unlike a lot of books I’ve read, she didn’t lose me when jumping between the different times in their lives. Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read it before its publication date.

Louise O'Neill has done it again! O'Neill has written in a number of genre from young adult and dystopia to mystery and thriller and each time she produces an brilliant tale that makes for compulsive reading. Her latest novel , called 'Idol' is no different.
'Idol' is the story of a social media guru called Samantha (Sam) Miller. Sam is the face of her brand and an icon to an generation of millions of young girls; she tells them how to live their lives, how to be 'chaste' and how importantly how to honour their 'truth'. The problem for Sam is that once you have completely reinvented your life, own 'truth' might not be how everyone else remembers the past. And when Sam publishes an article disclosing an event, from her past, her closest friend makes a shocking and dangerous accusation. In the era of 'Me Too', the accusations and denials fly, as the two former friends are forced to confront their own versions of the past and to try and remember what really happened and who is telling the truth.
'Idol' is a timely tale, focusing on how people present themselves to the world - in particular the online world - and show their 'best life', curating a version of themselves that they must live upto and re-create again and again. Also, O'Neill delves carefully into the recollection of events and how two people can misconstrue a situation and recall the events differently.
A thought provoking anda worth-while read.

Louise O’Neill has an amazing gift for transporting the reader. I felt completely present in the lives of Samantha and Lisa and in the places they lived in in too. The writing isn’t flowery or over the top, but described the people and places with such detail that I felt I would recognise Samantha, Lisa and of course, Becky if I ran into them in the street. With a glorious twist at the end, this book is a real page-turner.

Sam is a motivational speaker and writer who is seen as an idol to many young women. When a reddit post accuses her of sexual assault she has to confront her childhood best friend as to whether she posted it. It's a bit twisty as you can't tell whether the accusation is true or not. It's a short read and reasonably interesting but not O'Neill's best work.

Quick moving, intriguing, agonising.
Louise O’Neill never fails! Another masterpiece that makes you reassess what you believe and your own attitudes and opinions. This time social media, the #metoo movement and how your own memories can be wrong sometimes.
Brilliant!