Definitely a book to get you thinking. These days of social media and guilty until proven innocent really come out in this book. It worries me how lifelike some of the scenarios were. I'm not so sure about how the book was written, bits didn't flow as easily and bits were glossed over but the topic was handled well and I definitely wanted to find out what happened in the end! I won't spoil it for anyone.
A book of modern issues.

There are plot spoilers in this review!

The book opens with Michael and Ola having something of a night out on the town. They're engaged and soon to be married. When Ola wakes up the following morning, she doesn't recall getting home - but Michael has obviously taken her home, put her to bed and then left, so both Michael and Ola are in their separate homes when they find out about the 'list' - someone has posted online a list of men who are accused of a variety of crimes - rape, abuse, assault, coercive behaviour etc - and Michael's name is on the list.

Ola is horrified - she works at a magazine and has a reputation as the kind of woman who calls out this kind of behaviour wherever she sees it - but this time it affects the man she's engaged to and Ola is in a quandry.

So far so good - but as the story unfolds there are some strange anomalies (imo) - why doesn't Michael stay at Ola's the night they go out together? The story is that he's starting a new job in the morning - but if he was that anxious to start afresh then why have the couple stayed out drinking until 3am? This seems like just a device to ensure that the characters are in separate homes when they find out about the list.

Then Ola's job is at what seems like a reasonably high profile magazine - but much is made of a) how her work colleagues know nothing about her private life (so Ola is asked to write a piece about 'the list' by her boss who doesn't realise Ola's fiance is on 'the list' and b) at the same time, Ola and Michael are portrayed as some kind of 'power couple; with lots of online followers, followers who don't actually know them personally - which makes it all the more odd that none of Ola's work colleagues are aware of their relationship. These days, wouldn't work colleagues almost automatically look each other up on Instagram?

Then Ola hires a private detective to follow Michael - she doesn't necessarily believe his claim that he doesn't know why he's on 'the list' - and Michael for his part thinks he's been put there by an ex who he treated badly emotionally, but he doesn't want Ola to know this.

For a couple who are about to get married they barely speak - there's certainly very little conversation between them about the situation they've found themselves in, which I also found a bit weird. Plus, most of the book details how each of them is feeling on an almost daily basis and I found this bit really quite dull, so skim-read a great deal of the middle part of the book.

In the meantime, too, Michael has been contacted by a Black ex-but-still-famous footballer, who is also on 'the List', Lewis. Lewis suggests they can band together as he is sure they've both been wrongly accused - but there's no explanation for why Lewis reaches out to Michael in particular (given that there are lots of names on the list). How does Lewis know whether Michael is 'innocent' ?

The couple go ahead with the wedding, despite the fact that they've barely spoken in the previous month (very strange) but there's what amounts to a public announcement at the wedding about Michael's presence on the list. The couple leave the wedding separately - it seems their marriage is already over.

At last something interesting happens - Michael has been drinking and his mental health deteriorates; he walks into traffic and wakes up in hospital with his mother and Ola at his bedside. Here he finds out that Lewis has klled himself - so it's at this point that the book has something to say ie the effect of 'trolling' people online, people you don't know, who may be entirely innocent of what they're accused of, people whose lives you're destroying without anything like the facts of their situations.

We also find out who really did put Michael's name on the list and it was, to coin a phrase, a twist I didn't see coming!

This book DOES have something to say - it's just that you could quite easily lose the will to keep reading long before you get to that point. Disappointing.

"It's just interesting that you've been more than happy to talk about 'believing women' until the one tmie it actually requires personal sacrifice. And by 'interesting' I mean 'total hypocritical fuckery.'"

The List is a highly topical and timely story with a bold voice that fearlessly jumps into the complexity and absurdity of modern life. Our main character explores the way our online lives have the power to improve or destroy lives, and how different a curated image of life can be to reality. And aside from the whip-smart commentary, it tackles the need for abusers to be held accountable and visible, for women to believed and the way abuse and sexism is so normalised some people don’t even recognise themselves as abusers — as well as discourse about intersectional feminism especially for black women and women of colour.

Ola is wickedly funny and relatable at times, endearing and inviting as a narrator — an woman who knows what she wants but really isn’t sure how she’s meant to do everything. I felt her deep confusion, being torn between ‘innocent till proven guilty’ and believing victims without discrimination. It asks us how we’d act in a situation that forces us not only believe in solidarity and feminism, but take action for it. She leads this story with a personal and emotive voice as she tries to find the truth and wrestles with her love for Michael and her love for her fellow women. Hearing from Michael was interesting and at times unsettling — someone who hasn’t always been a good person and might be deserving of hate, but doesn’t think he’s guilty of the crimes he’s being accused of.

There’s some villains in this story that are clear cut, there are some that are more complicated and make us wonder if redemption is ever truly possible when you’ve hurt people. While the story may be about these two people, as the pages go by we watch as this incident ripples out into the world with catastrophic effects, bringing unsaid truths to the surface for all to see.

Every single character in this story was a vibrant, complex person — although I had a particular soft spot for Olas’ colleague Kiran and their personal bland of honesty and sarcasm. We get to know everyone intricately, at times the story slows to a stroll, just spending time trying to figure out how our characters are feeling before we pick up another piece of the puzzle.

A fiercely feminist triumph of a novel — this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of reading Adegokes work but I don’t think it’ll be the last.

I enjoyed the story which feels really topical and the angle is a fresh one but I couldn't really connect with the characters who were both pretty unlikeable (maybe that was the point). There are a couple of well-written surprises though - maybe just a bit slow on the middle section - strong start and ending.

Ola and Michael are the #BlackLove poster couple. A hot, young pairing who seems to have it all, with just weeks to their wedding, when Ola finds something extremely disturbing about her fiance.
Someone on Twitter has been collating a Google Spreadsheet named The List, with men on there deemed toxic.
And her man is on there.
A topical book, given all the slurs and allegations that get slung around due to the internet's openness, damaging innocent people's reputations.
Equally as important is the fact that though some men may be innocent, there are plenty who aren't, yet still get the chance to either sweep accusations under the carpet or, within a few months, have managed to shine their tarnished images once again and appear unblemished.
I enjoyed this book, and though the middle may have been a little slower, the build-up was fantastic, and the ending... well. Wow. Honestly wasn't expecting that!
Many thanks to NetGalley and 4th Estate for an ARC.

Ola and Michael are meant to get married in a month and then #thelist drops and messes with their entire lives. I think this was a really pacey read (mostly), some parts were a bit flat but then I feel like it picked back up again at the end. I like how there were a lot of grey areas and I think that this will be a great book for book clubs as there is a lot to dissect. Overall I enjoyed this book.

Well written and thought-provoking. This is a novel designed to get people talking, and the quality of the writing, in places, is excellent. Because of the subject matter, it's clear that Adegoke is keen to keep the pace of the narrative flowing, and perhaps in places, the impetus of the theme is sometimes lost a little. Nonetheless, a very good novel. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I thought this was a hard-hitting, impactful book, that explores what happens when a soon-to-be-married couple are torn apart by an internet list that divulges the names and alleged crimes of men in the media. It's fast-paced and addictive, and I loved how it explored the impact of social media, the ethical side of posting allegations that are anonymous, how women find justice, and the roles of victim and abuser. It is angry and insightful and wise, and it made me question so much about our society, and how so much is driven by what happens online, often losing sight of the real people and lives behind the instagram posts and the headlines.

I'm just not sure about this.

Lots to like- concept is an intriguing one. But the execution of it is not quite so compelling, and I expected it to be more feminist, whereas reactions and outcomes are less so and more wishy washy which I don't get.

The build up to the wedding was tense for the first half, but post wedding day, everything falls a bit flat and gets predictable.

Just seemed to all get lost.

Book clubs will have plenty to talk about, I'm left baffled as to why it took the turns it did.

I love reading books which are ripped straight from the headlines and The List certainly fits the bill.

Michael and Ola are blissfully in love and looking forward to their wedding. The book cleverly starts with chapters detailing the number of days until The Big Day, however Ola's job, for a trendy magazine calling out predatory male behaviour, becomes very complicated when the titular List is published online and Michael's name appears on it. The List being the names of well known males who have been accused of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

Why does Michael's name appear on the list? Can Ola believe Michael's protestations of innocence and how well do we really know anyone? The book asks all these questions but also asks about the nature and power of social media and whether it is a force for good or not in this space.

This was a really well written novel and I did enjoy it. There were some points and aspects of the story which I had a few issues with but they didn't ruin my enjoyment of a complex story told well and from both sides.

This will definitely generate debates through the year.

Thanks to Netgalley and Fourth Estate for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Ola and Michael are getting married in a month's time.

And then, one morning, they wake up to the same message about The List.

The List started as a crowdsourced collection of names, and ended up as an anonymous online witch hunt, naming men in a variety of allegations.

Now, socially conscious Ola would have been all over this. She'd have retweeted it, written articles, called for those named to be fired.

Except this time shoe doesn't.

Because Michael's name is on it. And she doesn't know why...

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc of The list by Yomi Adegoke.

A book for the current day. Maybe I’m not in the projected targeted audience as I didn’t gel with the book at all. That said it is a semi fascinating and well written read.

This really was not the book for me. Although I always love a book with a feminist POV, this wasn't what I expected and I did not enjoy the writing style or characters so sadly I had to DNF.

Definitely interesting, and with a lot of relevant topics , this is going to be great for bookclubs.
I found myself questioning how I'd act given any of the situations that used trust, and loyalty.
I struggled with the characters though, didn't really ever like them.
I was keen to find out IF the wedding happened, and from there I got more invested.

Definitely a book for these times.

I'd describe this as a finger-on-the-pulse hot and buzzy book but also as one that could have been more polished as a fictional vehicle to carry the important social commentary and debate.

At the heart of the book is what happens when an online journalist for a feminist news site finds her fiancé on The List: a Google doc posted to Twitter that lists creative industry harrassers, users, abusers and rapists. Cue discussions about how to navigate loyalties: to fellow female victims? to the men we love and hope we know? We want to believe the women but Black men, especially, have been historically lynched and murdered on the false rape testimony of white women - think Emmett Till, the Scottboro Boys, both name-checked in the text.

Add to that the unverifiable status of online accusations: a Google doc gives protective anonymity, of course, to women speaking out, but it's also open to abuse as there is no evidence. In the case of Michael, his employers have done a DBS check to prove the accusation of having a restraining order taken out against him is false but that doesn't stop the trolling and online abuse that spills over into real life.

All of this is important material but I found the writing foggy and messy at times with extraneous exposition and descriptions that could have been cut or better integrated - this almost feels written for TV. There are also holes in the characterisation as people do things for the convenience of the plot: jarring instances are the opening scene where Ola and Michael are club-hopping, drinking champagne to celebrate their upcoming wedding, don't get home till 3 am... and then he doesn't stay the night as he's starting a new job the next day? All this just to separate the two protagonists when The List drops on social media.

Similarly, Ola has no friends at her workplace, refuses to go for team drinks, doesn't talk to anyone... just so that when The List appears with Michael's name on it, none of her colleagues know he's her fiancé and she's requested to write about it. Why would Michael even be DBS-checked for a job on a YouTube channel?

So lots of interesting material here and it's a bit chick-lit-y with issues giving it mass market appeal. Despite the two best friends and the £30,000 wedding, this raises questions about internet 'justice' alongside the perennial question of how we call out male violence against women.