Influencer is a split POV following Crystal, a high schooler who gets through the day by remaining 'invisible', and Aaron, the new kid, anonymous influencer, and sociopathic killer. Two of Crystal's friends are fans of The Speaker, enamored by his anonymous livestreams and enjoy decoding his posts, and maybe Crystal could see the appeal. But not when they meet in person. She sees through his lies and manipulation, clumsily exposing him to her group and setting herself up as his next target. Her friends soon succumb to his influence and follow him to death and destruction.

The opening chapter is incredible, setting the tone, tension, and story well right off the bat (no pun intended). We learn quickly how Aaron manipulates everyone and everything in his life, juxtaposed against an anxious Crystal who would prefer not to be noticed by anyone. She's highly relatable, she doesn't feel like she fits in, so rather than try, she hides. She keeps a private youtube account with video blogs of thoughts she's too scared to share (whether that's her opinion on crisps, how sad she is, or her concerned wondering about her friends). The characters are intriguing, with some I would've liked to have gotten to know more. Aaron was not as clever as he thought he was, and made things quite obvious in my opinion. Crystal's best friend, Gayle, was probably featured the least out of her group of friends, with more attention on The Speaker's fans Harmony and Paul, and Paul's closeted ex Trevor, who was just really trying his best - no one really seemed to know him as a person, or care enough to ask, which was sad treatment for the only black character. (spoilers ahead) Harmony and Paul quickly fall for Aaron's charms and almost immediately reveal deep and personal information about themselves and their friends. Clearly their infatuation with Aaron's influencer persona facilitated this, but his interest was very suspicious - I'd find this stuff weird, even if it was David Tennant asking me y'know? Their devotion continues and they quickly descend into murder. Trigger warning: there is pet death. Harmony in particular is so callous, she could have similarly been manipulating everyone before meeting Aaron, though we never get this insight nor into why Harmony and Paul are so ready to kill for him after only a couple of days, making it hard to believe. Not impossible, but it lacked the 'why'.

I did note some inconsistencies which took me out of the story - I even had to check with my American friends how their school worked as a result - and some parts were written confusingly. The dual POV meant that on occasion, the next chapter was before the preceding one which was very confusing, and was written in a leading way that made this even more confusing (eg. Crystal talks about reading Frankenstein in her English class, which Aaron is now part of. The next chapter is Aaron's, which begins with his thoughts on Frankenstein, but it transpires that these musings are before said English class. It's not a big plot point, but this could've been written clearer and I wouldn't have had to question what the hell was happening for a minor point). Scenes were also repeated unnecessarily due to the dual POV. It worked well for the most part, but these instances did take me out of the book and knocked it down from 5 stars for me.

The plot was decently paced, with peaks and troughs, but enough intrigued to see how it would play out. The end was mostly satisfying, but it could've been more brutal to mirror the brutality in previous scenes. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, not quite living up to my love for Clown in a Cornfield but that may be a high bar. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Adam Cesare is such a consistently good author of modern horror, he very much gives me the vibe of if Point Horror was still going in 2025 - in the best way! A really enjoyable horror book without being terrifying.

i was super excited for this one but it fell flat for me. too much infodumping, the action felt random and i struggled to follow along sometimes. :(

Sadly ,I've had to do a soft dnf for now and come back to the book in the future. I think the writing was very good. Based on what I've read so far I would still recommend this to people I know would love this type of story.

A gripping book, this story pulls you till the very end, I enjoyed reading it. I definitely will love to see more from the author

This was good, really good in fact, it just lacked that little bit extra to make it brilliant and be a 5 star read.

I really enjoyed how the book flowed through the characters, giving us the story but through a variety of eyes instead of just one narrator. It also meant I felt more of an attachment to them, as I wasn't just hearing about them second or third hand.

And the writing was good, it was really easy to read and follow the story through despite the changing of characters to narrate.

But the plot is where I felt a tiny bit let down, it was a great idea and I loved the premise I just wish the author had delved a bit more into The Speaker and Aaron and the backstory there. Especially since there were parts that didn't feel like they concluded and left me confused and wanting more.

That being said, I really enjoyed the way this book gave me chills and put me on edge and it was definitely a worthwhile read!

Unfortunately, after that strong opening, the middle portion of this book felt quite slow. I became impatient, waiting for the next impactful moment after the big bang first act.

I love how this was told in alternating pov's thats a go to for me in books as it adds a whole new aspect to the book. It had a very intruiging opening that made you want to know whats next, it had the right amount of gruesome and horror horror making it a perfect YA read.

I thought this book was amazing and it really had me hooked. The author's unique approach allowed the writing to be very captivating. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a new read.

The first chapter was amazing and intense, but, unfortunately, the rest of the book wasn't that good. Influencer is a story told in alternating points of view. One of them is the baddie, which adds another perspective to a pretty dark and creepy story.

The biggest issue is it requires accepting some rather extreme ideas: that a teenager can make other teens turn against their friends to the point of trying to kill them in a matter of two weeks. While teenagers are complicated, this was too far-fetched. It's a good premise for a teen thriller, but hard to believe. Also, some descriptions of actions are very weird, such as the kiss in the first chapter.

Finally, the story feels very rushed towards the end. The action was ok, but it ends so suddenly and we only get a short epilogue briefly showing the lives of the characters months after the whole ordeal.

All in all, Influencer is an average teen thriller that starts really well, but doesn't live up to that first chapter.

This is quite a dark story, though it is YA - well written but not with any particularly likeable characters, it definitely falls into the horror side of the thriller genre. An enjoyable read nevertheless!

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In the best possible way, this book reads like a Netflix halloween release, though its one I would hate to see ruined by an adaptation.

While some of the plot points are a little far-fetched, there is something enjoyable about the more OTT aspects of the story.

Having the 'influencer' as one of the dual POVs was a risky move as he really was an awful character but it worked.

The opening chapter was horribly detailed and left the reader uneasy, something which felt more adult than much of the rest of the book however, for the most part, it was a strong YA title.

There was something lacking in the last few chapters which could have brought home a 5 star rating but it just fell flat in some parts.

Thank you Netgalley, Adam Cesare and Hachette Children's Group | Hodder Children's Books for the eArc of Influencer.
Narrated by: Isabela Merced, Christopher Briney, Brittany Pressley. ( Audible Original uk )

This is my first read of Adam's Cesare and I'm ashamed to say that I still have the Clown in the Cornfield still to read! The Influencer is a YA psychological horror with a duel POV in first person. We follow both Crystal, who seems to feel out of place with her friends and Aaron, who is the new kid on the block and an Influencer.

This book starts off with a bang, a home invasion murder and it packs a punch. This immediately pulls you into the storyline, gory, scary and engaging. You don't stop engaging either, As we follow our 2 POV, you soon realise the direction and with the great character development, who they really are. I couldn't stop reading and has some great twists. The psychological aspects leave you wondering about cohesive control and with social media aspect, it's very relevant. Definitely an American Psycho/ YOU feel narrative which has been modernised

Even though it is a YA, I suggest reading the triggers as I wouldn't recommend reading for sensitive readers.

4.5 stars on Storygraph, 4 stars for Amazon, Netgalley and Goodreads

I haven’t read any of Adam Cesare’s work previously, I know, I know, I’ve been told multiple times that I’m missing out! I really enjoyed this one and will definitely be picking up his previous works and not just his most prolific ones. The Influencer is a YA coming of age story, very culty in its roots and action packed.

I love a good cult read, and The Influencer reminded me a lot of Manson and his followers. Initially Aaron gets his followers to do all his dirty work but eventually he has to get his hands dirty when things don’t go according to plan. It made me really question why the internet has turned into this dirty thing. How can some people just blindly follow influencers and believe everything they say? Why do they trust someone so implicitly without knowing them? The phrase “not knowing what goes on behind closed doors” springs to mind.

The writing is fluid and so easy to follow. The story seeped through my eyes and into my brain as easy as drinking a cold can of coke. The differing points of view helped get a broader sense of what was happening. The author really encaptured what its like to be a teenager in this modern world.

Paul and Harmony annoyed the hell out of me. Like how can you go from being a regular teenager, with regular problems to doing the work of a complete nut job. I felt sorry for Paul, he really did get swept away with the excitement. Harmony was just an all out bitch who deserved everything she got.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me which is a shame because I was really looking forward to it. Thank you to NetGalley and hachette uk for giving me the opportunity to read this as an arc

Adam Cesare's book's always have me hooked and feeling creeped out, which as a horror fan is a perfect combination for me. The mixture of social media elements and darkness was such a great mix, it was a bit different than what I first thought but I still found myself glued to this book.

I have had Clowns in the Cornfield on my TBR for a while now so haven’t actually read anything by Adam Cesare until now, but boy did this start with a bang! The opening scene of this book can be described as nothing less than one of the best beginnings in a book I have ever read.

Once the opening is done the story switches to the POVs of two different characters in the story, one being the sociopathic titular influencer and the second being one of his 'prey'. Here the story slows down considerably from the opening, where it turns into a more psychological attack. The main character of Aaron was fantastically written, he gave off some very “American Psycho” vibes, his inner thought process fascinating all the way to the end. As he manipulates a friend group and his followers into doing things that go beyond the norm for an influencer.

I will add that this book is not for the feint of heart, parts of it get quite gory, but it is a book that has sat with me and I have thought about daily since I listened to the audio.

Thank you Netgallery for the Arc copy.

I loved Influencer by Adam Cesare!
To be honest, it wasn't the biggest surprise as I'm a big fan of the author having read the Clown in a Cornfield series (which is amazing and I highly recommend it!).
This one was just as good, and I can definitely see the author becoming a favourite horror author!

I enjoyed reading about the characters, and the plot was a lot of fun, though the pacing was a little slow at times, but it always picked up, and it never bored me.
The writing was just as great as always, and Influencer is definitely a book I highly recommend!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

This started with one hell of a bang! I really enjoyed the serial killer references all throughout, and Aaron came across as a very Patrick Bateman (American psycho) character.

I personally found this book too slow to get into, I don’t know if it gets better as the book goes on but I had to DNF this book at 30%