Brilliant! A really original, nuanced and timely story about a girl forced offline by trolls and a boy trying to detangle himself from the alt-right group that have made her life miserable. It touches on so many relevant topics, and explores the darker side of the internet whilst also celebrating its potential for building real connections and communities. Thank you to Atom for the ARC!

A look at online culture and community and the loneliness and alienation that exists in our society, All the Lonely People brings us the story of Kate, a girl who has had everything taken from her by the cruel bullying of an alt-right group. It delves deep into the feelings of loneliness and depression she feels at having her online identity stolen from her when she starts to actually fade from society, a beautiful parallel that is so well constructed to bring people right to the heart of her feelings.

It hit me hard, because I know that feeling. I've felt all of Kat's feelings of isolation and the feelings that the Lonely people, a cult of people trying to disappear from the world just like Kat is. There's a feeling of deep depression where you feel like things would be so much easier if you just didn't exist, if you could just fade out of your life and become someone else, someone who has everything easier, who doesn't experience the same pain as you do, of giving up control and just letting someone else take the reigns instead, because it would be so much easier just to ride in someone else's life and not have to make all the decisions anymore.

This is going to be a long post, but I just have to applaud David Owen on the beautiful balance of this book. The way that it showed the feelings of the Lonely People, Kat and Wesley and in a wider respect, those insecurities that everyone has. He truly showed things that everyone can relate to, but I especially want to talk about Wesley. This is NOT a love story between a member of an alt-right hate group and his victim. It's not even a friendship story. Because how could Kat ever forgive Wesley. It was perfect, the way that he was made to face up to what he was doing and change his ways without absolving him of the things he did or making Kat forgive him in order to help his character growth. It was the perfect way to show this story and give the message that people can change and recover even if they make mistakes or the wrong choices. It's an important message that I really think is important to give.

All The Lonely People really dives into how toxic the internet and in particular social media can be. It touches upon trolling, hate groups, cyber bullying and the anxiety it can cause someone. I had never read a book about the dark side of the internet before so this was going to be something new for me to dive into.

As soon as I started reading this book I knew I was in for the long-haul. I was instantly pulled in by the themes and the way they were portrayed. Two themes that particularly interested me within All The Lonely People were toxic masculinity and feminism. With regards to toxic masculinity we see teenage boys wanting to be seen as the tough guy and bowing down to peer pressure and we also see men struggling to show their emotions. With feminism we see the above stated teenage boys being peer pressured by a YouTuber to join an anti-feminist movement. We also see Kat, our protagonist, looking up to a feminist YouTuber and wanting to go to a women's march. These two topics are certainly integrated from the modern day and both were tackled extremely well throughout the story.

The idea of fading brought an element of magic-realism into the story and it was a concept that really did fascinate me. Kat has no connections to anyone in the real world, so once her online identity is deleted she starts to fade. This state of fading shows us how fake some online relationships can be and how much someone can become reliant on them. You could also say that the fade is a way of wanting to get out of life without going down the suicide route, which is rather depressing to think about.

Kat's character development throughout the plot is nicely portrayed and we get to learn a lot about her as the story develops. I liked how she was determined to find herself and help those she cared about despite going through the fade. Her friendship with fellow lonely person Safa was one thing I didn't really root for. At times I felt like Safa was being very controlling and trying to force Kat to think like her and not for herself. Wesley's development was in my opinion the best in the book. I love seeing characters realise the error there ways and seek redemption and this is exactly what Wesley did. His relationship with Kat was one of remorse but I also think she helped with his redemption arc.

All The Lonely People ultimately is a brutally real, heart wrenching tale all about the dangerous side to social media and how you can feel lonely even when online. It's honestly unlike any other book I have read before that are based on the same themes.

Content warning: panic attacks, cyber bullying/attacks, sexual harassment online, sexism

It's been 2 weeks since I finished this book and I'm still trying to gather my thoughts. I didn't really know what to expect going into it.

The story is told from 2 points of view, Kat, who is fading away after being attacked online, and Wesley who was involved in the attack. I was worried about how this would go given that a POV character was a harasser. I was concerned that Owen would try to make the reader feel sympathy towards Wesley but I never did. He did give us background on Wesley, but it was very much that kind of lone wolf kind of guy that struggled to make friends. What I really appreciated, and this may be a spoiler, is that Kat never forgives Wesley. I thought that was a really great decision for this book. One the whole I found some of the characters annoying at times, but that just made them more human.

I liked that Owen had a sapphic romance in this novel, queer love is so lacking in SFF, and especially f/f romance. That hasn't been advertised very well so here I am saying THIS BOOK HAS AN F/F ROMANCE. I know some people had a problem with the romance and how they felt the romance "fixed" things but personally, I thought it was deeper than that. For me, I thought it reminded Kat that there is so much to live for and you can find it in unexpected places.

The plot was super interesting and I've never read anything like it. It did make me think about my usage of the internet but I think since getting a full-time job I don't spend as much time as I used to online. I loved the parts which spoke about how women are treated online by white supremacists and how they can take it so much further than online threats.

The reason I didn't rate this as a favourite is simply that it didn't quite connect with me like other books I have as favourites did. This is a me thing rather than the book. If it sounds like something you'd enjoy then I'd recommend it, but if you get upset by online bullying themes or anything involving white supremacy then just be careful.

ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE is David Owen’s third novel, and I was glad to see that just like his previous two books, this is another contemporary-based story with a touch of weirdness. In my opinion, it’s also his most timely and important novel to date, and I think it does a great job of discussing some pressing and relevant issues.

Kat is the target of an alt-right online campaign. She’s forced to delete her website after being subjected to attacks by Wesley and his friends. And then something strange starts to happen – she begins to disappear. Literally disappear.

It’s not the first time this has happened – other people have “faded” in the same way that Kat has, and have been forgotten by their loved ones. Kat is terrified of fading away entirely, and finds a group – The Lonely People – who are fading too. Meanwhile, Wesley – one of her tormentors – wonders if he’s gone too far this time, and soon finds clues about what’s happening to Kat.

David Owen does something with this book that I think is incredibly difficult for many authors to do correctly – he humanises Wesley, but he never justifies his actions, or redeems him. Wesley takes steps to undo what he’s done to Kat – but he’s never praised for this. His saving Kat isn’t making him a hero – it’s just what he should be doing. He should never have attacked her online in the first place. He can’t be a hero, because he’s the one who caused her pain and problems in the beginning. He’s got a family, he’s three-dimensional, and he has friends and people he loves – but those things don’t make him the good guy. They make him a person. And the horrible thing we have to face as a society is just that: alt-right trolls are people. They’re not two-dimensional cartoon villains solely defined by their racism and misogyny. If they were, they’d be a lot easier to stamp out and defeat. They’re real people with families and friends and social lives and hobbies and passions, and there’s a really wide range of reasons why they end up joining these groups. This book does a great job of humanising an alt-right troll, of making him feel real and letting us see what motivates him, but never justifies what he is doing, makes excuses for it, or redeems him. Wesley’s actions are condemned, and no passes are given. Kat is the one who needs a happy ending, not him.

There’s a sweet, slightly romantic thread in this book between Kat and another victim of the “Fade” – I won’t go into it too much for spoilers’ sake, but I’ve seen some misleading reviews saying that she gets saved by a boy. She doesn’t. NOTHING happens romantically between Kat and Wesley (would YOU fall for the boy who forced you to delete your website after trolling you with photoshopped porn and hateful messages?). The romance is fairly minor in this book (I actually thought it was the platonic nature of the relationship that was given more attention and was more important to the plot – Kat doesn’t really have any friends to begin with) so I definitely didn’t think it was a case of romance saving the day. It’s more about connections in general, like friendships and family, and romance comes under that umbrella too – but it’s not any more important than any other kind of love.

The ending of the book is hopeful – it’s not happy for everyone, but some characters, uh, get what they deserve. The novel is critical of social media without bashing it, and forces us to think more about how we present ourselves online. Are we pretending to be happy when we’re really just lonely? Are we lashing out in anger because we don’t fit in? It reminds us that people’s real life personas don’t always match the faces on social media, and sometimes we don’t know who’s being more honest – the individual standing in front of us, or the profile on our computer screen.

A timely concept for a novel and frank exploration of online trolling and toxic masculinity. As someone who has recently given up most forms of social media, this book felt very relevant to me. Not gonna lie - I had to Google a lot of the terminology but as this is a young adult novel I’m not the typical target reader. The novel explores what it means to be a young person today, and the power of being yourself.

I thought this was such a beautiful book focusing on so many different topics. Definitely would recommend.

Great Book- it’s a book that gets you thinking. In a world that can seem at times run by the power of social media-this is truly relatable.
It is about Kat who is sadly a victim of cyber bullying and takes the decision to delete her entire social media accounts in essence deleting her whole existence from the World Wide Web.

The story is told through two peoples point of view Kat and Wesley .
The plot is believable, realistic and strong,
The characters have a complex element to them which for me just adds to the book Asa whole.
Well written.
Great book

All The Lonely People is a new release and it's very different from the other two novels. It explores the very real issues around social media and digital age technology as it pertains to teens. It's sub layer looking at mental health and sense of identity are cleverly executed. This is a story about inclusion, identity and isolation and is firmly set in this digital age, focusing on the issues teens face in their interactions and life with social media. I liked the slightly 'fey' aspect of it - the hints of supernatural, whilst being grounded in the reality of contemporary society.

Food banks, digital age technology, poverty, abandonment, bereavement and lonliness are discussed realistically in a grounded, yet empathetic way. The characters are beautifully written. Their complexities and experiences drawn in a three dimensional way. from Kat who is 'fading' to Wesley, desperate to fit into a world he feels alien in whilst dealing with caring for his much younger sibling is reflective of many teens in the UK.
A beautifully thought provoking read.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access to a quirky exploration of identity, addressing some of the more toxic elements of social media.
Kat has a heavy online presence. There she can be herself. But when she is trolled her life becomes unbearable. Slowly she strips away her online presence until nothing is left.
At this point we realise there is, literally, nothing to her. Kat has faded, nobody can see her and she is none the wiser about how this has happened. All she knows is she has to do something to salvage a sense of who she is.
Alongside Kat’s story we also focus on Wesley, a young boy who has become part of an online group who are vitriolic in their engagement with young women online.
There’s a lot of strands to this and sometimes I felt the story would have been better if just a few elements were focused on. It explored some thoughtful issues but the resolution of the story was very fast, and the abstract fantastic element to what was going on made me feel the message was not presented as effectively as it might have been.

All the Lonely People is a warning about the internet and social media's propensity to attract bad seeds, the blurring of the line between reality and perception, and identity. It's a hybrid of the young adult, coming-of-age and fantasy genres, specifically magical realism. Owen explores many important topics throughout the novel, including cyberbullying, self-identity and the dissociation between online actions and the real-world consequences of said actions. The internet is a playground for those with criminal tendencies and a haven for those who are lonely; when the two collide all hell breaks loose. Here, trolling, flaming and bullying leads to protagonist Kat deleting her social media accounts and results in her feeling as though she has lost her identity. As her friends had pointed out Kat's behaviour is actually very different online to how she behaves in real life, as are many others, and some people are indeed guilty of forgetting that behind that online presence or persona is a real, feeling person who could be heavily impacted by their actions. This is effectively an analysis of online culture using fiction as a device to get the message across.

Shortly after ending her time on social media Kat begins to fade in real-life both physically and from the minds of those she calls friends and family. The fade itself is an interesting concept that allows a person to disappear without all of the ramifications that come with suicide. I don't want to explain too much as this mysterious idea is one of the main reason I decided to pick this book up. This is a gritty, topical novel in which the characters, both major and minor, are beautifully drawn and very relatable with their features and flaws. Compelling, well written and a perceptive story on the dangers of the internet and social media, Owen has a knack for exploring topics that really affect young adults but in a way that both young and old will enjoy. I also appreciated that the ending was not the type we regularly see in novels, namely the happy ever after. Here, the conclusion is realistic; however, there is hope for the characters' futures, and I like that a lot more than something unrealistically joyous.

Many thanks to Atom for an ARC.

The last strike by the anonymous bullying group really hit Kat hard. She was never the popular girl with many friends, but at least online she could be the person she saw in herself, but now, that is taken away from her and she just wants to vanish, fade away. Her wish is granted, slowly her body becomes translucent, only Safa, sharing the same fate can see her. She quickly finds out that there are others, not just people who would like to be someone different and forget their old life and be forgotten, but people who actually faded away. However, there is still one thing she needs to do on earth: the bullies have found another target and she must stop them and therefore collaborate with one of them.

Admittedly, I wasn’t really thinking that the act of vanishing in the novel was meant “real”, yet, this unrealistic aspect is the only thing I wasn’t completely happy with. Apart from this, David Owen has really captured the emotions of teenager who feel like they don’t fit in, that they cannot lead the life they would like to have and the hardship of going to school and being exposed to the attacks of bullies.

I found both protagonists – Kat as the good, pitiable girl and Wesley who first seems to be her enemy but then turns out to be in a comparable situation – strong characters for the novel. They are easy to relate to and the problems they face are things most pupils might know from their everyday life. The novel also had some suspense that kept you read on and it surely made you think of how you treat your family members and how attentive you are concerning the people around you that you never really see.

All in all, I liked it and would surely recommend it to young people who are searching for their identity and place in the world.

I have mixed feelings about All The Lonely People. There are some great things in it, as well as important takes on our online presence and how gender stereotypes are harmful to boys as well as girls but the way the plot moved forward left me hanging.

We follow both Kat, a victim of cyber bullying who starts physically disappearing, and Wesley, one of the guys responsible for it. While I was glas we had both sides of the story, I felt Wesley had a lot more impact. He has a very interesting journey and Owen does a great job at explaining why a random guy who's not particularly mean ends up launching a whole cyber bullying campaign and gets recruited by an alt-right group. How he got there, and why he wanted to. I would like to point out that the author explains that but never uses anything as an excuse for Wesley. Toxic masculinity gets a huge kick in the metaphorical nuts, though, and I'm so here for it.

Real life consequences of cyber bullying are mentioned, and not just with Kat disappearing. Two other female characters experience it and we know about it: Selena was targeted when she dumped a horrible boyfriend and Kat's favourite Youtuber Tinker experiences it. It's terrifying because we're always told to "not feed the trolls" but sometimes, trolls aren't just trolls and real life consequences aren't just fiction. We see it in the news all the time, from a woman assaulted for rejecting a man to outspoken feminists who "need to be reminded of their real place" in the eyes of "alpha males". And while we encourage people to be kind on the internet because there's a real human being who'll read what we post and might get hurt, the contrary is just as true: behind every heinous post, there's an actual person who means it and might act on it. It is dangerous to think what happens online is not real, as Wesley gets to find out when Kat starts fading.

The fade is an interesting concept. It kinda reminds me of that Buffy episode, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, with the girl who turns invisible because everybody ignores her. To Kat, whose life is almost entirely online, it's merely a physical manifestation of her erasing her online presence. However, I do have some issues with it: I didn't get why some people seemed to be able to see and remember the fading kids while others couldn't. I tried to make sense of it but I couldn't find a satisfying explanation and that bugged me. I also think the leaking box was an intriguing idea that deserved a bit more attention, especially in a book about how our online personality/life is so different than our real life one. Isn't that the problem with social networks?

I'm not sold on the romance, to be honest. I thought Safa was always killing Kat's vibe, so I couldn't see why Kat was so attracted to her. The occasion that really did it for me was the Women's March, when Safa told Kat it was useless to be here since no one would know she was there. I get that she didn't care about the world anymore but Kat did and she was there to support Kat, so why be so negative about it? I also think the ending was a bit of a stretch when it comes to Safa, so I wasn't convinced.

Basically, great concept, not so great execution. I'd still recommend it for Wesley's journey, but I felt Kat's parts weren't as solid. Will read more from David Owen, though, he has interesting ideas.

Thank you so much to Atom and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book!

When Kat becomes the target of an alt-right smear campaign, she has no choice but to erase her entire online presence. Suddenly, Kat is fading, and only The Lonely People know what to do. Wesley realises that people are forgetting Kat and he has to help her, even if he was partially responsible for it.

I think what was best about this book was the portrayal of the toxic parts of the internet. These people who spew negative, hateful things into the world have solid fan bases, often young kids. Kat is one of the newest victims of a right-wing YouTuber who enables his fanbase to act violently, to hack into her website, her safe space, and completely violate her privacy.

Kat’s entire arc was the story for me. She’s created this online side of herself where she’s free to speak about anything she wants. She discusses fandom positivity and the beauty of the internet. And then it’s gone, and she has to work with Safa, a fellow faded person, to discover what to do next. Her chapters were more interesting to read.

Welsey is a part of the boys who look up to these YouTubers, act on their behalf on these so-called man-hating feminists who want to get rid of them. He’s very much aware that what he’s doing is terrible, and what was irritating was how he never really owns up to what he’s done. He often blames his surroundings, his upbringing which caused him to find friendship in an alt-right fanbase. Kat seems to be the only person with sense and often calls him out, not outright because no one can interact with a faded person. The ending suggests Wesley works towards becoming a better person. But, personally, I found it difficult to forgive.

The outright dismissal of online friendships was a downfall as well. Kat essentially fades because once her site is shut down, she has nothing, no other connection to people, therefore begins to fade. It comes across as seeing online relationships as less authentic and not real. And it’s quite dangerous in this book because it does show how real the internet can be, how anyone with a large enough following can have people do their terrible bidding. It’s not as nuanced as the book believes it is.

All The Lonely People certainly is unique. The notion of fade to represent feeling invisible while discussing online culture in our current digital age is fascinating. It’s a shame I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

'All the Lonely People' by David Owen is outstanding. So much of my teenage years in there, such an interesting concept, & beautifully flawed *real* characters. Stayed up late to finish (a Very Rare Occurence) & wasn't disappointed. Me at the end: 😭 @AtomBooks @davidowenauthor

It is a fantastic read with a fascinating premise: can you be so lonely that you actually disappear? There are two main characters, who rarely meet but their paths are entwined when Wesley’s “friends” choose Kat as a target for an online hate campaign with the intention of hounding her off the internet. Kat (like me as a teenager tbh) only feels like she can be herself online, and so as she deletes her accounts she herself begins to fade in real life. The Kat storyline resonated but Wesley’s side was the outstanding side for me – he’s trying to find a place to fit in but has chosen a toxic community that he realises he doesn’t agree with but fears he’s in too deep to get out. I was so impressed with his confused and also lonely voice, and hope it isn’t too much of a spoiler to say I was very pleased with his redemption without forgiveness. It is a brilliant examination of the damage of toxic masculinity and the ease with which lonely boys can be indoctrinated by misogynistic online groups, something I’ve not seen in YA before, as well as a touching look at the prevalence of lonliness in teens and how important it is to remember that no one has it together but some people fake it better. There is no “get off the internet and find a real friend” moral, but it does lead the reader to think about the potential pitfalls of social media use.

"All The Lonely People" is a really powerful YA book that is told with a dual point of a view, Kat's and Wesley's.
Kat is a quite shy girl, that doesn't really feel like she belongs anywhere, and her entire world is based on the online community and the frienship she made on the web.
Wesley, on the other hand, is a guy who seems really confident, he surrounds himself with friends who are bullies for the majority of the time, but deep inside he has a heart of gold and we came to know that his behavior is deeply affected by his family situation and by the burden he has to carry to take care of his mom and his little sister.
Kat's and Wesley's lives seem to connect though, when Wesley's friends decide to bully Kat, until she suddenly simply disappears and nobody can see her anymore.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I didn't expect it to be so powerful and deep, but also so approachable, not only to a teen audience.
I think that the characters really made this book and I was quite in love with Wesley, I have to admit. I love a good redemption ARC, and even though I don't justify his previous actions, I think he cam come to a place where he could be good with himself.
Kat was very likable too, even if I wasn't so compelled on her frienship with Safa. I thin that Safa was trying a little bit too much to make Kat think like her and that honestly scared me.
I really rooted for Kat, though, and I liked how she stood for herself and did what she had to do in order to find herself again.
I totally recommend this book to anyone who struggles to find his/her real identity in this world where chaos and a lack of values rule over us.
As a person who value the online community very much, I think it is important to also think that our lives are ours both inside and OUTSIDE the net. And this book has a really nice way to explain it.

I read this over the course of a night and can happily say that it proves David Owen to be an immensely talented author. He is creating a really interesting body of work that should be celebrated and I really look forward to seeing what he does next.
For me, the heart of the story belongs to Wesley. What the author has to say about the way young men are being failed and exploited is incredibly astute and the indignities that Wesley suffers at the hands of his brother and peer group have a devastatingly authentic ring to them. As does Wesley’s involvement in the alt right ‘movement’. As stated in the book, it’s incredibly hard for boys to find a community and place of acceptance, so it’s both realistic and horrifying to see how Wesley allows himself to be pulled in to such an environment. The author deals with Wesley’s redemption and accountability deftly. It’s a book that a lot of teenage boys could do with reading. However, I can see quite a few of them rolling their eyes at the pretzel song and giving up at that point. That’s not really a criticism, more that it’s indicative of the differences between Wesley and Kat in the first place. Perhaps it’s intentional, but the two storylines don’t seem to belong in the same book at times. I was much more invested in Wesley than Kat, in fact her journey sometimes felt more like wish fulfilment and a conceit to appeal to readers who identify with her, rather than giving her a fully realised storyline. I really appreciated the way she dealt with Wesley and his disgusting actions, I would have liked more of a focus on other aspects of her future though. I don’t know if her happiness being based solely on her relationship with one person is that healthy.
Ultimately, I’m going to promote this book and recommend it because, regardless of my slight misgivings, I trust and value the author as an exceptionally talented writer for teenagers.

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oooft. Some of this was brutal for me to read if only having had similar experiences attracting the likes of the alt-right community. However, it captured the tone perfectly and I could relate to the story overall. I couldn't put this book down and I can see myself recommending it to teens to read!

I don't think I have enough words to describe how much this book means to me and how much I absolutely loved reading it but I'll try. All the Lonely People is about loneliness and not feeling enough and online communities and all the hatred people can spread through it.

Our first protagonist is Kat, who only feels really like herself and good enough online until she gets attacked by trolls on all her social media — and safe place — and delete every single one of her accounts. Her presence online erased, her only real presence for Kat, she begins to physically fade from the world, with everybody not seeing or remembering her. Then she meets Safa, a girl from her school, who is also fading.

Our second protagonist is Wesley, the one who was responsible for all of Kat's online attacks. For him, he's doing a good thing, he thinks Kat deserves it, and that will make him appreciated by other people, until he notices her fading and everyone forgetting her. Though he remembers her. He decides to try to find out what happened.

Once I started reading this book, I just couldn't stop, I was too much invested and feeling so much for Kat, I could see myself in her and wanted her to be happy, to be herself. This story in all is really beautiful (the writing, the characters development, the relationships, the message) and I may have cried a few times watching them grow and becoming more themselves.

I still think this book has one of the most fascinating premises I've read all year. It is timely, terrifying and - at least in my experience - completely unique. It's a shame it just didn't love up to it.

All the Lonely People is about a girl called Kat who deletes her entire online presence after she becomes the target of cyber-bullies. Once her online self is gone, Kat's physical body starts to fade (I would call this a magical realism novel). It is an attempt to explore the loss of an online identity-- when this carefully-crafted public persona is gone, who are we?

Owen does a good job of showing the toxic side of the Internet and social media. He touches upon trolling, right-wing hate groups, bullying and anxiety. However, I think some aspects seemed too simplistic and juvenile. These are teenagers, but the book often feels written for a younger audience than I expected.

For example, I think the ultimate dismissal of online friends and relationships lacks nuance. It's absolutely fair to be critical of the Internet, but as someone who has made some very real and important friendships online, I disliked the way the author seemed to decide that they were not a part of reality. I think it's a dangerous thing in general when we start to believe that online life is not "real life". I think it's exactly this idea that allows people to disassociate and bully others. It's easy to do when none of it's real, none of it counts toward your "real life", when you pretend there's not an actual human reading your comments.

But most of all, I was disappointed that it took a love story to pull Kat back to reality. It's a pet peeve of mine when someone - usually suffering from anxiety or something similar - is cured, rescued or given reason to go on by a romantic relationship. I think it sends a terrible message.

Great premise; poor execution.