I loved this book!! It was my first Louise O’Neill book and rest assured I am going to read her previous books. I went into Idol having read some reviews so I was really looking forward to getting started.

Idol delves deep into cancel culture and definitely shows the dark side of social media and when you are up high on a pedestal how quick things can turn in an instant. It definitely shows how the person you see portrayed online can be totally different to the person in real life. People only share a snippet of themselves online and it tends to be the good parts at times.

The book does include sensitive topics so I’d recommend checking out trigger warnings before reading. It also includes alot about memory and made me think of the age old - your story, their story and then the truth. It shows how people always perceive events in different ways and I think this was done really well.

I had so many theories reading Idol, it definitely is one of those books that has you guessing right until the last page. Every time I put it down I wanted to jump right back into it.

I’m really looking forward to reading more from Louise O’ Neill in the future.

Such a disappointing read. I loved Louise's previous work and had read so many good reviews for this book. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me. Far too vacuous, maybe that was the point!

I'm really unsure how I feel about this book if I'm honest. It didn't grip me enough that I wanted to pick it up all the time but when I did decide to read a couple of chapters I wanted to keep reading to see what happened.

I don't think I really understood any of the characters & back story & I wont be rushing to read more from this author

I was completely hooked from the start by Idol, the novel really kept me on my toes from start to finish.
The characters are so complex and morally grey that you never know who to believe and you're never sure what's happened which meant the book was incredibly tense throughout and compellingly readable.
There are also some very poignant messages regarding sexual assault and society's obsession with social media littered throughout which was really interesting. However, these moments never felt preachy because of the morally grey characters which I absolutely loved.
Definitely recommend.

For me this was one of those books that once I’d got a few chapters into it, I had to keep reading it, but did I really enjoy it? I’m not sure, yet there was definitely something addictive about it. It follows social media influencer, Sam Miller, who is accused by her childhood best friend of sexual assault. Yet Sam is the poster girl for women and girls standing up to sexual predators, so how can she have been a perpetrator of such a crime? The story goes between the present and Sam’s teenage memories. I couldn’t like her at all, although having finished the book I’m not sure I was meant to. However, I struggled to really like any of the characters as it’s so hard to know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t throughout. In a world where social media is such a powerful influence on so many, I guess this story makes its point that you really can’t believe the glossy lives portrayed there, everyone has secrets they’d rather not share, and who and what can we really believe.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a review.

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)

I write this review with a pounding heart, this book has managed to deliver so much tension and power. I could not stop reading it!

Idol follows Samantha Miller, a woman whose career has gone from success to success. However, when her old best friend gets back in touch, highlighting she has a different memory of an event, Samantha’s world comes tumbling down.

I never reread a blurb before I pick up a book, which worked amazingly with this read because it added an extra twist early on. From that moment I was completely hooked. I absolutely devoured this book and did not want to put it down. By the end I had chills coursing through me. Louise deals with some very difficult topics, and yet I was completely swept up in this incredibly harrowing read. It highlights how the life people put online can be so far from reality.

Throughout the majority of this book I didn’t like a single character. But it actually worked really well to keep me engaged and wanting more. By the end there were two characters that really stole my affections, one of which managed to bring a huge smile to my face as they showed their true cunning and strength. This is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time. I wish I could erase it from my memory and read it all again from the start.

I would recommend this to any fans of thrillers but please be aware that there are triggers. I want to thank Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press and Louise O’Neill for sending me a copy of this book so I can give my personal thoughts.

Dark, intense and gritty gritty gritty. I saw someone once say they felt a bit grubby after reading a Louise O'Neill book and I know exactly what they mean. The characters are so realistic, with plenty of flaws and uncomfortable insights into the darker side of the human psyche.

This books deals deftly with stained relationships, the glossing over of your life on social media and the malleability of memories.

I loved for it's shock value, page turning plotline and glossy influencer setting.

An online influencer realises there's a long way to fall when you're up on top. When secrets from the past are revealed that show Samantha in a not so positive light, she makes it a mission to set the record straight, and revisit some old friends who remember the same past very differently.

Sam is not a likeable character. She's a narcissist at heart, obsessed with the image she presents to the world and is not above manipulating those around her to present this perfect front. But what makes her interesting is this idea that she remembers the past so differently from the other people who were there with her. It's a past she's built up her influencer life around but what's the real truth? And just how unreliable is Samantha as a narrator? The story does a really good job of turning the reader inwards, to reflect on their own perspective on what makes a good influencer and how everyone remembers events differently.

However, I will say that this is a book of extremes. As the story goes on, Samantha becomes more of a characature of herself, a parody and symbolism for cancel culture. She sort of looses her way a bit and becomes quite unrealistic as we reach the crescendo of the story and for me it just lost its way a little bit by the end. However, overall this was quite the compelling read.

This was the first I’ve read from this author, despite being intrigued by some of her previous releases. It won’t be my last. This book floored me – it’s an incredibly clever contemporary drama which explores a whole range of topical issues (I’ll get into that), but with the unputdownable pace of a thriller.

The cover may allude to it being a beach read, and it is that in a way – it’s an accessible, easy read – and yet it seamlessly weaves together sensitive and timely topics into a gripping narrative. There’s light and dark and all sorts of shades of grey. And I loved it.

Samantha Miller is a celebrity influencer with a series of best-selling memoirs under her belt and her own lifestyle brand. Her hoard of young, female fans love her and the fact that she’s completely honest about her own problematic past, and the ways she’s shaped her life for the better. Everything is going just peachy for Sam, until an allegation of sexual assualt arises from her childhood best friend.

From there, we move between present day and the late 90s/early 2000s as Sam travels back to her hometown to confront her best friend Lisa and her first boyfriend, Josh – who is now Lisa’s husband. She’s determined to nip this drama in the bud and win her friends back, but there’s much more to this than meets the surface.

O’Neill tackles so many issues in this book, but the main things for me are toxic friendships and memories. There’s a strange, slightly off-kilter feeling reading this as you gradually realise things might not be quite what they seem. Sam begins as a heroine, but becomes dislikable as her obsessions become clearer to the reader. She’s created a persona for herself, built on a troubled past, but what really happened in that past? We all see our formative years through our own personal perspective, but it’s taken to another level in this book.

“Was this what it meant to be an adult, everyone reframing their childhood experiences to paint themselves as the victim?”

This is a story of obsession, fame and memory. It examines the power of social media, the #MeToo movement, woke culture and a whole lot more. There’s definitely triggers for sexual assault, drug abuse and disordered eating. But, it’s a great story – I had no idea where it was all going, but I couldn’t stop reading, and the twisty, dark, abrupt ending left me both in shock and wanting more.

I enjoyed this. but it did lack something for me. The cover is a little deceptive, it feels like it is going to be a bonkbuster summer book, but is set in a wintry town which threw me off a little. I enjoyed the exploration of modern society, of the obsession of social media and a life lived online, and thought that it tackled an interesting subject, but felt it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

This is my first book by Louise O'Neill and it won't be the last. I was left guessing until the last page, unsure what was going to happen next or how it was going to end. I felt like this was a netflix documentary that leaves you open mouthed and thinking 'What have I just witnessed??'

A book full of twists and turns that is very relevant in today's social media culture.

Another author who has moved from YA to adult fiction, Louise O’Neill really knows how to write gripping novels. Idol looks at the power held by influencers and asks whether we really know who we are looking up to online, even when they seemingly share their lives and their most personal experiences with us. The main character, an author and influencer with a booming following, plays on the natural desire of her “girls” to feel safe: “Maybe that was what she was selling: the impossible promise of safety. Maybe that was all these women wanted, in the end.” She truly believes she is helping, but when an essay she writes about her sexual awakening goes viral, her old school friend gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. The book constantly asks us who we should believe and whose truth is true. Everything you think you know in the first half of the book starts to crumble in the second and you won’t be able to put it down.

Idol is unlike any book I've read before. Louise O'Neill has a way of crafting unlikeable characters in a way that makes you sympathise with them. That made me quite uncomfortable while reading this book because Samantha is far from a good person. She is self-obsessed and has a very difficult time seeing past her own experience. To her, her experience and memory is the absolute truth, other people's experiences of the same events are not acknowldged or listened to at all.

This book had me questioning everything throughout. I really enjoyed that aspect. Who to believe? What actually happened? Sam is so convincing in her retelling and reshaping of the truth. It is hard to get a picture of what her life was actually like before the beginnning of this book.

A timely “smoke and mirrors” novel from accomplished Irish novelist Louise O’Neill, “Idol” explores the duplicitous world of influencers and celebrity lifestyle cults through a disputed account of a teenage sexual awakening which goes viral.

The narrative switches between present and past. Samantha Miller, the ‘mega influencer’, ‘lifestyle guru’, and protagonist is an unreliable narrator, as is Lisa, her rather flat and forgettable school friend, who is now happily married and living the suburban life. Both characters are dislikable.

The novel’s themes include social media culture; the idolisation of influencers; power; sex and sexual consent; trauma; cancel culture; friendship and the reliability of memory.

“Idol” is not literary fiction but rather a glamorous page turner great for a beach holiday.

If you're a Louise O'Neill fan, you'll know how dark and twisty her writing can be. Idol is no different. As with all Louise O'Neill, it carries a serious message and isn't shocking just for shock factors sake. Timely and really brilliant. Another success for Louise O'Neill!

I love an unreliable narrator and that is exactly what Samantha miller is.

Samantha Miller is living her life on social media. She has a following of ‘her girls’ that hang on every word she says and she is a lifestyle guru to millions. But when you are at the top of your game there is only two be way you can go and Samantha Miller is about to find out how hard you can fall !!

A trial by social media is what Samantha finds herself in. Why is no one believing her ? Why is someone out to destroy her ? When you live your life on social media do you have to accept the good and the bad ?

This book is a fantastic revelation in what happens when people turn against you on social media and how you can be at the very top one minute and then at the very bottom the next. If you are a fan of social media or hate it with a passion then this book has you covered. In my opinion a great summer read and one to keep you entertained.

This was a quick, sharp read with an interesting story and concept . I didn’t find anything about it particularly profound or impressive but it was quite a compulsive page turner and an easy enjoyable read for me .

I’d recommend for anyone who wants to be pulled in but not overly challenged by the story . Good for holiday reading 🏝.

What happens when a mega influencer mines her past to get more followers and sell more books and grow her empire? What if her recollection doesn't square with the other person who was there? And what if (cherry on top of the cake) that event happened when she was in high school? A fun, pacy read. No greater truths revealed-- if you need to be told you never can go home again, you're not paying attention-- but would be great to read by the pool or at the beach.

This one fell flat for me... I dont know if my expectations were too high or I fell for the hype.

It's a good read but I found all the characters unlikeable & therefore wasn't really invested in it