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!

Enjoyed the story of this one and the fact it portrayed influencers in a more negative light and shows that it isn't always true what is shared. Some difficult topics covered along the way.

This is my first Louise O’Neill book and I loved it. It relates the story of a guru/ influencer who is accused of sexual assault. It looks as the subject of memory and differences in what different people remember. Very dark and twisty.

A timely look at social media gurus and influencers - fawned over by thousands of gushing followers, do they deserve this idolisation?

Already being a fan of Louise O’Neill’s writing I was delighted to receive this advance copy. I raced through it, my allegiances flip-flopping as I turned the pages. Who was the villain? Is being cancelled the worst fate that can befall an ‘Influencer’? Do people ever really change?

A highly recommended, very enjoyable read. Sure to be a bestseller!

Loved this book, a real page turner. Would recommend to my friends and family. Sam and Louise shared an experience in high school, Sam sees it as enlightening experience, but Louise sees it another way, this story explores what happens when it becomes their word against each other.

Samantha Miller is a guru/celebrity/motivation speaker with millions of loyal followers hanging on her every word. Her new book is an instant bestseller and her in-person events are always sold out. She writes an essay about her own sexual awakening and wants to show her fans that they too should speak their truth. The essay goes viral but when her best friend Lisa contacts her to say that she remembers things about that night very differently, who is telling the truth? Whose 'truth' is a lie?

Did you ever get a song stuck in your head when you read a book...it just pops into your head and you can't get it out?! Reading Idol, Britney Spears' Toxic just lodged itself in my brain! Samantha Miller is the definition of a 'toxic' person and each of her actions documented in this story are completely self-serving with no regard to anyone else's feelings. O'Neill has created one of the most delectably dark and unlikeable main characters I have come across in a long time and it was very hard for me to feel sympathy for her and how her life spirals out of control.

Miller is absolutely obsessed with her past and her relationship with her best friend Lisa and ex-boyfriend. It's intriguing but equally terrifying to see a grown woman completely infatuated with past events to the point where she is willing to risk everything to try to return to that time. Everyone else has managed to move on but not Samantha. She has everything she could ever want- money, fame, a huge following of young women who are obsessed with her every word- but she can't let go of the past. Miller's life is a car crash in slow motion- the reader will be gripped to see what happens next. I couldn't help but think of the movie Single White Female when I read about Miller's actions!

O'Neill is not afraid to tackle big issues and make her readers really delve into them without any safety net! I love this aspect of her writing and I think Idol is perfectly timed in terms of how it examines the subjectivity of memory, the power of cancelling celebrities and cancel culture in general when allegations are made. The pitfalls of social media are highlighted by O'Neill and Idol should be on any budding influencers radar!

A gripping read from start to finish. People are going to be talking about this book for a long time to come! Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Idol will be out on May 12th - guaranteed to be a hit!

TW: eating disorder, sexual assault, drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues. 4.5 stars!

I really enjoyed this book. Samantha Miller is a wellness guru with millions of followers. She decides to write an essay about a sexual experience with her best girlfriend when they were teenagers. But now the friend, Lisa, has come out and claimed that the experience was actually a sexual assault by Sam. In order to try and sort it out Sam goes back to her home town and confronts Lisa. The story is told in 2 time frames and we gradually find out about Sam's troubled life. I love books with an unreliable narrator and this kept me engrossed to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Not sure about this to be honest, I liked it but did not like it, found some of the characters annoying but saying that I finished it.

This story follows Samantha Miller, a famous motivation speaker/guru/influencer/idol. She is incredibly flawed and plagued with her own trauma. Her life is upended when after writing an essay of her sexual experience with a childhood friend, that friend emails how she remembers it differently.
The novel then follows Samantha returning to her hometown trying to find a resolution to this accusation and then falling into her obsessions of her childhood: her best friend and her husband Josh.
It tackles a lot of different things such as abuse, trauma, victim blaming, consent along with a dose of idol worshipping. O'Neill cleverly weaves all of this into an exploration of how memory and the reality we conjure up and present may not be true, while also being the world we choose to have.
I spent a long time reading in disbelief at all the actions Samantha did, but she is a person a could believe exists. A woman that is toxic.