If you had a weekend to spare, would you go to the Catskills with several self-obsessed social media influencers? Maybe just out of curiosity, but certainly, not in the expectation of enjoying the trip. MADE YOU LOOK is a chilling read that takes off on an increasingly strange work weekend. Along with Sydney Kent, who gets paid bucketloads whenever she posts about what she is wearing (why? I wondered), and Caitlyn, who wants to boost her profile and that of a brand new resort, there’s Sydney’s boyfriend Jeff, hair and makeup stylist Nash, and tetchy manager Brent. They all seem to have their preferred lines of shampoo or whatever. Tagging along is Lucy, the photographer. She has survived serious illness and needs to make her name in this new career. This is one of the situations where you know pretty early that there is no point in getting too attached to anyone. Not, I have to say, that I would. They are all as daft as brushes. Nobody meets the team, they swiftly find there is no hot food, no real amenities, tiny cabins without TV, with no bar, no cell phone service, no Wi-Fi, anywhere on the resort. Sensible folks might have packed and left. Instead, they shoot some photos, summon a takeout meal at great expense, sit around photographing the food on their phones until it’s cold, and gossip. Not long after, the dying starts. I was counting off the mistakes these people were making; coming inappropriately dressed for rambling was the first. Naturally, they didn’t know they would be trapped with a murderer during a snowstorm. That doesn’t excuse their ingesting substances when they’re so far from help. Nothing does, really. I will leave you to wonder if the world really needs people who obsess over social media for a living, and if a woman really needs a boyfriend who lies that he doesn’t have an OnlyFans account. Author Tanya Grant has done the right thing in making her characters somewhat unlikeable, because this way we can constantly suspect them of malice, while not being devastated if someone is the next victim. Maybe Tanya Grant enjoys horror films; this is a thriller read, but it has overtones of horror stories. MADE YOU LOOK is intended for a twenties readership, I feel, who might have followed similar influencers and want a look behind the scenes. Not quite these scenes, admittedly.
A Catskills retreat turns deadly for a group of influencers when a snowstorm cuts them off from their greatest resource—their followers—just as a killer strikes in this irresistible debut thriller.Sydney Kent is the ultimate It Girl. You want her effortless style, her charisma, her hair. You want to be her; you want to be with her.But the trouble with a star is that everyone else looks dull in comparison.Despite Caitlyn’s social media cunning, it’s impossible for her to step out from Sydney’s shadow. Even Lucy, Sydney’s best friend since before her fame, can’t escape her role as full-time photographer to the influencer.When the women are invited to post content for a secluded new retreat in the Catskills, alongside Sydney’s boyfriend Jeff, stylist Nash, and manager Brent, the weekend feels like it will be a fresh start. But an unexpected snowstorm traps the group together with no cell service, no Wi-Fi, and no way out.Then a killer strikes, and the dream trip becomes a nightmare. Secrets, lies, and scandals are forced to the surface, and the friends can’t help but suspect the murderer might be among them. Worse, the killing has only just begun.But where there’s danger, there’s juicy, jaw-dropping, name-making content to be created. You know you want to look.