"Beyond being a brilliant skewering of social media and influencer culture, People Like Her is, quite simply, a damn good thriller . . . . The novel reads like Gone Girl on steroids in all the best ways.”— BookReporter
“Breathlessly fast, brilliantly original. Bravo, Ellery Lloyd!”—Clare Mackintosh, New York Times bestselling author of After the End
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Club, a razor-sharp, wickedly smart suspense debut about an ambitious influencer mom whose soaring success threatens her marriage, her morals, and her family’s safety.
Followed by Millions, Watched by One
To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is.
To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life.
To one of Emmy’s dangerously obsessive followers, she’s the woman that has everything—but deserves none of it.
As Emmy’s marriage begins to crack under the strain of her growing success and her moral compass veers wildly off course, the more vulnerable she becomes to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family.
In this deeply addictive tale of psychological suspense, Ellery Lloyd raises important questions about technology, social media celebrity, and the way we live today. Probing the dark side of influencer culture and the perils of parenting online, People Like Her explores our desperate need to be seen and the lengths we’ll go to be liked by strangers. It asks what—and who—we sacrifice when make our private lives public, and ultimately lose control of who we let in. . . .
Author Info
Ellery Lloyd is the pseudonym for the London-based husband-and-wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK), and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day Is Like Sunday. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich. They are the authors of People Like Her and The Club.
Reviews
"A gripping and timely exploration of the darker side of internet fame, People Like Her is a tense page-turner sure to keep you up past your bedtime!” — Katherine St. John, author of The Lion’s Den
“Social media has never been so dark or so compelling. A disturbing peek into the world of influencers and how it affects their families, People Like Her had me hooked right up to the jaw-dropping end.” — Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author of My Lovely Wife and He Started It
“Clever and sharp . . . a well-timed story reminiscent of Gone Girl and Caroline Kepnes' You. Learning the complicated and ‘grass isn't always greener’ details of the influence lifestyle is another fascinating aspect of this book, and will have readers thinking twice before daydreaming about those ‘perfect’ lives on Instagram.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Suspenseful, thought-provoking, clever, and I suspected everyone. The insights into human nature were spot-on, the characters felt true to life and I was genuinely gripped . . . A truly brilliant and a refreshingly original read.” — Karen Hamilton, author of The Last Wife and The Perfect Girlfriend
“Don’t read this book on the train—I missed my stop . . . On one level, People Like Her is a thrilling, witty page-turner that makes you laugh out loud. But on another, it is a sharp dissection of a very modern way of life [and] will make you look at 21st century life in a different way.” — Holly Watt, author of To The Lions
“I loved it! I was actually holding my breath towards the end. Such a chillingly dark examination of what can happen if you filter the reality. . . through Instagram & pretend to be someone you’re not.” — Nikki Smith, author of All In Her Head
“Just inhaled People Like Her in a single sitting. A cautionary tale for instafluencers everywhere. Breathlessly fast, brilliantly original. Bravo, Ellery Lloyd!" — Clare Mackintosh, New York Times bestselling author of After the End
“Lloyd dramatically highlights the artificiality of influencer culture and the toxicity of society’s social media obsession.” — Publishers Weekly
"Smart, gobble-at-a-sitting thriller about life as a yummy mummy influencer and the dark side of Instagram." — The Guardian
"Dramatic and suspenseful, with a touch of humor to lighten the tension. I’ll never look at social media the same way again." — Buzzfeed
"That Ellery Lloyd is the pen name for married literary couple Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos makes this cynical take on marriage and motherhood in the age of the influencer all the more delightful. . . . Lloyd’s sharp take skewers fake celebrity, mompetition, and the allure of the curated online persona." — Reader's Digest (50 Best Fiction Books to Read This Year)
"Not since reading Gone Girl have I found such a satisfyingly furious speech tucked in the midst of a thriller." — CrimeReads
A thriller to the end, People Like Her is a timely study on the consequences of allowing complete strangers to influence us IRL, especially as it relates to the vulnerable, private work of mothering. — Romper
"Beyond being a brilliant skewering of social media and influencer culture, People Like Her is, quite simply, a damn good thriller . . . With three unreliable narrators, the novel reads like Gone Girl on steroids in all the best ways, and is sure to keep you distracted from Instagram for a good long while. — Bookreporter
"A cautionary tale for the social media age . . . Sharp observation, well drawn characters and cleverly ramped-up paranoia." — The Guardian
"Taught, tight thriller . . . it's a great contemporary subject, examining Instagram culture and the consequences of sharing too much of yourself on social media." — Press Association
"A cautionary tale about the perils of being a social influencer, and might just be the first example of Instagram noir." — Evening Standard (London)
"A thriller not for the faint-hearted . . . it's a smart read." — Stylist (UK)
"The world of social media becomes the stage for a story of obsession." — Popsugar (Best New Mystery and Thrillers of 2021)
"I was immediately hooked by People Like Her and the intoxicating, dangerous world of the 'Mummy Influencer.' It's a twisty, eye-opening exposure on how much attention is too much attention—I would tap the "like" button on this book again and again!" — Sara Shepard, NYT bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars and Influence
