Editorial Content for Julie Chan Is Dead

Identical twins Julie Chan and Chloe Van Huusen have grown up in separate families. After their parents died in a car accident, Julie was raised by her aunt. Chloe was adopted by a wealthy, childless white couple and took their last name. But that's not the only way their lives have diverged.

As a young adult, Julie works as a grocery store cashier, barely making ends meet and doing the odd shoplifting here and there to get by. Meanwhile, Chloe --- after humble beginnings making YouTube videos in her childhood bedroom --- has rocketed to the highest echelons of online influencers. She has millions of followers, dozens of sponsor deals, and seemingly more money than she knows what to do with.

Julie hasn't seen her twin in years, not since one odd incident when Chloe showed up at her doorstep and announced out of the blue that she had bought Julie a house. As Julie later discovers, even that seemingly selfless act was motivated by potential profit. Like everyone else, Julie has watched Chloe's skyrocketing career from afar, in her case with a mixture of jealousy and resentment. It's hard not to feel this way when she's constantly being mistaken for her infinitely more famous twin.

"Those who enjoyed tearing apart the toxic potential of women's friendships in novels like Mona Awad's BUNNY will find much to enjoy in JULIE CHAN IS DEAD. Zhang keeps us guessing about Julie's fate right up until the last page."

So when Julie gets a garbled call from Chloe, followed by radio silence, and especially when Chloe fails to post new content for two days running, Julie grows alarmed. Convinced that she finally might need her, Julie heads to Chloe’s apartment building in New York City --- only to find Chloe dead on the floor of an apparent overdose. Everything moves quickly after that, and Julie is certainly in shock. So can you really blame her for not correcting the emergency personnel when they --- like countless others before them --- mistake Julie for Chloe? Soon enough, Julie Chan, not Chloe Van Huusen, is officially declared dead, and Julie takes on the persona of her deceased twin.

Fortunately for Julie, Chloe has left behind countless hours of video footage that Julie can study in order to pick up on Chloe's mannerisms, familiarize herself with Chloe's brand, and identify Chloe's besties by sight. Chief among them is Bella Marie, one of the most famous lifestyle and beauty influencers of all. In recent years, Chloe has been selected to join Bella Marie's inner circle of influencers, dubbed the Belladonnas. In Chloe's place, Julie finds it nearly impossible not to be drawn under the Belladonnas' spell, and soon she is addicted to the constant stream of validation and outright love she receives online.

But almost despite her best efforts, Julie starts to realize that there's a dark underside to Chloe's picture-perfect life. She stumbles onto several unanswered but clearly disturbing questions, which only grow more insistent when she's invited to the Belladonnas' annual summer retreat on a private island. What will she find there…and will she make it back alive?

What starts out as a fairly frothy satire of online culture takes a dark and gothic turn midway through Liann Zhang's debut novel. Julie is a maddening character in many ways, consistently bungling her way into danger and making bad decisions. However, her moral lapses leave open plenty of room for reader discussion and self-reflection. Who among us would actually turn down a seamless opportunity for fame and fortune if it landed in our lap? Later chapters grow increasingly dark and even bloody, as Julie's island trip takes on elements of gothic horror.

Those who enjoyed tearing apart the toxic potential of women's friendships in novels like Mona Awad's BUNNY will find much to enjoy in JULIE CHAN IS DEAD. Zhang keeps us guessing about Julie's fate right up until the last page.