Julie Chan is a twin who was separated from her sister Chloe, when their parents died in an accident as young children. Julie is raised by her Aunt and Chloe was adopted by a couple with money giving her a very different upbringing than Julie’s lonely struggling life. Her Aunt only wants to collect a check for keeping Julie. Chloe is a popular influencer, and contacts Chloe later in life to make a video on meeting her and buying her a house. After she makes the video which gains millions of views, she stops contact with Julie.  This eats at Julie who has always missed her sister, and she realizes all Chloe wanted to do was exploit her. One day she receives a phone call that says she’s  with heavy breathing and then hangs up. Julie tries to text and call with no response, so she goes to Chloe’s home only to find her unalive. She calls the police and quickly gets caught up in the lie of them thinking she is Chloe. Instead of correcting them, she believes this could be her way of living the life she has always wanted and takes on her identity. She has an agent who contacts her (through Chloe’s phone which she can unlock with her identical face), to make sure she is going to a high profile event with the Belladonna’s, a group of seven high profile influencers, and because she doesn’t want to raise suspicions she agrees. 

Because they are identical twins, everyone thinking she is Chloe is realistic, but as I’m reading this, I’m thinking how can she pull off the personality? She should know all these people right? Thankfully this book was well thought out and every unbelievable idea is backed with a realistic explanation. Julie is able to use grief of losing her sister for her forgetfulness and sadder state than usual when someone confesses that they think she has changed. Also because everyone is an influencer, she is able to go through everyone’s accounts and quickly learn things about them since they share everything. 

The Belladonna’s also seem to go dark on social media once a year for a week. It’s a top secret retreat that they can never share anything about. Phones are not allowed. Julie is in the dark on what goes on here, but Chloe has been for the past five years, so she has to act like she knows what’s going on. This is where the story gets really strange with occult behavior on a private island in the middle of nowhere.  

Like I said, the whole story was well thought out. Anytime I questioned something, it has an explanation.  

This book has mystery, thrills, and even horror once they arrive on the island. This is perfect for those of you who like to read books about the occultist elite with bizarre circumstances, fans of the show YellowJackets, and fans of the book Bunny by Mona Awad (although don’t get confused… these books are not the same, only the circle of occultist girls and the bizarre within the group are).

Thank you to Atria Books, Liann Zhang, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.