Thriller
People Like Her
Debut
We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Ellery Lloyd, on your first book!
Early Release
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Quick take
Warning: This addictive suspense about an influencer and one creepy follower might just make you swear off your phone.
Good to know
Unlikeable narrator
Marriage issues
Mama drama
Tech world
Synopsis
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.
Content warning
This book contains mentions of child abuse, infertility and miscarriage.
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of People Like Her.
People Like Her
Prologue
I think it is possible that I am dying.
For quite some time now, in any case, it has felt like I have been watching as my life scrolls past in front of my eyes.
My earliest memory: It is winter, sometime in the early 1980s. I am wearing mittens, a badly knitted hat, and an enormous red coat. My mother is pulling me across our back lawn on a blue plastic sled. Her smile is fixed. I look completely frozen. I can remember how cold my hands were in those mittens, the way every dip and bump of the ground felt through the sled, the creak of the snow beneath her boots.
My first day at school. I am swinging a brown leather satchel with my name written on a card peeking out from a small plastic window. EMMELINE. One navy knee sock is bunched around my ankle; my hair is in pigtails of slightly unequal length.
Me and Polly at twelve years old. We are having a sleepover at her house, already in our tartan pajamas, wearing mudpacks and waiting for our corn to pop in the microwave. The two of us in her hallway, slightly older, ready to go to the Halloween party where I had my first kiss. Polly was a pumpkin. I was a sexy cat. Us again, on a summer’s day, sitting cross-legged in our jeans and Doc Martens in a field of stubble. In spaghetti-strap dresses and chokers, ready for our end-of-school leavers’ ball. Memory after memory, one after another, until I find myself starting to wonder whether I can call to mind a single emotionally significant scene from my teenage years in which Polly does not feature, with her lopsided smile and her awkward posing.
Why I love it
Laura Hankin
Author, Happy & You Know It
Recently, I fell into a mom influencer hole. (For book research! But also because I became obsessed!) These beautiful women with their well-behaved children were obviously presenting their lives as more perfect than they actually were, I decided. Then People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd came along to thrillingly upend my assumptions, through the twisty story of a mother who makes herself more of a mess to rake in the followers and the chilling consequences that follow. Imagine Gone Girl with a Momstagram account.
The husband and wife team behind the author’s pseudonym has fittingly written from the dueling perspectives of a married couple, Emmy and Dan Jackson. As Emmy’s mom account @the_mamabare grows more popular and less truthful, the cracks in their marriage deepen. Both protagonists are fascinating, but they’re not alone. We also get a third, unnamed narrator, who follows Emmy’s blog not for the #parentingtips, but because she wants revenge. The why and the how will shock you.
Smart, propulsive, and biting, People Like Her is a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting millions of strangers into your life. But it’s also about family, love, and how deeply we long for others to see us. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give to this novel about social media addiction is that, while reading it, I wasn’t once tempted to reach for my phone.
Member ratings (15,643)
Lacy H.
Lexington, KY
I love a good suspense that doesn’t dawdle. That doesn’t put on airs. 3 POV’s, all so real, honest, and entertaining. The subject may be triggering but imo, my fav thriller ever by BOTM in four years!
Tiffany B.
Tavares, FL
I can’t help but view influencers just a tad differently now…. I find myself wondering what’s going on behind the scenes and in their minds. Quick, mindless read if you want an escape from reality!
Glenda R.
Casa Grande, AZ
An insight into the sometimes ugly world of social media. Specifically in this book, Instagram. The suspense slowly built as it becomes plain how being an “influencer” effects so many people in so way
Amanda M.
Waynesboro, PA
Whew, that was a twisty one! It’s not too often a thriller can still surprise me today, but I didn’t see any of these twists coming. Timely and thought-provoking. A fun read with just enough substance
Devon F.
Clermont, FL
Very interesting view of influencers’ lives. I liked the multiple viewpoints and thought the storyline was well paced. The last part was a real page turner and I was truly worried—glad I kept reading!