The pacing was great and the way it was written had me hooked, the writing style and general book layout just reflected Sam’s chaotic behaviour so well! There’s tension, it’s uncomfortable, you wince, you groan and it’s quite raw at times with some scenes making you gasp in shock. A gripping, piercing and murky read and one that, no doubt, will amass its own large following on publication. I am not giving it five stars because I did in the end feel that it suffered a Sam is a successful “wellness” influencer/grifter who, after being accused of rape by her childhood best friend, must scramble to save her career in the age of trial by social media.

Her first novel, Only Ever Yours, was released in 2014 and won the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the Eilís Dillon Award for a First Book and the Bookseller‘s inaugural YA Book Prize.Louise isn't afraid to grasp nettles and IDOL is a confronting exploration of toxic female friendships, consent, and the gross hypocrisy of influencer culture.

We have a lot of conversations about cancel culture: whether it exists, whether it has gone too far, whether it only works on marginalized people.Inflected by emotion and distorted over time, even – or especially – our most intense experiences become skewed. Toxic friendships, parental conflict, the wellness industry and PR damage control are brilliantly portrayed. I had no empathy for any one person, which was unexpected as I thought I’d be rooting for either Lisa or Samantha. Challenging our perception of the sparkle and the glamour of these folk who get placed on a high pedestal, these ordinary people who become idolised by the masses, IDOL puts the influencer under the microscope and asks a question about truth and self.

Before the launch of Chaste, Samantha had an essay published that recounted her sexual experience with her teenage best friend, Lisa. She is flawed, manipulative, and completely caught up in herself, the version she presents to the world in any case.

The perfect blend of interesting ideas and a frothy, moreish narrative style – I struggled to put this book down. This led me to believe this would be a book about a lesbian MC and possibly closeted best friend dealing with these allegations, but this is genuinely one of the straightest books I've ever read. There is Sam the attention seeker, the messed up, Sam the obsessive, the deluded, the needy and the character who gets what she wants any which way she can.