A timely YA thriller about a teenage girl whose reality may not be what it seems, blending 90s nostalgia with a speculative hook that dissects our modern reality TV and influencer-obsessed culture.
Like many teens, sometimes it feels as though everything in Jess Flynn's life has been engineered for maximum drama--from her performance at the school talent show, to the reappearance of her childhood best friend and perennial crush Jeremy, to her friends trying to set her up with one of the hottest guys in school. It's almost as if everything might finally be going her way...until one day a tiny black phone with an apple logo on its screen falls out of her best friend's backpack and lands at Jess's feet.
The problem is, it's 1998, and the first iPhone isn't due out for another nine years.
Jess's friends refuse to acknowledge the strange device. Her sister Sara, on hospice care with a terminal blood disease, for once can't tell Jess what she should do. It's almost as if everyone is hiding something from her. Even her beloved dog Fuller seems different...like, literally different, because he definitely didn't have that same pattern of spots on his stomach last week...
Nothing in Jess Flynn's world is as it seems, and as the cracks begin to show, Jess will discover her entire life is nothing more than someone else's entertainment. Except in this reality, the outside world is no place anyone would want to escape to.
B: Hi guys! It's been a while since we did a BookChat, and this is all of us together!
J: I think we're getting better about not requesting the same books.
BJ: Which is tough because we have similar tastes! But yeah, I think we're spreading it out better.
B: Well, it's lovely to get to chat again. Now. This is not the Jess Show has been compared with a lot of things; The Truman Show, Black Mirror, My So-Called Life. I haven't seen any of those, so -
BJ: You haven't seen The Truman Show? Finally something I know that you don't! Or My So-Called Life? Where were you in the ninties?
B: Busy...
BJ: Uh huh.
J: I didn't think it was that much like Life, anyway. There weren't any psuedo-deep conversations.
BJ: That's Dawson.
J: Right. There were very few conversations, to be honest.
B: It wasn't very deep. I enjoyed it, but it was kind of frothy.
BJ: Which is sometimes exactly what you want. I did feel like - I mean, I never really felt anything Jess was feeling.
J: It seemed like she was a lot calmer than she should have been. Maybe she was in shock? But there was none of the betrayal, confusion, terror I'd have expected. She was more occupied flirting with [Spoiler]. But again, she could easily have been in shock and trying to hide it.
BJ: It was well done, how she started noticing little things and adding them up after a while.
B: Yes, things you'd ignore normally, like your doctor wearing a paper cap.
J: What do we think about the other characters? No spoilers, please.
BJ: The guys were ok, but everyone else was pretty thin. It's hard to believe that absolutely no one had a problem with anything. I mean, Jess has basically been kidnapped, everyone in her life is lying to her all the time - minor note, why did they all have to change their names? I understand fake families having the same fake surname, but why change their first names? It's not like Jess would know if they were inappropriate or anything.
B: Aesthetic, I guess.
J: At least she wasn't married to anyone.
B: Married?
BJ: Truman Show reference. Truman got married on the show. It's fine, though, she was crossing her fingers. Readers, I'm being very sarcastic right now.
J: She really is.
B: There's a big spoiler I won't mention, but I think things might have been more interesting if JEss hadn't found out the truth until afterwards. Watching her deal with things would have been intriguing. But probably difficult to write.
J: Might it have felt a bit cheap? If you invested in that storyline and then realised it was all fake?
B: Maybe, I suppose. I still think it would have been interesting, though.
BJ: I hadn't thought of it, but maybe it would, yes. You're talking about -
B: No spoilers! But yes, you're probably thinking of the right thing.
BJ: Ooooh, that would have hurt.
B: What do we think of the ending?
J: Very abrupt.
BJ: It was. Goodreads says there's a second book, though, so things might be picked up there.
J: I hope so, because a lot of things weren't dealt with in this one. I'll definitely read the next part if I can.
BJ: I'll probably read the next one.
B: Probably, I agree. I liked this, it just felt a little bit flat.
J: So, overall, we enjoyed it but we think it could have been better?
B: Yes. And you don't have to have seen any of the things it's compared to to enjoy it.
BJ: That sounds right.
B: Great chatting with you, ladies!
J: I enjoyed it!
BJ: See you round the blog.
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