How to Die Famous by Benjamin Dean (mild spoilers in review)

London-born Abel has landed the role of a lifetime for an upcoming blockbuster. On the face of it he’s Hollywood’s latest teen star, but below the surface he’s an undercover journalist on a mission to expose the ‘squeaky clean’ entertainment industry and the part they played in his brother’s ‘accidental’ death.

As Abel steps into the spotlight alongside fellow actors Lucky, Ryan and Ella, he soon discovers that beneath the glittering surface of fame and riches lies a darker world of secrecy, scandal and murder. Nobody is who they seem when the cameras are off, and everybody has something to hide. But who’s next in line to die famous?

Drawing on his previous career as a celebrity journalist, Benjamin Dean examines the dark underbelly of showbiz, leaving no stone unturned.

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Benjamin's first book. The King is Dead, focused on the experiences of the first Black heir to the British crown. We've moved to America this time around and the characters are media darlings, not royalty in the same sense, but they're very much in the same sphere; that weird place where so many people know who you are they think they own you.

Celebrity nowadays is very much a two edged sword and this book shows it brilliantly. On the face of it, our characters have everything they want ... they're rich, talented, adored by millions. But it comes with a complete lack of privacy or control over their lives; they're dolls for teh studio to move around as they want.

This is a completely fictional studio, of course, but it has a whiff of Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel about it...young stars moving from project to project within the same studio until they get to be too old. The studio head is deeply creepy and I loved watching the stars slowly figure out what was going on, everyone contributing one piece of the puzzle.

 The only thing I didn't like was how quickly the girls turned on each other...it felt like the old 'bitchy girls catfighting' trope...but they were both under a lot of strain and they did talk things out later, so it does make a kind of sense.

 This is a murder mystery thriller social media contemporary with some romance and I couldn't put it down! I'm really looking forward to Benjamin's next piece.

How to Die Famous publishes on the 20th of July, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.