Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

The nature-nurture controversy plays out beautifully in the edgy thriller, Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang. Identical twin sisters, separated when their parents die in a car accident, are raised apart from one another in two completely different situations. Chloe is adopted by wealthy New Yorkers out to prove that they are not racist, and is given the finest of everything, while Julie is raised in poverty by her unkind and avaricious aunt. As the plot unfolds, subtle clues are left as to how much of the girls’ development has been formed by genetics and how much is influenced by the environments in which they were raised.

Chloe, eschewing the desired legal career her adoptive parents envisioned for her, utilizes her family connections and wealth to become an influencer. Julie lives a hard-scrabble life as a cashier and is not beyond helping herself to items she has not paid for. The girls have had little to do with one another, although Julie occasionally cyber-stalks her sister and imagines what her life must be like.

A bold, unsettling and provocative thriller.

Unexpectedly, Julie receives an aborted voice message from Chloe and is unable to contact her. Checking Chloe’s social media posts, she sees that Chloe has not posted for some time and realizes that something must be amiss. Travelling to New York, she discovers that Chloe has died under mysterious circumstances. Rather impulsively, Julie assumes Chloe’s identity and begins to enjoy her impersonated lifestyle, relishing the luxurious clothes, skincare products, and adoring followers she has taken on as her own. Because so much of her sister’s life was posted online, she is easily able to reproduce her mannerisms and behaviours and throws herself into maintaining the glamourous façade.

Influencing is like running a 24/7 QVC where I’m the sole spokesperson. I’ve had to commodify every aspect of my life for profit, tailor my routine for sponsorships and sales. If I’m not posting or filming, I capitalize on seemingly mundane activities by going live. At exactly seven-thirty a.m., I stream myself getting ready for the morning. At nine-thirty p.m., I broadcast myself winding down. Fans will flood my lives and we’ll start and end the day together as if we’re roommates.

During my rare offline moments, I’m constantly working to improve myself so I can maintain Chloe’s happy, healthy brand.

On the rare occasion I want something that I’m not on a PR list for, I’ll simply send an email with a promise of exposure and the products will be on my doorstep in days. (And unlike many influencers, I’ll actually post about the product after receiving it!) I haven’t paid for anything for the past month. I finally understand what people mean why they say the rich keep getting richer.

As Julie transforms herself into Chloe, Zhang teases the reader by encouraging them to think about both the power of re-invention as well as the subterfuge involved in our social media presentations. Taking the idea to the extreme, the second half of the book presents a cult-like influencer group of women who are so obsessed with appearance that they have lost their grip on reality. The story grows darker and darker as influencer culture is held up to a magnifying glass and is shown to be toxic and sinister.

A bold, unsettling and provocative thriller.

Liann Zhang is a second-generation Chinese Canadian who splits her time between Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario. After a short stint as a skincare content creator, she graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in psychology and criminology. Julie Chan Is Dead is her first novel.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 29, 2025)
Shipping dimensions: 9″ x 6″
ISBN: 9781668079867

Lucy E. M. Black

Website

Lucy E.M. Black (she/her/hers) is the author of The Marzipan Fruit Basket, Eleanor Courtown, Stella’s Carpet, The Brickworks and Class Lessons: Stories of Vulnerable Youth. A Quilting of Scars will be released October 2025. Her award-winning short stories have been published in Britain, Ireland, USA and Canada. She is a dynamic workshop presenter, experienced interviewer and freelance writer. She lives with her partner in the small lakeside town of Port Perry, Ontario, the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island, First Nations.