Lord of the Fly Fest

By: Goldy Moldavsky

Narrated by: Barrett Wilbert Weed

New York Times–bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky delivers a darkly funny, twisty YA thriller about influencer culture that's Lord of the Flies meets Karen McManus.

Rafi Francisco needs a splashy case to put her true crime podcast on the map. She sets her sights on River Stone, the hearthrob musician who rose to stardom after the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. Rafi somehow scores a ticket to the exclusive Fly Fest, where River will be the headliner—and her starmaking interview.

But when Rafi arrives on the Caribbean island location of Fly Fest with hundreds of other influencers, they quickly discover that the promised dream getaway is more of a nightmare. Soon, Rafi goes from fighting for an interview to fighting for her life as she has to confront beauty gurus–gone–wild and spotty WiFi. And, as she gets closer to River, she discovers that he might be hiding even darker secrets than she suspected.

not moldavsky's best

I'm of the opinion that "kill the boy band" is one of the best pieces of satire out there. I was excited to see she was tackling another subculture, but this one feels more mean-spirited, despite not being nearly as dark. every character is a caricature of an obnoxious influencer, but thats it. there's none of the deeper layers that moldavsky usually adds in. especially considering that the theme of the book is hypocrisy and looking for deeper motivations, it feels shallow. I still recommend it for a fun read, though. there are a lot of laugh out loud funny moments and the parallels to LotF are really clever