Bad Influence

‘Will Carver follows Kill Them With Kindness with another satirical look at the world we live in and he does it brilliantly … captures the zeitgeist of 21st-century culture and I cannot wait to see where he goes next’ Michael Wood

Alyssa wants to be seen. Less wants to be someone. She takes two buses to class, posts pictures of her lunch, and pretends it’s all effortless. He hides his privilege beneath thrifted clothes and a sketchbook full of impossible designs. Together, they are inseparable, two outsiders constructing a version of themselves the world might finally applaud.

Then Alyssa stumbles upon the hidden world of phrogging – living unnoticed inside other people’s homes. She and Less slip through Los Angeles’ glossy veneer: influencers, producers, pop stars, all so busy performing their perfect lives they don’t notice the shadows in their attics, the scratching in their walls.

An act of rebellion. A harmless thrill. A social experiment.

Until they choose the wrong house.

Until the influencer they idolise catches them in the act.

Until the cameras, already rolling, capture everything.

What begins as a reckless adventure becomes a nightmare of lies, power and the cost of visibility. Bad Influence is a breathtakingly tense, darkly funny thriller about the lives we curate, the secrets we hide, and the monsters made by the need to be seen.

‘One of the most exciting authors in Britain’ Daily Express

‘Incredibly dark and very funny’ Harriet Tyce

‘Unlike anything you’ll read this year’ Heat

‘Impossibly original, stylish, sinister and heartfelt’ Chris Whitaker

‘Weirdly page-turning’ Sunday Times