★ “An intelligent and affecting look at the void that lurks inside our social media fantasies of domestic bliss.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The novel’s pace and sense of journalistic realism are enhanced by de Vigan’s spare, direct prose, elegantly translated by Alison Anderson... If de Vigan’s chilling tale is as prescient as it seems, so-called kidfluencers are just one of the psychological ticking time bombs planted by the dissolution of privacy in our culture of unfiltered digital exposure.”—Madeleine Feeny, The New York Times Book Review
“A scathing tale for a social media era.”—Sophia June, NYLON, November 2023 Must-Read Book Releases
“Tackles the complexities of influencer culture assiduously and provocatively...fast-moving and sharp.”—Claudia Rowan, The Telegraph (UK)
“De Vigan has written a blistering critique of influencer culture, the erasure of privacy, and the exploitation of children.”—Molly Odintz, CrimeReads
“I inhaled this unsettling literary thriller.”—The Bookseller (Editors’ Choice)
“A scathing criticism about privacy, social media, and parental rights.”—Elisa Shoenberger, Book Riot
“Kids Run the Show has the shape of a thriller, but it's more sociological than mysterious and more interesting than involving.”—Star Tribune
“Alison Anderson’s translation from the French is smooth and lucid, making Kids Run the Show a quick read...In the end, the story is suspenseful, a plotty page-turner with multiple twists.”—Frenchly
“Blending suspense and social commentary, de Vigan’s tale offers various perspectives on social media and its constructs of reality.”—Booklist
“One of France's foremost contemporary novelists, de Vigan returns here with a cautionary tale about social media and the monetising of our every move.”—Stephanie Cross, The Daily Mail
“Kids Run the Show is a razor-sharp exploration of social media through the lens of influencer culture, penned by a talented writer.”—Chris Haigh, Set the Tape
“Following a social media star and a petite cop linked in a tragic kidnapping, Delphine de Vigan's Kids Run The Show is spooky and wry, haunting and detached, bleak but chic. I loved it.”—Anna Dorn, author of Exalted
“A thrilling story about children exposed to social media by their parents from a young age.”—La Croix
“Delphine de Vigan plunges her reader into the fascinating and brutal world of influencers.”—Le Figaro
“A captivating thriller reminiscent of The Truman Show.”—ELLE
★ 2023-09-21
The search for a kidnapped child reveals the truth behind her curated onscreen image.
As a child growing up in the French countryside just after the turn of the 21st century, Mélanie Claux finds the only thing that can soothe the empty feeling inside her is watching television, particularly Loft Story, France’s first foray into reality TV. Raised in an emotionally abusive household, Mélanie moves to Paris at the first opportunity. There she attempts to break into the reality television world as a contestant and, when that fails, languishes working at a travel agency until she marries Bruno Diore and has two children, Sammy and Kimmy, who, while beguiling, do nothing to fill the void that is the most central tenet of Mélanie’s life. That is, until Mélanie begins to orchestrate little scenes for the children to enact and uploads the resulting videos to her family YouTube channel. Happy Recess becomes a viral hit, logging several million views per video and earning millions of euros for the family in endorsement contracts and advertising deals, an outcome that seems fair compensation for the near 24-hour visibility the children must endure to keep the channel running. Meanwhile, Clara Roussel grew up in Paris, the daughter of political activists who stormed the filming location of Loft Story in an attempt to free the contestants from their Big Brother–style surveillance. Unlike Mélanie, Clara was raised with care and integrity and brings those values with her into her career as an officer with the Paris Crime Squad. The two women’s lives are thrust together when Kimmy is kidnapped and Clara is called in to investigate. As the kidnapper's demands become more bizarre and the list of suspects lengthens to include practically anyone watching the Happy Recess channel, both women must reckon with the ramifications of living in a world where the most banal details of family life can be packaged and monetized and where the value of human existence is adjudicated not by the actions of the individual but by the reactions of the masses.
An intelligent and affecting look at the void that lurks inside our social media fantasies of domestic bliss.
