Dean, Benjamin. How to Die Famous. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2024.
ISBN-13: 978-0316519601 | $18.99 USD | 384 pages | YA Thriller
Blurb
For fans of Little White Lies and Two Can Keep a Secret comes an addictive thriller about a budding teen celebrity secretly investigating his brother’s suspicious death while navigating the highs and lows of fame.
Rising star Abel Miller has just landed a role in one of the hottest reboots on the Omni Channel, Sunset High. It looks like he’ll be yet another budding celebrity plucked from obscurity, but he has a secret: his brother, Adam, a mere production associate, died during the filming of the last attempt at Sunset High, and no one knows how… or why. Abel is going to find out.
But when he meets the other stars of the show— Lucky, Ryan, and Ella, along with creator Lake Carter— he realizes there’s even more darkness beneath the shimmer of fame. They all have their own secrets to hide, and one of them is willing to kill to keep it that way.
Review
3 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed Benjamin Dean’s first YA thriller, and was excited he was releasing another one. However, How to Die Famous missed the mark for me. While there were some solid elements here, particularly related to the issues plaguing child and teen stars in Hollywood, the execution felt rather lackluster. Thematically, I could understand where the book was trying to go, but I can’t say it really got there.
Based on the blurb, I assumed Abel would be the protagonist, but he’s one of about six or POV characters, with about four being the main ones, and all are pretty bland and interchangeable. Some of the interpersonal and romantic dynamics between the “core four” were kinda cool in the drama they brought to the story, and it was cool to see queer rep in this context, but I just was not invested in anybody as more than a vehicle to drive the narrative and themes forward.
The one saving grace is that Dean is great at building suspense, so even while I didn’t care about anyone, so any fatalities had no impact, the story was still fairly fast-paced and the text kept my interest, even if the characters were otherwise uninteresting.
While this book was a bit of a dud for me, my perspective is highly subjective. I can see this book working perfectly for readers who are interested in a thriller with queer rep and a large cast of characters, many of whom have their own POVs in the narrative.
Author Bio
Benjamin Dean is a full-time author with a background in celebrity journalism. He has interviewed a host of glitzy celebrities and broke the news that Rihanna can’t wink (she blinks, in case you were wondering). His award-winning middle-grade debut, Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow, was described as ‘One of the most joyful books you’ll read this year’ (The Bookseller), and he’s since gone on to publish The Secret Sunshine Project, as well The King is Dead and How to Die Famous for older readers. Benjamin can be found on Twitter as @notagainben tweeting about Rihanna and LGBTQ+ culture to his 10,000+ followers.
Buy links
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