On the Surface: Influencer Drama on the High Seas

My review with spoilers of On the Surface: Influencer drama on the high seas! Seemingly inspired by both some popular psychological thrillers and our cultural obsession with true crime, this book has multi POVs and some biting commentary on social media. Are you in? Let’s discuss!

On the Surface by Rachel McGuire: Jen’s Quick Take

• Psychological suspense that looks at the intersection of influencer culture and true crime.
• Takes place mostly in the Bahamas, where it explores “cruiser” culture (a variation of van life You Tube culture but on a boat)
• Possibly inspired by an iconic psychological suspense book, it also takes a hard look at our true crime obsession, missing white woman syndrome, and more
• Published on July 9 by Crooked Lane Books
• Thanks to the publisher for an advance reading (and audiobook) copy

Review of On the Surface by Rachel McGuire with spoilers

I must confess that books with influencer themes are usually not my thing. BUT On the Surface did not just use influencers and their antics for a backdrop. The authors clearly did a lot of research (or have personal experience) and the book really delved beyond the glossy surface of influencer culture.

Dani Fox and her boyfriend Sawyer Stone are “cruisers,” which seems sort of like van life but in a boat, the Serendipity. Dani really wants to get a YouTube channel going to make some money. Sawyer is reluctantly going along, as maintaining a boat is straining their financial resources and Sawyer made some bad crypto investments.

Then Dani vanishes. At this point, On the Surface starts to look at our true crime obsession, amateur detectives, missing white woman syndrome and more. A female detective at the Royal Bahamas police starts to investigate, but so does a community of online sleuths. When secrets from Sawyer’s past are uncovered, it seems like the adage about the boyfriend/husband always being guilty might be true.

But On the Surface has plenty of twists and turns in store! Because of a snafu downloading my e-ARC, I instead listened to the audiobook, which was well-done, with a full cast of voice actors. And possibly because my listening comprehension is so far behind my written word comprehension, I was truly surprised by some of them, which made my experience all the more fun!

Spoilers for the Ending of On the Surface

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