Most book reviewers will tell you that there are not enough hours in the week to review all the books they receive (let alone buy). Sometimes books drop through my letterbox unsolicited and it’s impossible to find time in my schedule to read them. More often than not, these unsolicited books are from a genre I wouldn’t usually read. Such it was with Bad Influence by Tamsin Winter—on the face of it a teenage romance novel and definitely not my usual fare.
Fortunately for me, my wife reads about twice as fast as I do and reads all of my books as well as all of her books. If she started writing reviews, she’d be a publisher’s dream. Except for one thing: she’s very hard to please. Whilst she loves reading, if she says a book is “quite good,” this is high praise indeed. So when she took Bad Influence, read it in an evening, and said, “You should definitely read this; it’s very well-written,” I didn’t feel I had much choice.
She was right. Bad Influence is very well written, and you should definitely read it.
What Is Bad Influence?
Bad Influence is a work of teen fiction that ought to be read by everybody over the age of 13. It examines teenage anxiety and the desire to fit in before morphing into something more sinister, more compelling, and deeply thought-provoking.
Amelia Bright is a misfit. Sensitive, talented, and very intelligent but most definitely a misfit. A pariah at school, nicknamed “Maggot,” she craves acceptance. She’s desperate to fit in. When she meets Evan, a boy new to the area, who seems to accept her for who she is, she can’t quite believe her luck.
The two gradually become close. Days out and text messages are exchanged after dark, until, finally, Amelia sends Evan a candid photograph of herself. It’s on Snapchat so it will disappear immediately. Except, of course, it doesn’t. A moment in time captured forever. When the photo starts to do the rounds at school, Amelia’s life is shattered.
Why Read Bad Influence?
This is an artfully constructed book. Ultimately, Amelia is going to find herself in a terrible situation. One that looks awful from the outside looking in. What Tamsin Winter shows is how easy it is for any of us, and for any of our children, to travel down a path we never intended to walk down. A path you’d never have contemplated in the cold light of day, yet somehow you have taken small steps to disaster.
Make no mistake, for a parent of teenagers this is a tough read. Tough but important. It’s illuminating about some of the finer points of the law around the sending of indecent images of minors, i.e., (in the UK at least) it’s a criminal offense to send a picture of yourself to somebody if you are under 18. There are obvious reasons why this is the case, but, when the age of consent is 16, it might not occur to either party that they’re breaking the law if they send photos of themselves to one another.
It’s tough also because it shines a light on the ordeal of the children who don’t quite fit in at school—the pressure to conform, the desperation not to be the butt of the joke. Most parents at some point, I imagine, wonder what life is like for their child whilst they are at school. Bad Influence does little to allay our fears.
This is also, however, a hopeful book. Amelia ultimately refuses to be defined by her ordeal. In a climactic speech, that stays just the right side of not being clichéd, Amelia lays out why she should not be made to be ashamed of having sent the picture. I knew I was being emotionally manipulated, but Amelia’s stirring oration still brought a tear to my eye.
Bad Influence takes on a difficult and important subject and lays it bare. It reveals the difficult realities of growing up in a continually connected world. It is a cautionary tale, but it is still a joyful one. It does not preach or judge but shows how quickly things can get out of control, even when you think you’re doing everything right. It also offers hope, that when things go wrong, recovery is possible and that one mistake doesn’t have to define your existence. Excellent stuff from start to finish.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Bad Influence you can do so here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links) The book is currently unavailable in the U.S. and would need to be ordered direct from the UK.
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
Robin Brooks
Dad of boys, player of games, and reader of books. GeekDad and one half of Agents of Sigmar. Prone to starting things I can't fin
