Book Review: The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit by Abhaidev

The moment we say ‘influencer’ in this time and age, social media comes to mind. Book influencers, beauty influencers, travel influencers, food influencers – so many types that exist on the vast space of the Internet! The primary job of these people is to influence others to buy the thing that they are showing off. But what if influencing could be an actual superpower? What if Influencers exist, actually influencing people’s willpowers and making the tide turn in their favor? Author Abhaidev takes this ‘what if’ and turns it into a gripping thriller called The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit that will keep your attention from start to finish.

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What the Book is About:

The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit is the story of Aditya Gupta, is one of the secretaries of the Prime Minister of Scenika, helping the PM run the country smoothly. This is good for him because on the outside, he’s a legitimate government employee, but there’s another truth behind all of this: the truth that Aditya is an Influencer who can influence the willpower of people and get his way in the direst and the trickiest of situations. He works for a huge, worldwide organization called World Influencers’ Society, which in turn is employed by governments and other organizations.

But things turn on their head when he begins making videos for his unborn child to warn them about WIS. His wife discovers these videos and receives a shock when she watches them, because she had no idea that Aditya’s life holds so many secrets. WIS is now hot on his trail because they cannot risk a non-Influencer knowing about them. They want his head and are now working double hard to kill Aditya.

What will Aditya do? What steps will he take to save himself and his family from the clutches of the organization that is now baying for his blood? Will he be able to escape the assassins that WIS is now sending his way? What will he do to save himself and his family? This forms the entire story.

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What I Liked About It:

There are quite a few things that I liked about The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit. Here they are:

• The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit is a fast-paced book that makes you want to keep flipping the pages and makes you desperate to know what’s coming next. The mark of a good thriller, in my opinion.
• The super intriguing plotline. The concept of ‘influencers’ actually having superpowers to influence the willpower and the decisions that people around them make is something that I absolutely loved. Here’s a quote that the author used that encompasses the entirety of the Influencers’ powers:

If you think that we influencers can control people, you are wrong. We can’t make them do whatever we want. We are not the mind-controllers you see in paranormal movies, books and comics. What we can actually do is weaken one’s stand about something.

• Good writing. Connecting the plot points in an easy, flowing manner is an art unto itself and the author has done it well.
• Easy-to-read, beginner-friendly language. This, combined with all the points mentioned before, makes for a very intriguing thriller that will keep you invested from beginning to end.
• The author brings up some very interesting moral conundrums and food for thought. Especially in these places, the writing is lucid and beautiful, making you think about your own morals and beliefs.
• The book keeps you on the edge of your seat, which is great for a thriller with such high stakes.
• That cliffhanger! It was unexpected and thrilling and I was so disappointed there wasn’t more! And now, I’m really looking forward to reading the sequel to this book!

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What I Didn’t Like About It:

Despite the outstanding pluses, I did have a few things that I wasn’t satisfied with in here.

• There’s quite too much of moralizing and rambling throughout the book. I don’t disagree with them, not one bit, but in quite a few places, they can get a bit much.
• The language doesn’t fit well sometimes and becomes unnecessarily flowery. For example, there’s a point in the book where comes the sentence: “She betook herself to the kitchen.” Which is a perfectly mundane task. But using ‘betook’ makes it too Shakespeare-y for the setting.
• There are too many details in the writing sometimes. Every single action and sub-action need not be described.
• The writing gets inconsistent. It gets better in places (the moral thoughts) and mediocre at best in others (some descriptions of the characters’ everyday lives).
• There are high stakes to the story here, yes, but the path seems a little contrived.

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Final Verdict:

Despite the things that I didn’t like, I feel like this book’s potential to interest and intrigue you with its concept far outshines its little flaws. It’s a good, fast-paced read to get into and with a plotline like that, it’s sure to swoosh upwards with a little bit of help.

I really, really liked it and I’m sure I’m going to pick up its sequel as well.

Would definitely recommend!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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So that was my review of The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit. What do you think of this review? Do you think you’ll pick this book up after reading my review? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

I’ll see you in the next blog post.

Until next time, keep reading and add melodrama to your life!

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