The Influence

By (author) Rabih Salloum
Fadi dreams of leaving his corporate job in Dubai to manage his wife Laura's influencer career, but their plans never seem to take off. Surrounded by friends who have already achieved the success they crave, Fadi and Laura struggle with mounting frustration and insecurity. Set against the perfumed backdrop of Beirut's upper class - its Lagree studios and Faqra chalets, its influencer wives and full-time manager husbands - The Influence begins as a razor-sharp social satire of ambition and envy. But when a sudden tragedy hits the group, and Fadi begins blacking out, waking up in his car at 3 a.m. with half a tank of gas gone and a stranger's earring on the passenger seat, the comedy starts to curdle into something far darker: a psychological thriller where suspicion, paranoia and gossip reign, and where a Cartier watch can outlast a human life. The Influence is Rabih Salloum's second novel. The kind of book that makes you laugh until you realize it's laughing at you.