Where Are You, Echo Blue? by Hayley Krischer
A smart, juicy, and page-turning novel about celebrity, fandom, and the price of ambition following a journalist’s obsessive search for a missing Hollywood starlet
When Echo Blue, the most famous child star of the nineties, disappears ahead of a highly publicized television appearance on the eve of the millennium, the salacious theories instantly start swirling. Mostly, people assume Echo has gotten herself in trouble after a reckless New Year’s Eve. But Goldie Klein, an ambitious young journalist who also happens to be Echo’s biggest fan, knows there must be more to the story. Why, on the eve of her big comeback, would Echo just go missing without a trace?
After a year of covering dreary local stories for Manhattan Eye, Goldie is sure this will be her big break. Who better to find Echo Blue, and tell her story the right way, than her? And so, Goldie heads to L.A. to begin a wild search that takes her deep into Echo’s complicated life in which parental strife, friend break ups, rehab stints, and bad romances abound. But the further into Echo’s world Goldie gets, the more she questions her own complicity in the young star’s demise . . . yet she cannot tear herself away from this story, which has now consumed her entirely. Meanwhile, we also hear Echo’s side of things from the beginning, showing a young woman who was chewed up and spit out by Hollywood as so many are, and who may have had to pay the ultimate price.
As these young women’s poignant and unexpected journeys unfold, and eventually meet, Where Are You, Echo Blue? interrogates celebrity culture, the thin line between admiration and obsession, and what it means to tell other peoples’ stories, all while ushering us on an unruly ride to find out what did become of Echo Blue.
Review:
I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
With Britney Spears’s recent memoir and several documentaries about the horrors some young actors faced on set in the ’80s and ’90s, there’s no shortage of content on the dark underbelly of Hollywood. Hayley Kirscher’s “Where Are You, Echo Blue?” is a fictional but riveting look at the struggles faced by child actors and what female celebrities have to go through (especially young ones) while also highlighting the thin line between being a fan and being obsessed.
The book starts in January of 2000, introducing us to Goldie Klein, a journalist with grand aspirations and an even grander fascination with Echo Blue, the enigmatic former child star who vanished without a trace while filming MTV’s New Year’s Eve celebration. Driven to make a name for herself, Goldie heads to L.A. to investigate Echo’s disappearance. What unfolds is a spellbinding narrative of fame, ambition, and the hazy boundaries between reality and obsession.
What makes this so interesting is that Goldie isn’t just a journalist looking for a celebrity. Echo is someone that Goldie has been obsessed with since she was a teenager. Goldie was so “Echo-focused” that her parents sent her to a therapist for counseling to deal with it. This ups the novel’s stakes and forces the reader to wonder about Goldie’s intentions. We soon realize that Goldie may be fooling herself just as much as she fools her parents when she tells them that her obsession with Echo ended as a teenager.
Krischer’s writing is sharp and utterly addictive. The story alternates between Goldie’s perspective and Echo’s, allowing us to see both sides of the story and understand the complexities of fame and fortune. The characters are richly drawn and flawed, making them all the more captivating. Even the side characters are compelling.
Both Echo and Goldie have daddy issues but for very different reasons. Echo’s parents divorced when she was young, and her mother – a former child star herself – has become a recluse. On the other hand, Echo’s father is a larger-than-life actor chasing the next great part. Echo starts acting, hoping to get closer to him, but as her success takes off, her father’s fragile ego stands between the close relationship she’d hoped to forge with him. Goldie’s father is a professor and has always pushed Goldie to be better. She feels constantly judged by him, and she, too, longs for acceptance but for different reasons than Echo.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is its exploration of the dark side of celebrity culture, both for the celebrity and their fans. Krischer doesn’t shy away from showing the ugly truths of fame and the toll it can take on those in the spotlight. She also raises significant questions about celebrity fandoms and their influence on celebrities, both positive and negative, making the book a relevant and insightful read.
But beyond the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, this book is ultimately a story about identity and self-discovery. Goldie’s journey to uncover Echo’s fate leads her to confront her own personal demons and question her own motives, making for a compelling narrative. I really enjoyed both character’s stories, but I found Echo’s to be the more captivating and often heartbreaking of the two.
Overall, this is a riveting read that will appeal to mystery, pop culture, and contemporary fiction fans. The characters are realistic, flawed, and, at times, questionable (which I always love), and the plot is engaging. I loved how it closely examined young celebrities’ struggles while highlighting how being a “huge fan” isn’t always healthy. This is the perfect beach read for the summer.
