Five More Pixs

by Muriel Tronc

Five More Pixs is a fictional novel that touches on suicide, eating disorders, sextortion and more. If you are struggling with these issues yourself, this book may not be right for you.

Meet Jane, Caitlin, Sofia and their online friends.

Jane is devastated when her best friend Kate is admitted to the hospital after a suicide attempt. But while she struggles with her friend's coma, she also meets Kate's cousin online and falls head over heels for the mysterious young man.

Caitlin desperately embraces anorexia after her father's deadly car accident. Online, she meets Sara, an admin of an app centered around eating disorders, and the first person to finally understand what she's going through.

Sofia has decided to learn French to impress her big sister who's moved to France. She joins an app to find pen pals and meets the ideal gay best friend any girl would dream to have.

With social media accounts at the heart of the lives of the three Californian teenagers, they seek human connections at a time when the rest of the world doesn't seem to understand them. They'll find support, friendship and love in messages received on their phones. They'll share their most hidden secrets with their new best friend. They'll send their intimate pictures to their first love.

They'll find out you really never know someone you've never met IRL.

To learn more about sextortion, how to get help or how to help a friend, go to www.StopSextortion.com

Genres: Mental Health

273 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2020

About the author

Muriel Tronc grew up in the South of France and has been living in English speaking countries for over ten years. She worked for several years as a Safety Investigator for Facebook, in Silicon Valley. Five More Pixs is her first novel.

Find her on social media at @murielwrites.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of horror books, but the horror genre doesn't really scare me. Five More Pixs is not a horror novel, but it had me downright terrified throughout. It kept me awake on more than one night, nervous for the characters to the point where I couldn't drift off into sleep.

As someone who has worked in child safety and investigative roles throughout my career, every situation and every interaction between the girls and their antagonists was spot on. Sextortion and online bullying have claimed the well-being and even the lives of so many young girls and boys around the world. The anonymous creep behind the screen is almost never caught, even when dozens of his victims have reported their harassment to law enforcement. I hope that Five More Pixs will open the eyes of many people and prepare them to make the right choices should they ever fall prey to attempts like those described in this novel. Through multiple scenarios of predatory behavior, Five More Pixs demonstrates how victims so easily fall into these traps, even despite their initial hesitations. I highly recommend Five More Pixs to any preteen or teenage girl or boy, as well as their parents. Please do yourself a favor and check this book out.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an impressive book in that it's the first book I have read to do such a thorough job talking about a growing online crime (sextortion) and exploring how teens use apps to express themselves and seek support and understanding. This is an important book (and I believe the book) to read for those who are seeking to better understand how crimes targeting teens manifest online.

The book centers around the story of 3 girls who end up being a victim of sextortion, a crime where someone obtains a nude image of someone and then subsequently blackmails that person for more nude photos under the threat of sharing those photos with friends and family. The book makes a very compelling point that most victims don't seek help - due to fear, shame and concern of what others will think - and the underlying message is that if we all knew what sextortion was and told teens that we are there for them (no matter what happens) - the sextortionists would have less leverage and power over their victims.

This was a page turner - and the book kept me engaged throughout. As mentioned in the description of the book - there are serious issues (eating disorders, suicide) in the book that could be triggering.

[Jane]

It’s interesting and you get invested in the story of each girl. The first two girls stories were related so I got right into the second girls after reading the first story. However, starting the third one I kinda lost a little momentum because it wasn’t readily apparent how her story related to either of the two previous parts of the book other than she would eventually end up in a similar situation.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story line was interesting I was disappointed because it is a YA geared toward the lower age spectrum of the genre. I also wish it had offered more help outlets for young girls who might be caught in a similar situation.

[Pamela Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually I slowly get into a story, getting comfortable with the characters and setting. blah blah blah. However, this book grabbed me a pulled me in on the first page. My anxiety levels stayed peaked. As a mother and grandmother I've seen first hand how predators take advantage of a young person's innocence and how they think no one understands them especially the parents they should be confiding in about strangers contacting them. Couple that with the fact that most parents try to teach their children to be polite. Not to mention their social awkwardness allows them to let strangers into their emotional inner circle when they gently push their way in. It scares me but it still happens and not only to girls. I have a young grandson who plays games online with people and many of those people are not children. It took forever to get him to stop giving out personal information to people online. His responses were usually, "but it's just (fill in a name)". He wasn't understanding that the person at the other end might show up at his door and not really be that person or very nice.

So my point is that this book truly hit home. I've seen the classic books schools teach but this book should be on every middle or high school reading list, read and discussed in class! One reviewer mentioned that it would have been nice to have the answer to dealing with these situations. However, so many agencies in different locations handle things differently that it might be hard to pinpoint direct services. Perhaps we should discuss this with our children/grandchildren when we give the "other talk".

[Lisa Stadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a goodreads giveaway. This was a very well put together book on the subject of sexting. You really could feel why the girls felt that they had no where to turn when they realized what they had done was wrong. As a parent of teenage daughters, it made me want to address this subject with my daughters and make sure that they know I will be there to support them because I love them, even if they make inappropriate choices. I am trying to decide if it would be a good read for an older teenager. I think it would be a good book to read with your teenager and discuss it as you went along.

[Pablo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book it's a reality hit to many of the threats that are online and particularly how vulnerable teens can be. Stories from the book can make you shiver and frighten a person that has been obnoxious to what people can be exposed online and a lot of the horrors that people can go through.

I really like the temporal jumps and how the stories all tied up to what could be a real case, similar to many of the stories we see there. It is also a great recognition to all the silent heroes that fight against this threats online.

I do recommend this book, no matter what you do, you use the Internet and are online, and if you or your loved ones are online, you better get a reality check of can actually happen.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the topic of sextortion and cyber bullying of all sorts is pertinent now more than ever, reading about it difficult. The several stories of the girls who are asked to send photos of themselves are all linked together and the author concludes the book with a twist I didn't see coming. Due to the difficult subject matter and the current climate, I see the need for more awareness to be drawn to this topic. With children of all ages glued to devices for hours each day, they need to be taught proper online etiquette. This book did not accomplish that as it ended abruptly and with no clear message except fear.

[Cynthia Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book about real issues plaguing our vulnerable youth. Technology and social media has created a new set of problems that we never imagined. This book talks about these hard issues through fictional stories to highlight the importance of the issue. Definitely recommend it for people with kids/teens.

[Sara Bugg · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had potential. Unfortunately it lost me. I only finished to see if the girl in the coma woke up. The last chapter was the only one worth reading lol. I liked the plot twist, I did. But the rest of the books was honestly excruciating.

[Jessi Mata · Rating 1 out of 5]

13 year olds are not "aromatic and asexual" for not being attracted to people at 13. They are children. Instant DNF for trying to reinforce harmful rhetoric such as the SAM on literal CHILDREN.

[Christi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy and twisted! Not at all what I expected! And, tragically, a very real issue in our day and age.

[Megan Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story itself was good, and I liked how everything tied together. However, the actual writing was a hot mess.