‘The Haters’: Social commentary mystery about online abuse

Canadian author Robyn Harding is known for her thrilling tales of women escaping danger, usually caused by the men in their lives.

With “The Haters,” the 2018 Arthur Ellis Award nominee refracts her plot through the influence of social media and online trolls. Rather than a physically imposing male at the center of conflict, online book reviewers and TikTok accounts that post videos without consent become heroine Camryn Lane’s tormentors.

The mild-mannered high school guidance counselor is no match for the pettiness and unrelenting cruelty of online trolls who hide behind fake avatars. “The Haters” reveals a new type of bully, one who can reach you anywhere!

Main Characters in “The Haters”

Camryn Lane
Liza
Theo
Martha
Fiona Carmichael
Abby Lester

Camryn Lane, 44, is a divorced single mother who works part-time as a public high school guidance counselor and has recently published her debut novel “Burnt Orchid.” The novel follows convicted juvenile murderer Orchid Carter through an unstable upbringing to being the first lady of Chicago.

As Camryn prepares to take the stage at a small promotional event, she receives an email criticizing her and the book’s content.

Camryn’s only child, Liza, is a 17-year-old senior at a posh private school. The girl’s grown increasingly distant from her mother in recent months and is hiding her new friend group and post-graduation plans from her.

Youthful, upbeat Theo owns an outdoor experiences business. He’s nine years younger than his girlfriend of 22 months, Camryn, and barely conceals his jealousy of the attention she gives her daughter and “Burnt Orchid.”

A longtime best friend of Camryn, Martha co-owns a popular cafe with her jazz-playing husband, Felix. She serves as Camryn’s closest confidante, helped her survive the divorce, and is incredibly supportive of her publication.

Introduced in a chapter titled “The Devil,” Maple Heights High School senior Fiona Carmichael embodies the classic idea of a mean girl with her disingenuous smile, perfectly styled blonde hair, and wide eyes. She’s a suspect in the filming of another student, Abby Lester, overdosing on MDMA while writhing and vomiting on a basement floor naked.

Abby Lester, a nerdy and unpopular girl, refuses to return to Maple Heights HS after the video of her high on ecstasy is posted on social media by Fiona Carmichael. Camryn repeatedly tries to help her to no avail.

“The Haters” Plot Summary

Camryn Lane is on top of the world as she’s feted by her close friend Martha and nearly 50 others at a promotional event for her book “Burnt Orchid.”

After years of focusing on her now-ex husband and daughter, Camryn has realized her dream of being a published author. She and a small team brought “Burnt Orchid” to the masses to be read and reviewed by everyone.

The 44-year-old’s mood briefly darkens when she receives a rude email critiquing “Burnt Orchid” just as she’s set to take the stage and read an excerpt. Early the next day, Camryn researches Ingrid Wandry, the woman who sent the email.

Throughout “The Haters,” different chapters from Camryn’s “Burnt Orchid” appear. The interspersed chapters begin with Orchid Carder’s youth in poverty and follow her as she becomes the first lady of Chicago. They slowly begin to influence what happens in Camryns’ real life.

As Camryn continues her promotional tour at a convention in Miami, she receives a bouquet, a drink, and multiple phone calls unsolicited. She links these actions to Ingrid Wandry’s email.

The weekend away served the dual purposes of publicizing “Burnt Orchid” to a larger audience and a respite for Camryn. An ongoing investigation into Abby Lester’s overdose at a sleepover party in her basement that was recorded on a bystander’s phone and shared online has dominated Camryn’s work at Maple Heights High School.

Camryn long suspected mean girl Fiona Carmichael as the ringleader of Abby’s traumatic experience and her public humiliation. The seasoned guidance counselor has met with Fiona and her cronies at school repeatedly and Abby at her home. The victimized girl refuses to return to Maple Heights and vehemently declares that she wants nothing to do with Camryn, even as the counselor delivers school assignments to the Lester home.

The troubles continue when she returns home and sees more negative reviews on Readem, a fictional version of Goodreads, which is driving down the rating of “Burnt Orchid.” Camryn then solicits advice from women in the public eye: a news anchor, an author who was ruined by social media trolls, and mentors from her writing group.

While some people suggest she ignores Ingrid and the other negative reviewers, fantasy author, Chloe Winston, suggests she track down Ingrid offline and asks her to stop harassing her. Camryn zooms in on photos from Ingrid’s bare bones Instagram and manages to find the woman living in a small town in Washington State.

Camryn lies to Theo and Liza and takes a personal day to visit Ingrid in person. However, her plea turns into frustrated yelling at a woman who swears she isn’t Ingrid and doesn’t know anything about Camryn or her book. The exchange is recorded by the woman’s nephew and soon finds its way onto TikTok where it goes viral and is picked up by the local news.

Once the video is shown on the news, Camryn’s world implodes with the principal of Maple Heights putting her on administrative leave, her daughter refusing to speak with her, a boyfriend who feels betrayed, and a best friend who doesn’t believe her.

A rumor spreads that Camryn created the Ingrid Wandry account and pranked herself for attention. Even her writing group friends don’t believe she’s really being harassed, and best friend Martha even agrees with some of the accusations lobbied at her closest friend.

Camryn, sequestered at home, finds herself trying to reconnect with Liza and to understand how her life unraveled. After badgering her daughter, she learned Liza attended the party where Abby was drugged and filmed.

To assuage her conscience, Camryn reaches out to Abby’s mother to meet up and discuss Liza’s involvement with the ill-fated party. The women convene at a cafe where Camryn catches Abby sporting a bandaged arm spying on them.

Camryn pursues the teen and confronts her about her new injury. Abby then admits to being the one behind the cyberbullying Camryn endured. She collaborated with Fiona to ruin Camryn’s writing career as an indirect way to attack Liza, whom she blames for what happened to her. Fiona orchestrated the deception by befriending Liza and manipulating Abby into seeking revenge on Liza via the Ingrid Wandry persona.

The novel wraps up neatly with Abby being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Fiona being sent away to a six-month character-building wilderness camp, and Camryn making up with her friends and family and transferring to a new school.

Final Thoughts on “The Haters”

“The Haters” isn’t as fast paced or twisty as Robyn Harding’s most recent thriller, “The Drowning Woman.” Instead, it addresses a pressing issue in the publishing industry–what’s the protocol for behavior when authors believe they and their work is being unfairly attacked online?

With a sympathetic protagonist who digs herself deeper into a public shame spiral throughout the narrative, “The Haters” skillfully builds tension. However, its straightforward conclusion may leave many readers disappointed.