This is a heavy read that looks at how one can abuse technology, suffer, and make wrong decisions. Also makes the reader question their use of technology.

This was one hell of a wild ride, and I am left with so many questions after the end. The beginning felt a little bit slow, but the unhingedness i had been hoping for ramped up. The plot was definitely different from what I had expected, but I ended up really enjoying it. I do wish there had been more mixed media throughout the story verse only at the end, but I also understand what they author chose to write the book in this way. I am looking forward to seeing what Alex Gonzalez comes out with next.

This went in directions I wasn't expecting, and while I liked the idea, I wasn't really there for the entire ride. I think I wanted more dark social commentary than any horror elements.

rekt opens in the middle of the action, fully throwing the reader off balance. Thematically, this will remain a commonplace throughout the novel as it keep the reader on their toes and invites speculation and theory-making. Alex Gonzalez’s novel is revolting (if Mr. Gonzalez ever gets to read this review, I want him to think I mean this as high praise). Revolting, exciting, horrific in both a good and terrible way, and—ultimately—fresh. No wonder we added it to one of our most-anticipated-books-of-the-year lists.

In general terms, the novel centers on Sammy Dominguez, a regular, depressive basket case. Sammy’s girlfriend, Ellery, died in a freak car accident and Sammy hasn’t been able to move on. Since Ellery’s death, Sammy has been in a massive downward spiral, taking awful care of his mental health. And that’s putting it lightly. Sammy spends a lot of time in the dark corners of the internet, browsing different kinds of horror. One day, he stumbles upon a site showing videos of the ways people die, have died, and could die. Ellery’s car accident is one of those videos.

From this point, the novel is very good at portraying Sammy’s spiraling into this dumpster of the worst humans and algorithms have to offer while prompting the reader to insidiously keep reading. You go down the rabbit hole with Sammy, but that’s far from saying Sammy is either likeable or redeemable.

Character complexity is where this novel shines the brightest. Sammy is pathetic, abusive when he gets the chance, a coward, and stubborn, but does he deserve what’s happening to him? That’s a very hard question to answer. His character growth is not upwards, but rather he expands sideways to encompass further flaws and small positive traits. Other characters defy the notions of good and evil and instead opt for establishing a wide and complex scale of greys, specially Jay. As a side note: I support women’s rights, but mostly women’s wrongs.

I think this is where a trigger warning is needed: The novel is violent and features explicit physical violence. And that violence is also set within a cultural context, so it’s not odd to reader of lot of violence towards women. However, it did seem to me like violence against women was a tad more graphic than violence against men. Or am I just used to violence against men and have it somewhat normalized? I’ll add it to my list of issues to asses with myself after reading to novel.

As with the violence described, the rest of the narrative is fast-paced and straight to the point? The writing is familiar, and it includes a lot of internet speech and forms of online communication. Gonzales knows exactly where to place his novel among internet culture and the tradition of creepypastas. The book is extratextual, though not self-referential, and it succeeds in creating a new urban legend/creepypasta. There is also an interesting comment on fanfiction and appropriating someone’s life as a text to be altered and built as a community. This is one of the best approaches to internet culture I’ve read so far.

Overall, the novel is equal parts horrific and thrilling, and poses interesting moral questions. The horror it introduces deals more with what we allow ourselves to become as we passively descend into a poor mental state. It’s not for the faint of heart due to the violence and gore, but it’s certainly worth a read. I know the 72 hours I spent reading this non-stop were hours very well spent.

This was an interesting read. I do think it would've been better as a novella maybe. The first half took me a while to get into it but I couldn't put the book down once the second half started. Also I love open ended endings so it's fun to think about the what ifs.

I think there’s an edited version of this that’s 5 stars for me. Interesting themes/concepts that the author handed well, didn’t mind how there’s not a single likable character, but wow the pacing is painful. Like many of the other reviewers on here I struggled through how much I was putting this book down in the middle section for so long that my eARC through Netgalley got archived and I had to wait until after the book was released to finish it up. The experimental section at the end is probably the best bit even though I don’t get a lot of it tbh. Just being on 4chan is very convincing horror though.

Gross and wonderfully weird, exactly the kind of horror story that leaves you needed to put the book down and walk outside once you've finished.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Woof, this is a dark read. Awful things happening to pretty miserable people trying to make the world a slightly better place.

Sammy's whole life is a spiral descending into hell and if you're not looking for a book where every chapter makes things worse for the main character I would stay far away from this novel. Now if you are I would say jump right into this. It does modern day non-supernatural horror very well, being just as genuinely creepy as many supernatural horror novels I've read.

Really engaging read that has a number of great ideas and takes some wild turns. Unfortunately falls apart a bit at the end as it moves into vagueness and doesn't have much of a conclusion but all in all a worthwile read that is much deeper (and darker) than it seems.

This was an exceptional read, and one of the few explorations of extreme horror I've encountered with as much depth and care as Alex Gonzalez brings to the table. It is brutal, disturbing, and illuminating of the psychological desensitization that access to the darkest elements of humanity (via the dark web) can bring to a world and a generation too young to process it.

However, there is a heart beating red and raw examining grief and a search for living after a sudden horrific loss at the core of the depravity that I think is well worth exploring if you have the stomach for it. There is also beautiful, lyric prose throughout to balance out the bleak. Highly recommended for those who are willing to place themselves in a grimdark headspace.

There are some aspects that are vaguely headacratching in that Black Mirror way when you think about them too hard, but those are mostly handwaved away in that fifteen-minutes-in-the-future science magic sort of way. Given that, I would put it at a 4.6 (rounded up).

Sammy Dominguez is lost and sullen, grieving the death of his girlfriend, traumatized by the death of his uncle, he writes CreepyPasta and surfs the dark web.
Then someone sends him a link to a deeply dark website that has the CCTV footage of his girlfriend’s car accident. And thousands of other deaths.

Rekt is a novel of spiraling depression and paranoia, of generational trauma and the tenuousness of sanity when it is exposed to the worst that we can do.

I was mesmerized by this book, by Sammy’s descent and the entire darkness he discovers online. It is clever and raw and sad and somehow righteous its despair and desperation. Sammy is a flawed MMC, and Gonzalez is brutally real about Sammy’s weaknesses and strengths, his failures and breakthroughs, his scattered thoughts and determination.

rekt is like Raw Shark Texts and the Matrix and King of Staten Island all mushed together into a downright amazing horror thriller.

A very good book that will end up being a top read of the year for me.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC! I just wasn’t into the writing style of this one, which surprised me because it sounded so interesting.

Rekt has a lot of big, timely ideas -- grief, toxic masculinity, internet radicalisation -- but the execution just didn’t land for me. The themes are compelling, and the setup has real horror potential, but the writing is awkward and often heavy-handed, which undercuts the impact. What could have been chilling or thought-provoking mostly felt clunky. I wanted to be disturbed or moved; instead, I was mostly just frustrated.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of >rekt by Alex Gonzalez! This book was incredibly dark, often uncomfortable, but like a car wreck you can't look away from. Feels like living in a nightmare. I loved the creepypasta aspects and the web stuff at the end, which lends to the mystery about what really transpired. This book was a deep dive into the dark web and how we deal with grief. Very well written and neat formatting.

Rekt is a deeply disturbing tale for our current internet age that brilliantly juggles multiple relevant topics such as the use of AI for sinister purposes, internet safety and doxxing, snuff videos and dark web forums, questionable online gambling, and toxic masculinity and violence - all with grief horror at the heart.

I was absolutely absorbed by Sammy and his tragic past. The various interwoven anecdotes told by Sammy did a wonderful job of fleshing out his character and background while making you feel sympathetic for him, despite his eerie descent into madness spurred by his messed up dark web obsession.

This story is fast paced, gross, uncomfortable yet realistic, and witty with a dash of Chuck Palahniuk nihilism. One of my favorite reads of the year, and I am greatly looking forward to future releases from Alex Gonzalez and his dark mind.

This is one of those books that will make you look at the internet in a totally different light. The internet and its users need to be used with an air of scepticism. It will really put a little bit of fear in you!

What does grief look like in the age of the internet?

This book reminds me of why SafeSearch is important. Kids used to be able to find the worst things online way too easily.

Sometimes, adults still can.

-- SPOILERS --

The entire haruspx reveal was incredible. The bizarre vigilantism, with Jay desperate to be "the good guys," really helped hit home how fucked their actions were. And I LOVED the way chapters 3 and 13 mirrored each other. The ambiguous ending was perfect for what this book was and I thought it was fascinating how obsessed Angela was with "the Wax Man." Sammy's actions were disturbing and morally questionable/wrong at basically every turn, but I still couldn't look away (much like Sammy and chinsky). At times I even found myself rooting for him. He may have been a real bastard but gd he was interesting. And being interesting is a hard thing to give to your protagonsists. Alex Gonzalez knocked it out of the park with this one.

> be me, 40-something
> looking for the next the sluts
> penance would be fine too
> feel nothing

I really wanted this one to land for me, but it just didn't. I felt thiiiiiiiis far away from Sammy the whole time. I didn't feel his grief, his horror, his slow (and then quick) sinking into online spaces no one should be. I didn't feel Sammy experience the way that kind of content can turn your soul black and be a cruel reminder that we are vulnerable bags of meat and then reconcile that with the pain of losing Ellery. I read it, but I didn't feel it. I wanted to feel it.

Chinsky: why? Having the story pivot on this hinge of online boogeymen made rekt feel like there were two separate novels that got smashed together and didn't marry well. I'm not usually the sort who needs a lot of technical questions answered in fiction, but the way chinsky worked left way too much room for me to be distracted. My AI fear is real, but this is not the kind of AI fear that's effective for me.

All that being said (I know it sounds like a lot of negatives), I did enjoy reading rekt. I enjoyed what it was trying to do, but I'm just not sure it succeeded. I also realize that I'm probably not the audience for this one.

I predict that many people will find the thing in it I was looking for, and I truly love that for them.

I think the concept behind this book is really interesting and it definitely hooked me in the beginning. It did start to slow down in the middle though... and the inner workings of what was going on didn't ~really~ make sense? I won't go into details as it would involve a lot of spoilers, and maybe I'm just over thinking it or missed something.

I do think this is a great read for those of us stuck in doomscroll mode who spend way too much time online. Overall yes, I'd recommend it, but it won't be one I'll be quick to re-read.

This was good! More emotional than I expected, for sure. And definitely as messed up as I'd imagined. Maybe even more so, if that is possible. I was certainly invested in the story, as I found Sammy to be quite the heartbreaking character. And frankly, I wanted to know just how messed up the internet can be. Is it this bad? Is it worse? I have no idea but it sure is thought provoking! The pacing is a little off at times, and I think I had hoped for a wee bit more from the ending, but it was an engaging story and one that definitely made me think and also freaked me out!