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!

>Be me, 23
>Loves horror novels inspired by obscure internet culture

Think Amygdalatropolis meets Fight Club, that's honestly the only way I can really describe this. 3.75 rounded up to 4.

I don't want to say too much about the story, since I think going in with as little knowledge as possible is the best way. Rekt is an exploration of grief and trauma told through the eyes of Sammy, who gets up to some unsavory activity on the internet. Gore videos, creepypastas, NSFL content, dark web browsing. He self-sabotages himself at every turn and is having a hard time grieving with the passing of his girlfriend--who has passed in a car accident.

I was getting huge Palahniuk vibes from this. There were points where I was saying to myself "this is like Choke" or "this is like Fight Club". I really enjoy that brand of witty satire from Palahniuk, so I really resonated with this story and the commentary it was providing on not just grief but the state of AI in the digital world today. Overall it kept me very engaged.

However I would have liked for the chapters to have been shorter. When you start one it's a long stretch before you get to the next one, and there are plenty of breaks in the story to end a chapter and start a new one. It would've made the experience a little less heavy and digestible, if that makes sense.

And also that ending. It honestly just ends and it's not even wrapped up or anything, it happens so quickly as well. It's pretty open-ended and is followed by several forum and fanfiction posts that are meant to make the ending more ambiguous than it already is. I enjoy endings like that that leave the ending up to interpretation, but here it just felt like there wasn't much idea on how to finish off the story.

3.5/5⭐, rounded up

Pretty cagey, wild stuff in this novel that leads a grief-stricken young man down a road into the sinister, horrific corners of the dark web and all the depravity it contains. But soon Sammy stumbles into an impossible world of video footage of deaths that should not be, and he is drawn deeper into a perverse and merciless world of individuals who place bets on death. As Sammy tries to work out what’s real he must become a monster himself.

“𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯.”

As Sammy investigates the seemingly impossible footage looking for answers and retribution, he throws in with a couple of others who are also on the hunt for those responsible.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘈𝘐-𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘮𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘮𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺.”

The novel starts off strongly with an intriguing plot and a dark premise. The writing was powerful and conveyed the dread, grief, and self-abhorrence of Sammy, whose traumas just keep piling up. The plot did lose momentum for me just after halfway through, where it slowed considerably, before it picked back up just for the ending, which culminates in an interesting, but somewhat ambiguous conclusion.

My thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really am a little dumbfounded by this story. It’s incredibly dark and disturbing.

Sammy Dominguez has just lost his girlfriend, Ellery, in a tragic car accident. He is completely consumed with grief. Even her parents are struggling. Only Sammy is also eaten up with guilt.

He drinks, uses drugs and even trolls the internet. Then, someone sends him a secret video of the actual accident that claimed her life. Who sent this? He becomes fascinated with death scenes online. Soon, he finds himself addicted to the horrors on the dark web.

When I started this, it was such a slow crawl. He spends so much time talking about his misery and what Ellery was like. The pacing was really too slow for me. Then, when we get to how everything spirals out of control, it becomes insane. Lots of gore scenes to make you cringe.

I really wanted to like this one, but it just wasn’t for me. I think fans of grief horror or splatterpunk are the perfect readers for this. The writing was great, just not my cup of tea.

Thank you Erewhon, Alex Gonzales and NetGalley for the opportunity.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3,5 star, rounded up to 4 stars for Netgalley
** I received an ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review**

Rekt is a book that is all about grief. From the very first page, the main character’s grief is just jumping off the page. Sammy has lost his girlfriend in a car accirdent and is having trouble processing the trauma. Throw the deep dark web into the mix, and you have a recipe for disaster.

I really enjoyed the story, and I personally had no issue with the pacing. There was a lot happening, which managed to keep me engaged enough through out the chapters. Though, I would have liked for the chapters to be a little shorter. Some parts dragged just a little bit, but this was not too big of a bother for me. The scariest part of the book is how close to reality it comes. Lots of things I can see happening in real life, with all of the AI going on.

There was much more gore in this book than I initially expected. Though, it definitely does not reaches the height of extreme horror and splatterpunk books. Not all characters had been equally developed, but the main character -who felt very unlikable, and that’s how I like my morally grey characters- felt very deep. His trauma, grief and insecurity really brings him to life.

Besides the dragging at some parts, the ending felt entirely anti-climactic and I was somewhat disappointed. The story felt a little unfinished. I guess it’s an open ending and up for interpretation? But that’s not the type of ending that I like. I would have given it 4 or maybe even 4,5 stars if the ending had been different.