Margot Harrison

After ten years of living on an isolated, tech-free ranch with her mother, sixteen-year-old Hedda is going back to the world of the Glare-her word for cell phones, computers, and tablets. Hedda was taught to be afraid of technology, afraid that it would get inside her mind and hurt her. But now she's going to stay with her dad in California, where she was born, and she's finally ready to be normal. She's not going to go "off-kilter," like her mom says she did when she was just a little kid. Once she arrives, Hedda finally feels like she's in control. She reunites with old friends and connects with her stepmom and half-brother. Never mind the terrifying nightmares and visions that start trickling back-they're not real. Then Hedda rediscovers the Glare-the real Glare, a first-person shooter game from the dark web that scared her when she was younger. They say if you die thirteen times on level thirteen, you die in real life. But as Hedda starts playing the so-called "death game"-and the game begins spreading among her friends-she realizes the truth behind her nightmares is even more twisted than she could have imagined. And in order to stop the Glare, she'll have to first confront the darkness within herself.

The Glare

Geoffrey Froggatt

This book immediately caught my eye and interested me since the premise sounded like a Black Mirror episode. After ten years of living on an isolated, tech-free ranch with her mother, sixteen-year-old Hedda is going back to the world of the Glare: her word for cell phones, computers, and tablets. Hedda was taught to be afraid of technology, afraid that it would get inside her mind and hurt her. But now she's going to stay with her dad in California, where she was born, and she's finally ready to be normal. She's not going to go "off-kilter," like her mom says she did when she was just a little kid. Once she arrives, Hedda finally feels like she's in control. She reunites with old friends and connects with her stepmom and half-brother. Never mind the terrifying nightmares and visions that start trickling back, they're not real. Then Hedda rediscovers the Glare, the real Glare, a first-person shooter game from the dark web that scared her when she was younger. They say if you die thirteen times on level thirteen, you die in real life. But as Hedda starts playing the so-called "death game" (and the game begins spreading among her friends) she realizes the truth behind her nightmares is even more twisted than she could have imagined. And in order to stop the Glare, she'll have to first confront the darkness within herself. Most technology-based horror/thrillers are written by authors and writers who are out-of-touch with modern technology and do not understand it, resulting in many of their stories to feel shallow and surface level in their subject matter. This was not that. While most technology-based horror stories boil down to “technology is bad” or older generations patronizing the audience, this book focused on internet urban legends and technology addiction. Despite the author seemingly knowing a deeper level of understanding about technology and the internet, this did still feel like a darker version of an after school special/PSA about the internet. The game played in this story sounded like a PG-13 version of the Sad Satan internet urban legend and some of the other Creepypasta about haunted video games. I describe the vibe and atmosphere as having a healthy mix of certain movies if converted for a younger audience: Stay Alive, Pulse/Kairo, and The Ring. Internet horror is one of my favourite sub-genres, but I do prefer when these kinds of stories come from someone with deep knowledge of the internet landscape and the subcultures themselves. While the author did do a lot more than most writers would with this story, I would have loved if it was so enriched with internet horror that it felt less than 10% like a PSA about internet usage. I did feel like the reveal towards the end sometimes felt cartoonish, but ultimately it worked for the narrative. This would make a great horror movie for young adults, and I’d actually love to see it expanded upon and made into a movie for streaming. I can easily see a marketing campaign and stylistic approach for this story if it had a movie adaptation. It could easily work if they added in the modern advancements with technology, gaming, AI and social media. This is a great internet-based horror novel for young adults, and I’d easily recommend it to my younger self.

The Glare

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