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.
Adriana Acevedo is an editor, writer, and sleep paralysis demon. She's been published in magazines like samfiftyfour and Impostor. She's bilingual and living in the monstrous Mexico City. Whenever she's not reading horror stories or watching horror movies, she's baking sourdough bread. Read more of her writing here.