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stephzilla's review against another edition
4.0
"After a teacher receives a weirdly arousing video, his life descends into paranoia and obsession. More videos follow--each containing information no stranger could possibly know. But who's sending them? And what do they want? The answers may destroy everything and everyone he loves."
The Girl in the Video deftly explores what happens when you make yourself too accessible on social media. This is a novella; however, it still packed quite a punch. I could feel myself tense as the suspense increased throughout the course of the story.
My only note of critique is that the ending seemed very abrupt, almost forced. All the suspense built up to a not quite satisfying climax, which was a bummer.
I would still recommend to Horror lovers looking for a quick book to chew on.
The Girl in the Video deftly explores what happens when you make yourself too accessible on social media. This is a novella; however, it still packed quite a punch. I could feel myself tense as the suspense increased throughout the course of the story.
My only note of critique is that the ending seemed very abrupt, almost forced. All the suspense built up to a not quite satisfying climax, which was a bummer.
I would still recommend to Horror lovers looking for a quick book to chew on.
creativeflow's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tomesoftrouble's review against another edition
3.0
A quick and mostly compelling read, but it's a little too short for its own good and the ending isn't very satisfying. That said, I would definitely give this author another go because the finer moments of this showed great potential.
gnashchick's review against another edition
5.0
Creepiest book I've read so far this year. I'm glad this is a novella. Read it in two sessions. I had to stop after the first half-or-so of the book because I was thoroughly creeped out. I've listened to enough of his podcasts to know it was going to go there and the creeping dread went from mildly uncomfortable to "I have to put this down oh holy shit what the effing fox." Expect extreme tension, blood, gore, and outright terror.
Bravo, M. Wilson.
Bravo, M. Wilson.
litwrite's review against another edition
3.0
I'm torn.
This was a puzzler for me. I did enjoy this novella, and I found the story a deeply unsettling glimpse into the reality of our times where every move we make is tracked (makes a good companion piece to the Netflix docudrama The Social Dilemma); but there were so many stylistic choices that I questioned:
* Why is it set in Japan? Is it a weeaboo thing or a deliberate choice to establish alienation and a "stranger in a strange land" sort of feel? Or is it just that crazy Asian girls are spookier than crazy white girls?
* What's with the music obsession? It was understandable in the beginning to establish that this creepy person was knowledgeable in every part of the protagonist's life, but after that it just seemed a weird and tedious addition for someone who is already panicking to think about and add to the narrative.
In the end I felt like there was a great skeleton of a story here, but really needed to be fleshed out further to truly have full depth in the way that I think the author intended. Maybe another hundred pages or so to understand motivations of characters would have made this much more impactful. Without it, any kind of horrific reactions I would have had just felt slightly puzzling/disconcerting than full blown horror.
3 stars on this one.
This was a puzzler for me. I did enjoy this novella, and I found the story a deeply unsettling glimpse into the reality of our times where every move we make is tracked (makes a good companion piece to the Netflix docudrama The Social Dilemma); but there were so many stylistic choices that I questioned:
* Why is it set in Japan? Is it a weeaboo thing or a deliberate choice to establish alienation and a "stranger in a strange land" sort of feel? Or is it just that crazy Asian girls are spookier than crazy white girls?
Spoiler
* Why doesn't he just go to the police? I mean I get the whole well she told him not to thing but it feels so cliche to me. Why would he randomly believe this crazy person sending him videos.* What's with the music obsession? It was understandable in the beginning to establish that this creepy person was knowledgeable in every part of the protagonist's life, but after that it just seemed a weird and tedious addition for someone who is already panicking to think about and add to the narrative.
Spoiler
* What secrets is the protagonist hiding? I'm thinking this was a deliberate stylistic choice because it's like this unknowing entity of this insane person is stalking me, she knows something about me, what secrets will she reveal? But honestly the normal person doesn't have that many horrible secrets. Even if you've got secret nudes or you have a DUI on record, pretty sure you would rather have that revealed then have this person stalking you forever. So to me, it just felt like this macguffin of terrible hidden pasts that never got resolved.Spoiler
* Why did the antagonist suddenly decide to just massacre an entire room of school kids that have nothing to do with the protagonist? This kinda came out of left field for me and thus reduced the impact of what should have been a very traumatic event.In the end I felt like there was a great skeleton of a story here, but really needed to be fleshed out further to truly have full depth in the way that I think the author intended. Maybe another hundred pages or so to understand motivations of characters would have made this much more impactful. Without it, any kind of horrific reactions I would have had just felt slightly puzzling/disconcerting than full blown horror.
3 stars on this one.
jasonsweirdreads's review against another edition
4.0
The Girl In The Video is a novella by Michael David Wilson. If you’re unaware as to who he is, you really should check out his podcast, This Is Horror. There you will find a lot of great interviews with your favourite horror authors.
Moving on to the novella, the story starts with a married couple, Rachel and Freddie, eating breakfast. Freddie gets a message on Instagram (I think it was Instagram) showing a video of a girl in fishnets wearing a Hello Kitty cardboard cutout on her face. This video, along with the others that come later, are weird, sexual, and violent. Freddie continues to watch them as they come out of curiosity and, more and more, out of fear.
Who is this person. What does she want?
As the pieces slowly come together, Freddie finds himself trapped in a bizarre and terrifying case of online stalking. What really moved me in this one was all the clever and frightening ways one can be stalked with today’s internet technology.
This is truly what makes this story scary. That this could, and has, happen.
The characters are all fairly well drawn out, and I also enjoyed, and was surprised by, the humour and the music of this book. Definitely check it out. I was able to read it in one or two sittings, and I enjoyed myself the entire time. I’m looking forward to reading more from Michael David Wilson.
Moving on to the novella, the story starts with a married couple, Rachel and Freddie, eating breakfast. Freddie gets a message on Instagram (I think it was Instagram) showing a video of a girl in fishnets wearing a Hello Kitty cardboard cutout on her face. This video, along with the others that come later, are weird, sexual, and violent. Freddie continues to watch them as they come out of curiosity and, more and more, out of fear.
Who is this person. What does she want?
As the pieces slowly come together, Freddie finds himself trapped in a bizarre and terrifying case of online stalking. What really moved me in this one was all the clever and frightening ways one can be stalked with today’s internet technology.
This is truly what makes this story scary. That this could, and has, happen.
The characters are all fairly well drawn out, and I also enjoyed, and was surprised by, the humour and the music of this book. Definitely check it out. I was able to read it in one or two sittings, and I enjoyed myself the entire time. I’m looking forward to reading more from Michael David Wilson.
blind_lawyer's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
A very simple novella about a man receiving strange messages. It's not particularly interesting, or creepy, or.....anything, really.