Review: The Glare by Margot Harrison

Title: The Glare
Author: Margot Harrison
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Horror
Source: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers via NetGalley
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 14th 2020

Summary: 

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.

Content Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, self harm, suicide, death, underage drinking, drugs, psychological torment, murder.

Dark Web. Psychological Thriller. Horror. Alright, I was sold immediately. I am really glad I gave this book a shot, I enjoyed it so much more then I thought I would. I stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish because I needed to know what was going to happen next.

For the past 10 years of her life, Hedda has lived on a ranch isolated from society and technology by her mother who is protecting her from "the glare" which is any from of technology with a screen, mainly cell phones. Now 16 years old, Hedda is going back to California to live with her dad, step mom and step brother in a world full of technology that she has no idea about. Shortly after arriving and being reintroduced to technology Hedda begins to have flash backs from her childhood and that dark things that happened because of technology and the final straw that led her mom to whisk her away to their isolated ranch. Exploring her belongings from childhood Hedda comes across a link to a game from the dark web and begins to play. But urban legend says if you die 13 times on level 13, you will die in real life too and Hedda just died for the 13th time. 

I think The Glare brings up a good discussion on technology in this day and age. There is no set time frame of this book so I am going to assume present day (2018/2019) which would make 10 years ago 2008/9. Tablets were only released in the last decade for Android ('08) and Apple ('10), which would mean that when Hedda was 6 years old this technology was still fairly new. It also talks about a social media that is used and most of the characters have used as children. But we live in a day and age now that this isn't unheard of, children using Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and having cell phones. The internet can be a dangerous place and I think The Glare does a good job in showing that, even if 99.9% of children don't have access to darkweb games.

The Glare actually refers to the game that circles on the Dark Web that played a huge part of Hedda's childhood. When Hedda is introduced to the game and then introduces it to her friends is when the story begins to get interesting. The horror and creepiness of this story really does creep up on you, at first I was like "this isn't that scary" and then suddenly my dog was making noise outside my room and I was paranoid that one of the creatures from The Glare was behind my door. The later half of The Glare is unpredictable and the action keeps happening and as more of the secrets behind The Glare are released the more I needed to know. 

Overall I really enjoyed The Glare and I am really content with how the story ended. Margot did a great job in keeping her readers invested in the story as well as addressing the issues in current day society about technology. If you love sci-fi, horror and thrillers you should check out this book! 

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