THE MUCK

In Hallman’s novel, a struggling writer accepts a lucrative job ghostwriting for a tech entrepreneur—and soon uncovers horrific secrets.

The author presents a tale set among decaying factories, poisoned forests, and abandoned laboratories that becomes a cautionary tale about late-stage capitalism, ecological trauma, and artificial intelligence. Glenn Hurst is a 50-something writer who very much needs an infusion of cash, and when Brad Thorsen, the wealthy CEO of Bitcoin-oriented tech company Silmaril Mining, asks him to write his “origin story,” it seems to be the answer to Glenn’s problems; soon, he’s suddenly $20,000 richer, with $80,000 more to come: “Grab that lifeline with both hands,” he thinks. “And never let go.” Before long, though, his research unearths a conspiracy theory involving a coverup of industrial waste and a parasitic infection from mutated skin-burrowing insects. Although the book never fully embraces tropes of folk horror, it still succeeds as a taut, well-paced tale of terror. At times, though, the novel buckles under the weight of its own ideas, particularly when its multimillionaire antagonist lapses into exposition-heavy monologues. The supporting cast is less engaging, particularly the female characters, who feel significantly underdeveloped. Several other characters fall into recognizable archetypes: comic relief, the tough guy, the ambiguous outsider. The story introduces intriguing elements, such as a potentially sentient AI consciousness, but never fully resolves them, and the second act occasionally drags down the otherwise tight story with repeated facility tours and long speeches. That said, the engaging dynamic between the protagonist and antagonist gives the story much of its momentum, and the plot effectively explores fears of AI replacing work, crypto replacing labor, and techno-utopianism replacing what’s come before. Indeed, Glenn’s career displacement becomes one of the novel’s most powerful recurring motifs.

An often intense and prescient neogothic techno-horror tale, despite inconsistent execution.