Review: The Glare by Margot Harrison

Author: Margot Harrison

Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Publication date: July 2020

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 is a YA sci-fi/thriller/horror? I'm not sure how to correctly categorize this one because it kind of encompasses all three genres.  It involves Hedda who has been living off the grid for the past 10 years and has been kept away from what her mother calls "The Glare".  Essentially any screen technology.  Now she is going to live with her father in California and has to try to stick with her off screen time. All too soon she is pulled into the dark web.

I enjoyed this one.  It took a little while to get going but it definitely eventually sucked me in and I wanted to see how it all played out. I liked the characters and did not find them to be annoying teenagers.  I did think that Hedda got sucked into technology fairly quickly. But, then that could be a commentary on how easy it is to get sucked in.  Doesn't it happen to us all?  The twists especially at the end were surprising. The story overall went in a direction I wasn't expecting. I won't say more so I don't spoil anything.  I do recommend this one.