by Josh Riedel
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Please Report Your Bug Here by Josh Riedel is a contemporary sci-fi/fantasy blend and the author’s debut novel. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little under nine and a half hours and is narrated by Torian Brackett. We follow our main character with first-person point-of-view.
Ethan lives in San Francisco and works for the hot new dating app DateDate. Post-horrible-breakup, Ethan decides to check out who his algorithmically matched soulmate is on the app by overriding the system and clicking on the profile. But then he disappears. Once he blips back to the office, he tries to convince everyone that a coding issue caused his issue.
When I read the official synopsis, it made me think of Cult Classic by Sloan Crosley, which I really enjoyed last year.
I had a lot of fun with this one! I ended up reading it in two main sessions across a period of two days. As an elder millennial, I saw many pieces of myself scattered around many of the different characters in this book. There are a lot of really cool musings here about how people use/are used by technology and technology companies. I particularly liked the exploration regarding technology and art.
The publisher blurb for this book calls it “adrenaline-packed,” but I don’t know if I’d choose those words to describe it myself. I’d call it something more like speculative fiction with suspenseful elements.
I was confused by some of the story beats, some of the plot meandered a bit, and the ending was okay but I think I wanted a little more from it. I figured these complaints stem from the fact that this is the first novel written by the author. I think he has some really cool ideas and I’m excited to read further stories by him.
CW: child disappearance (occurs prior to novel)
I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
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