The Girl in the Video

By: Michael David Wilson

Narrated by: RJ Bayley

Length: 2 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

From the creator of This Is Horror comes a new nightmare for the digital age.

Tell me what you like. 

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 is The Ring meets Fatal Attraction for the iPhone generation.

©2020 Michael David Wilson (P)2020 Michael David Wilson

Rushed and incomplete but an engaging read

I feel so bad rating this novella only 3 stars. I wanted to love this story. I have always loved the concept of a story based around an internet predator. I love the Japanese setting.: the crowdedness of the city, the lack of privacy in public spaces, and dare I say, the foreignness of the setting makes the protagonist's situation feel even more dire. The villain is genuinely creepy, and there is a lot of creepy imagery throughout the story. I also appreciate that the author chose to make this a novella and not a full-length novel. The story is well-paced, and the concept never wears thin.

This brings me to my biggest criticisms though. Because this story is so short, there is very little character development. There is also a lack of development in the story. Why was our protagonist chosen by the villain? At one point, the protagonist hints at past wrongs, but those are never explored. The ending also lacked the punch it deserved because I never cared about any of the characters. Why not go to the police, especially when a certain item comes into possession of the protagonist? That would have been the more logical choice. In fact, the protagonist was frustrating because he often made poor choices. We needed a greater sense of motivation here. Is this a revenge story? Is this a cautionary tale about how our presence on social media can make us vulnerable to being targeted at random by a cruel stranger?

Criticisms aside, I will definitely check out something else by this author. I just feel like he needs a good editor or a strong group of readers who can encourage him to flesh out his stories a little more. There are good bones here. It is just lacking a little meat.

Lingering questions...

(I received this audiobook gratis from the author and give my review honestly without compensation)

Michael David Wilson writes anxiety quite well. As someone with generalized anxiety, I can easily identify with the character's feelings and decisions, good and bad. That said, I also get frustrated with poor behavior that only seems to be present to further the plot. I had hoped for a more supernatural, weird-fiction element to unfold given the video's disturbing nature and the sender's near omniscient knowledge of the main character's online and real-world presence, but even as it unfolds, the ending leaves me disappointed. It is well written, and as I said, I identified solidly with the character, this just did not unfold in a way that I personally enjoyed. And I hate to spoil something in a public review beyond already revealing there is not an overt supernatural element to this story. It simply was not my cup of tea. It is not a bad story, I am rating it upon its quality and craft. If you enjoy unrelenting tension and nagging questions that beg you to keep coming back, you may find yourself enjoying The Girl in the Video.

This is fantastic

Fresh from reading They're Watching, Michael David Wilson's collaborative effort with Bob Pastorella, I was fortunate enough to have MDW offer me the chance to review The Girl in the Video on audio. I think, although I've only just finished, I liked this one even more. I finished it in one day, so it's fast, and that definitely works in its favour.

What Wilson does so well in this one is similar to the plot in They're Watching: as the chaos unfurls, the mystery deepens, and the plot drags you deeper and deeper into the drama, compelling you to keep listening and find out just what the hell is happening.

The book is laced with wry humour - and enough Metal references to keep someone like me very happy - and all of that only softens you up for the killer blow coming in the denouement.

And that doesn't even mention the very satisfactory ending. I was on tenterhooks in the last few pages, and Wilson's use of misdirection while referencing some classic mystery films is expertly executed.

Another great one, and after these last two, I'll be back for more and more and more.