Viral by Matthew Sperling is about running a thriving start-up and the role of social media in a modern world. You can never erase your history… fake or real.
Viral synopsis
Meet Ned and Alice: internet entrepreneurs with a delightfully demagnetised moral compass.
In Berlin, their combined talents have brought social media start-up, The Thing Factory, to the verge of lucrative success.
But Ned – a businessman with a history of shady dealings – is unhappy at his increasing lack of control in the company.
When he launches a new app designed to ‘Uberize’ the escort industry, he finds himself treading in murky waters, having disturbed the fabric of Berlin’s underbelly. As his anxieties become harder to ignore, Alice’s ambitions are meanwhile tempting her to jettison her own principles for a turn at the wheel…
Both a satire on the social media age and a fast-paced suspense novel, Viral is a nimble commentary on power and control, the lengths people will go to acquire both, and what is at stake when personality and sex are tradable commodities.
Book review
After moving to Berlin, Alice and Ned start a social media start-up called The Thing Factory. Alice feels the drive to succeed at something and is looking for a purpose. Ned struggles to do purely pleasurable things, especially after he found his purpose. I recognize this feeling. He sounds like a regular 30-something fellow.
Through Ned’s past and current actions, Matthew Sperling shows the dangers and the impact of social media. No matter what, once it’s out there – either on the internet or in someone’s head – you can’t get rid of the information anymore. It is easy to deceive people: how do you tell the difference between fake news and real news? Are threats people send you real threats or just jokes?
You read about doing business as a thriving start-up plus the politics that come with it. Ned thinks he is unlike other people working at a start-up. As if you believe him. He is sarcastic and critical, but he stays serious. The turning point is when he and his colleagues start working om the sex worker platform called Gliss. They have a sound business model, and by reading their brainstorm sessions, you get inspired to come up with exciting ideas for your own (future) business. But what if other players start showing interest in what you are developing?
After a slow buildup, the suspense starts to build up for a deal The Thing Factory is working towards. This part almost made me feel anxious, as if I were involved in the wellbeing of the company. Will it go well? This subtle feeling of suspense is well-executed, and I like the way Matthew Sperling ended the book.
My only problem was with the characters. They didn’t feel fleshed out, nor did I find them interesting. I didn’t root enough for Ned and Alice to care for their narrative/story, especially not the detailed account of their daily lives and dates. I didn’t care for Folasade or Tristan either. That made the immersion less because I couldn’t connect to the main characters. It gets better at the end, but by then it’s too late.
Interested?
Pre-order your copy of Viral from Amazon (available 17 September 2020).
Many thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
