Can you learn a language this fast? [You Are Obsolete by Matthew Klickstein]

A disgraced journalist is called to cover a mysterious story on an isolated European island. As she investigates, she discovers that children have taken control via weird technology linked to their smartphones and are somehow killing off all adults by their 40th birthdays. Now, she must discover the truth behind the killings while staying on the good side of the children's harsh leader...or she's next. YOU ARE OBSOLETE is a spine-tingling techno thriller that evokes the eerie naturalism of 1970s horror films with a modern deadly digital twist. Written by Mathew Klickstein (Sony Pictures' Against the Dark, Slimed!, Springfield Confidential, Selling Nostalgia) and drawn Evgeniy Bornakov (DESCENDENT).

I had an interesting time trying to read this book. The file I'd initially downloaded from NetGalley onto my mobile device. I saw that others who'd given "reviews" were also giving reviews off incomplete books. The reviews were all low, citing an inability to read the book in its entirety. So I waited a few days, in case the problem was in the process of being fixed. I went to download the book again, this time onto my desktop. Same problem. Waited some more days. Not sure how to go about notifying anyone about the issue with the file, eventually I tweeted NetGalley who redirected me to how to get the notification ball rolling, and that I did. A few days later I got the problem was fixed and I was finally able to read the book. 

Ready to give the book a fair chance and for some reason expecting much, I went to reading Matthew Klickstein's You Are Obsolete. Unfortunately, the reviews, even without the full book, weren't far off. A would-be horror story about a generation of children using technology for population control is too heavy with name drops. The formatting of the text boxes was a bit weird, and the regular insertion of the Estonian language, while insanely cool, didn't make sense to me. Days in a new country and the protagonist is already interjecting phrases into her daily dialogue? I don't buy it. 

This idea of callous super intelligent children being a metaphor for the ills of the modern technological society is not necessarily new, but my issue here is how forced it read. The attempted social media critique fell flat. The tension wasn't there for me and the story often felt very convoluted. 2 stars from me. 

You Are Obsolete is set for publication June 30, 2020.