Incel – Matthew A. Clarke

5 stars

Matthew ends this book by saying that it was a hard book to write, and I’ll take it a step further and say it was a very hard book to read. Not because it was bad, far from it, but because it’s so so scary to think that extremists like Wayne and his friends are actually out there in the world.

Wayne is an incel, an involuntary celibate, who only has two friends in the world: twins, Drake and Lorna. He’s a black piller, someone who believes that he’s destined to be alone and scorned by the opposite sex forever; like it’s his destiny. Slowly, he’s drawn into the more violent, extreme side of the incel community as his friends devolve until they finally reach the point of no return.

Horror that has elements of real life is always so much more terrifying to me because it doesn’t need my imagination to make it all feel real. It’s scary enough being a woman (especially right now) but it’s made all the worse knowing that there are people out there who hate women simply because they exist. Because they feel inferior and think every woman everywhere is going to scorn and humiliate them. It’s an extremely terrifying thing to think about and sends a shiver down my spine.

Incel is written so well, almost chillingly so, and there were several places where I had to set the book down and take a break from the story just to get my head back on. I’ve been a fan of Matthew’s writing for a long time, and this one drives home just how talented he is. It’s easy to write about the things that intrigue you or that you enjoy, but it takes something special to be able to write something to inherently opposite to what you are, and write it well.