As a parent, it is scary to think that my child might someday be susceptible to this, and even scarier to think of the things I can’t even imagine that will come across his path. And with the things happening in Europe at the moment – I am stunned that people still refuse to believe what is shown to them. Incredibly thoughtful, important but simultaneously wonderfully trashy and entertaining story about the influence that the internet has on humanity. Storywise this was a pretty good book it constantly kept my attention with new supruse and gory details. That being said, I also consumed the entire thing in two sittings, give it a solid 5/5 and will happily read anything from Aron Beauregard.

This story will take you to many uncomfortable places, lots of gore and violence, and, of course, suicide. And the most surprising thing I learned was that there are actually no laws that protect people to this kind of online abuse. Take Oliver from Yellow or Henry from Sew Sorry or Vera in Son of the Sob and now Derek from Modern Hysteria. If you are a parent, dig deep into the dark recesses of your mind, as you watch your child happily engage on their internet connected device that you feel is so safe due to those “parental controls”; consider what you fear they may encounter the most and what influence that may have on your precious child.Aron's work I usually love because most of his output at this point is so comicly over the top with how gruesome the pictures that he paints are and how many taboos he chooses to break. This story was something that I thought I could anticipate the twists and turns in, and some of them I could but the ending was definitely different than I had imagined it when I first started and I loved that. Beauregard manages to plumb new depths of uncomfortable with his latest release that’s truly dark and disturbing, yet it drives home a very important message about our modern society! You know it's sick and disgusting and disturbing, but what you might not know is that Modern Hysteria's themes are poignant and relevant to today's youth culture. Modern Hysteria is an extreme horror, so definitely not for everyone and not my usual preferred subgenre.

Reading this brought up similar emotions that Tender Is The Flesh brought up for me - just the parallels to the read world.

MODERN HYSTERIA is about ‘The Dropout Challenge’ – Beauregard’s version of something like ‘The Blue Whale Challenge’ – where desperate, lonely youths are brainwashed into self-harm and even suicide. The fact that there ARE humans in this world that use the internet for *similar* types of messed up shit that happens in this book makes this a heavy read. Aron Beauregard brings you another tale of depravity and gore that pushes the boundaries – as we’ve come to expect. Upon hitting rock bottom, Derek becomes obsessed with pulling back the curtain on the malevolent mastermind responsible for his brother's gruesome demise.

As someone who grew up in the age of Internet challenges, this hit close to home and it’s horror comes from how possible it easily can be. Well handled themes of apathy, alienation, and suicide among the technology addicted youth of today, as well as the complacency of preoccupied parents make this book a compelling and challenging read. I don’t have kids but I’m even more scared and sad for every kid that uses the internet than I was before reading this. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

Definitely one of my favourites by Aaron, it was I'd say a bit more serious than his other books and I loved that! This is the story of an internet challenge that preys on the sad and uncertain, perpetrated by the worst of humanity. Although, my favourite scene in the book is an all out Slasher scene that brought to mind Clive Bakers character Dr Decker, stalking a family through their house in the opening scenes of Nightbreed. There's gore, scenes that make you DEEPLY uncomfortable, devastation, and ultimately justice (at what cost?