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Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Glenn Hurst is a fifty-six-year-old ghostwriter in dire financial straits who also faces a bitter divorce. When crypto-millionaire Brad Thorsen hires him to write his "origin story" at the remote Mattison Alkaline Works, the "Maw," in rural Virginia, he believes it is the lifeline he badly needs. It starts as a lucrative gig but quickly spirals into horror when Glenn discovers the mutated chiggers used for bioweapon research in the facility. He also discovers worse: dead bodies preserved in salt mines, indentured Romanian workers, and a plan to weaponize the parasites for military clients. As Glenn’s awareness of what he witnesses grows, he must choose between the seduction of a $1 million offer and an AI “girlfriend” named Darcy, on the one hand, and his conscience on the other. The Muck by Andrew Hallman is a thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat.
The Muck is enthralling and disturbing as the story progresses. Andrew Hallman’s novel can be read as a sharp satire of biotech horror and tech-bro capitalism. The horror is the effort to create weaponized parasites and internet content. I enjoyed the portrayal of Glenn as neither a hero nor a villain, but as the everyday guy pushed by desperation and the struggle for survival, whose self-sabotaging behavior made him genuinely flawed. Brad is the charismatic sociopath who reminded me a lot of a few politicians running the show in the world today, and this element of the story makes it more resonant for readers. The setting was finely drawn, and the Maw, characterized by chemical dead zones, rusted kilns, and the decaying, humid atmosphere, felt like something alive in the story. This suspenseful tale is well-paced and solidly plotted, with characters that stay with you even after the last page.
