Reviewed by Kim Anisi for Readers' Favorite

Social media addiction is taken to a new level in Wired by Caytlyn Brooke. In a distant future, Maggie is initially skeptical when a new device called Vertix H2 is released, yet she goes to the midnight release with her best friend and her brother. After experiencing a demo of what the device can do, Maggie decides to buy one even though it is more expensive than she imagined. With the Vertix H2, the user is taken into a virtual reality that is displayed right into a person’s visual field – leaving half for the real world, half for the virtual one, to allow users to navigate the real world while playing games, checking social media or going through virtual galleries. Even cooking classes in which you can “taste” the end result are possible. Maggie soon turns from skeptic to fan, then from fan to addict. The Vertix H2 takes over her life, makes her lose her job – and her sanity. She is not the only one; her brother also falls into the trap of the thrill promised by the device. But the cost is high, and rises even further. Will Maggie escape the trap before it’s too late?

The plot of Wired by Caytlyn Brooke might take place in a future in which virtual reality is far more advanced than in it currently is in our world but it’s not unrealistic to imagine that the events could really happen like that. It’s only a matter of time until such devices really exist. And it’s easy to see how they can have a very addictive quality. If I could afford such a device, I’d probably have problems keeping away from it, too, even though I am generally not stupid – just like Maggie, who didn’t seem like a person to fall victim to an addiction at the beginning of the novel. It’s scary to see how Maggie degenerated with time, and the things she did because she was desperate. It was a very interesting read, and you really felt the tension. The novel turned into a fairly disturbing read. While it was entertaining, I’d definitely recommend it to people who like plots that include the dangers of modern technology and how it can mess up people’s lives. It’s almost like a modern fairy tale that carries quite a hefty message for people who spend a bit too much time on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (and what else there might be).