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Reboot: A Novel
A raucous and wickedly smart satire of Hollywood, toxic fandom, and our chronically online culture, following a washed-up actor on his quest to revive the cult TV drama that catapulted him to teenage fameDavid Crader is a has-been. A former child actor from the hit teen drama Rev Beach, he now rotates between his new roles as deadbeat dad, part-time alcoholic, and occasional videogame voice actor. But when David is summoned to Los Angeles by Grace, his ex-wife and former co-star, he suddenly sees an opportunity for a reboot—not just of the show that made him famous, but also of his listless existence. Hollywood, the Internet, and a fractured nation have other plans, however, and David soon drinks himself to a This seemingly innocuous revival of an old Buffy rip-off could be the spark that sets ablaze a nation gripped by far-right conspiracies, toxic fandoms, and mass violence. Reboot is a madcap and eerily prescient speculative comedy for our era of glass-eyed doomscrolling and Millennial nostalgia—a tale of former teen heartthrobs, online edge lords, and fish-faced cryptids, perfect for anyone who still agonizes over Angel versus Spike, lives in fear of the QAnon mom next door, or has run afoul of a rabid “stan” and lived to tell.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2024
146 people are currently reading
7377 people want to read
About the author
Justin Taylor
18 books73 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Justin Taylor is the author of the novel “The Gospel of Anarchy” and the story collection “Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever.”
The Millions called “The Gospel of Anarchy” a “bold casserole of sensual encounter and deranged proclamation… Loudly, even rapturously, Taylor succeeds in making the clamoring passion of his characters real, their raw, mercurial yearning a cry for ‘a world newly established.’ In terms of acts of God, The Gospel of Anarchy is a tornado, tearing up the hill where rock ‘n roll and cult meet.”
And the New York Times raved that “Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever ” is a “spare, sharp book” which “documents a deep authority on the unavoidable confusion of being young, disaffected and human. … [T]he most affecting stories in … are as unpredictable as a careening drunk. They leave us with the heavy residue of an unsettling strangeness, and a new voice that readers — and writers, too — might be seeking out for decades to come.”
His stories have been published in many shitty literary journals, and his non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, BookForum and The Believer, among other publications.
He lives in New York.
Justin Taylor is the author of the novel “The Gospel of Anarchy” and the story collection “Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever.”
The Millions called “The Gospel of Anarchy” a “bold casserole of sensual encounter and deranged proclamation… Loudly, even rapturously, Taylor succeeds in making the clamoring passion of his characters real, their raw, mercurial yearning a cry for ‘a world newly established.’ In terms of acts of God, The Gospel of Anarchy is a tornado, tearing up the hill where rock ‘n roll and cult meet.”
And the New York Times raved that “Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever ” is a “spare, sharp book” which “documents a deep authority on the unavoidable confusion of being young, disaffected and human. … [T]he most affecting stories in … are as unpredictable as a careening drunk. They leave us with the heavy residue of an unsettling strangeness, and a new voice that readers — and writers, too — might be seeking out for decades to come.”
His stories have been published in many shitty literary journals, and his non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, BookForum and The Believer, among other publications.
He lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
May 1, 2024
What the book description promised: a "madcap speculative comedy for our era" about a former child actor and the attempted reboot of his short-lived "Dawson's Creek meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer" teen drama series from the early aughts.
What I got instead: a rant about pop culture fandom that somehow links a popular RPG to antisemitic hollow Earth conspiracy theories, and a murder that has little emotional impact because the MC has taken up all of the literary air in the room. Of course, because it's a novel written by a white man, the alcoholic fuck-up MC manages to bag his wealthy, beautiful, and smart former co-star, despite having no redeeming qualities that I could discern.
What I got instead: a rant about pop culture fandom that somehow links a popular RPG to antisemitic hollow Earth conspiracy theories, and a murder that has little emotional impact because the MC has taken up all of the literary air in the room. Of course, because it's a novel written by a white man, the alcoholic fuck-up MC manages to bag his wealthy, beautiful, and smart former co-star, despite having no redeeming qualities that I could discern.
January 11, 2024
10/10. The book DeLillo would have written if he'd watched every episode of Buffy and Dawson's Creek.
December 15, 2024
to whatever nyt article, tiktok, or substack post that got this book on my TBR……. are you not embarrassed
February 15, 2024
Excellent. This novel rides that rare line wherein you can just as soon put it on your college syllabus as you can recommend it to a friend who simply likes a good book.
As far as recommending it to your friend who reads commercial bestsellers, I would recommend it to friends who recently loved TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW. In his creation of the "rebooted" TV show, and in his creation of/engagement with the gaming world, Taylor does a lot of the clever world-building that Gabrielle Zevin did in TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW. Both books also have heart. And they both explore broken marriages/relationships, as well as explore the connection between avid fandom and violence. I'd say REBOOT is more masculine-oriented than TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, and in some ways lines up with FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE. Taylor's take is slightly more meta than either of those, but every bit as entertaining.
As far as a specimen-for-your-syllabus goes, REBOOT has heavy WHITE NOISE vibes. The author masters not only DeLillo's satirical themes but also his deft, character-driven narrative style. What's really interesting to me is that, back when I first read WHITE NOISE, the disasters -- like the Airborne Toxic Event -- felt so... speculative. Exercises in extrapolation; the assumption being that we were still living within a space that was at a distance or remove from such extreme scenarios. But boy have times changed (or did I just get old?). Either way, the cultural phenomena and environmental disasters in REBOOT are either already part of our actual existence (forest fires, mass shootings, QAnon/space laser believers, etc) that there's definitely a difference in how the book hits. (Although, side note: I guess the Airborne Toxic Event has now actually happened, too! It just hadn't at the time when I first encountered WHITE NOISE.) We live in a world where it has become difficult to look at a headline and guess whether it comes from the Onion or the BBC, and in some ways I suppose that gives REBOOT a more incisive bite.
All this said, this is not a "cold" academic novel! Or a mean one whose entire point is cynicism. Taylor appears to actually hold his characters in warm regard (gasp), and that keeps a warmth kindled in the reader's heart to want to keep hanging out with them and turn those pages. In the interest of discussing this in terms of "reader recommendations" I would urge those who are reading for entertainment to make sure to read further than the "cold open." While the book opens with the POV of a self-proclaimed Incel who implies he's an imminent active shooter, this isn't where the book lives. Read on -- it's worth it.
Oh, and besides the fact that the cover reminds me of those airbrushed T-shirts you used to be able to buy at your local beach boardwalk in the 1990s, now that I've read the book, I see what's in the rest of the picture, and "get it"!
As far as recommending it to your friend who reads commercial bestsellers, I would recommend it to friends who recently loved TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW. In his creation of the "rebooted" TV show, and in his creation of/engagement with the gaming world, Taylor does a lot of the clever world-building that Gabrielle Zevin did in TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW. Both books also have heart. And they both explore broken marriages/relationships, as well as explore the connection between avid fandom and violence. I'd say REBOOT is more masculine-oriented than TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, and in some ways lines up with FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE. Taylor's take is slightly more meta than either of those, but every bit as entertaining.
As far as a specimen-for-your-syllabus goes, REBOOT has heavy WHITE NOISE vibes. The author masters not only DeLillo's satirical themes but also his deft, character-driven narrative style. What's really interesting to me is that, back when I first read WHITE NOISE, the disasters -- like the Airborne Toxic Event -- felt so... speculative. Exercises in extrapolation; the assumption being that we were still living within a space that was at a distance or remove from such extreme scenarios. But boy have times changed (or did I just get old?). Either way, the cultural phenomena and environmental disasters in REBOOT are either already part of our actual existence (forest fires, mass shootings, QAnon/space laser believers, etc) that there's definitely a difference in how the book hits. (Although, side note: I guess the Airborne Toxic Event has now actually happened, too! It just hadn't at the time when I first encountered WHITE NOISE.) We live in a world where it has become difficult to look at a headline and guess whether it comes from the Onion or the BBC, and in some ways I suppose that gives REBOOT a more incisive bite.
All this said, this is not a "cold" academic novel! Or a mean one whose entire point is cynicism. Taylor appears to actually hold his characters in warm regard (gasp), and that keeps a warmth kindled in the reader's heart to want to keep hanging out with them and turn those pages. In the interest of discussing this in terms of "reader recommendations" I would urge those who are reading for entertainment to make sure to read further than the "cold open." While the book opens with the POV of a self-proclaimed Incel who implies he's an imminent active shooter, this isn't where the book lives. Read on -- it's worth it.
Oh, and besides the fact that the cover reminds me of those airbrushed T-shirts you used to be able to buy at your local beach boardwalk in the 1990s, now that I've read the book, I see what's in the rest of the picture, and "get it"!
March 31, 2024
I think this book was a huge swing and a miss for me because of an unfocused plot that sludges along, but what was most frustrating was the sense of humor. Ostensibly it's set in 202(2/3/4) but really is lacking in the type of jokes the description says. Ones that have stayed with me is someone not wanting to drink soda water instead of alcohol "like a derp," and someone saying to someone else they think they've "won the internet" for today.
March 5, 2024
DNF at page 100. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the main character. I’m also an avid gamer and the talk of the fictional video game and its ins and out bored me. I ended up skimming a lot, and decided to just let it go.
May 13, 2024
everyone just seemed bored to be there. back to female authors for me 🫡🫡
October 8, 2024
This book is awful!! I am so upset I wasted time reading this that I had to write a review. It was boring, strange and borderline incomprehensible. The thinly veiled comments on climate change lose credibility when the writer decided to bring in lizard people into the story. Save yourself the time/ brain power I wasted and just skip this one
December 28, 2023
A funny, excellent satire of our current desire to reboot literally everything - unfortunately with an ending that just didn’t cut it for me. Excellent writing though.
May 23, 2024
Comic novel about a washed up former child actor, now getting by by doing voice acting for videogames, who gets involved with a scheme to reboot the TV series that made him famous….only to run afoul of Internet trolls, “hollow Earth” conspiracy theorists, two ex wives, a drinking problem, and other hazards. The book has a literary bent, namedropping Woolf, Wordsworth, Joyce et al, while also having serious geek cred in its discussion of the gaming/online/fandom world. Liked the book overall but didn’t love it. The story meanders at times and is a bit one-note, but that one note does tend to be a funny one, so I’m not sorry I read it. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it’s a good light read, should be enjoyable by gamers, and has some thought provoking discussion on second chances and “rebooting” your life in the face of past failures and regret.
May 13, 2024
It was written in this stream of consciousness way that became very annoying very fast. A lot of the characters sounded the same, and then there would be some massive info dumping. It was interesting enough that I finished, and it was pretty clearly spelled out by the end what it was trying to say, but it could have been executed better.
July 28, 2024
This is like a Substack post with a dash of fiction. Never let me read chronically online people ever again. Sole reason this is a 3 (2.5 rounded up) is because I liked the ending.
September 2, 2024
TITLE: REBOOT
AUTHOR: Justin Taylor
PUB DATE: 04.23.2024
A Hollywood satire about a washed up actor - whip smart and with humor, a very unique and interesting read.
AUTHOR: Justin Taylor
PUB DATE: 04.23.2024
A Hollywood satire about a washed up actor - whip smart and with humor, a very unique and interesting read.
December 31, 2024
The Buzzfeed-era style of pop culture references and Reddit-level understanding of fandom would’ve felt cutting edge in like…2010. Plus the overly-casual first person narration style started to drive me crazy around 20 pages in. Instead of conversations, characters give minute-long uninterrupted speeches that are just lists and/or Wikipedia article summaries. The Don Delillo parallel is obvious, but I was never charmed by Justin Taylor’s insights or specifics, and hated his frequent winking nods to the reader.
“ ‘How was your day?’
‘I took meetings. People asked me for money to fund things: movies, foundations, a school I think, though it might have been a website. An online school or a school for people who make websites. I gave them some money. I took some staged casuals in support of my line of personal-care products. We can’t all be Gwyneth or Busy, but we do what we can. I monitored the fires. I mean I had people monitor the fires. I posted the staged casuals to my social media accounts. I watched the numbers tumble upward through five and six figures. Likes and reposts, RT and QT. Those are Twitter terms. The other sites have other terms. A man—well, I assume it was a man—who goes by BigDiogenesEnergy speculated at some length about my connections to Mossad and also my foot size. He was wrong on both counts, but closer on the feet. I’ve got big feet for a girl my size, as you know.’ “
“In the dream, Alex Nichols was wearing a white dinner jacket like Sean Connery in Goldfinger (or Daniel Craig in Spectre). He sat on a black bench before a black baby grand piano in the center of the multipurpose room stage. (The actual multipurpose room at Rising Star had a Casio keyboard on a card table.) Catherine Higley stood beside him with her hand on his shoulder, her eyes closed. She was dressed like Wednesday Addams, but had Uma Thurman’s Pulp Fiction haircut. Alex, whose back was to me, was playing the changes for the Springfields’ “Silver Threads and Golden Needles,” though I knew that song mostly from the Tammy, Loretta, and Dolly version on Honky Tonk Angels, because Shayne had gone through a country phase during one of his authenticity kicks.”
“You know that lame Everclear song from ’97, the one that starts, “Here is the money that I owe you” and has the line about “Welfare Christmas” and in the chorus the whiny blond guy sings, “I will buy you that big house / Way up in the West Hills”?
These were those hills.”
“I fought the urge to do that nervous thing (like the I Think You Should Leave sketch) where you grab your shirt by the hem and tug it away from your gut so it looks like you don’t have a gut.”
“ ‘How was your day?’
‘I took meetings. People asked me for money to fund things: movies, foundations, a school I think, though it might have been a website. An online school or a school for people who make websites. I gave them some money. I took some staged casuals in support of my line of personal-care products. We can’t all be Gwyneth or Busy, but we do what we can. I monitored the fires. I mean I had people monitor the fires. I posted the staged casuals to my social media accounts. I watched the numbers tumble upward through five and six figures. Likes and reposts, RT and QT. Those are Twitter terms. The other sites have other terms. A man—well, I assume it was a man—who goes by BigDiogenesEnergy speculated at some length about my connections to Mossad and also my foot size. He was wrong on both counts, but closer on the feet. I’ve got big feet for a girl my size, as you know.’ “
“In the dream, Alex Nichols was wearing a white dinner jacket like Sean Connery in Goldfinger (or Daniel Craig in Spectre). He sat on a black bench before a black baby grand piano in the center of the multipurpose room stage. (The actual multipurpose room at Rising Star had a Casio keyboard on a card table.) Catherine Higley stood beside him with her hand on his shoulder, her eyes closed. She was dressed like Wednesday Addams, but had Uma Thurman’s Pulp Fiction haircut. Alex, whose back was to me, was playing the changes for the Springfields’ “Silver Threads and Golden Needles,” though I knew that song mostly from the Tammy, Loretta, and Dolly version on Honky Tonk Angels, because Shayne had gone through a country phase during one of his authenticity kicks.”
“You know that lame Everclear song from ’97, the one that starts, “Here is the money that I owe you” and has the line about “Welfare Christmas” and in the chorus the whiny blond guy sings, “I will buy you that big house / Way up in the West Hills”?
These were those hills.”
“I fought the urge to do that nervous thing (like the I Think You Should Leave sketch) where you grab your shirt by the hem and tug it away from your gut so it looks like you don’t have a gut.”
September 24, 2024
This is certainly a novel that covers many bases: conspiracy theories, TV reboot culture, feeling washed up and like it’s too late to make a good life for oneself, the twisted political discourse of recent years, climate collapse, and COVID. At times I felt like there was too much crammed into these pages, and that some references and trends felt a little dated. I’m fatigued by COVID literature as well. I do think the writer is talented and nicely put all these things together, and I loved the weirdness he captures of Florida and Portland. I like the author’s work and want to read his memoir, I just don’t know that I’m the audience for REBOOT.
December 8, 2024
the author tried to be so so clever but every take was lukewarm. the plot dragged, every woman in the story fit exactly a stereotype (girlboss, hippy, liberal, mom). it was a good premise, but not much actually happened for how long and wordy this book was. it also did so much telling not showing that it was painful and i found myself skipping a lot of the rants because every. take. was. incredibly. lukewarm.
April 13, 2025
this book is so full of millennial pop culture references and references to far right conspiracy bullshit that it almost distracts you from the characters that are almost satires of themselves and the fact that the plot goes absolutely nowhere
May 23, 2024
Can you give a positive 2-star review? I’ll try. There’s some occasionally interesting pop culture insight here, but it’s mining for gold in a muddy, shapeless, plotless void.
October 17, 2025
Clearly written by a man (non-complimentary)
September 28, 2024
This was a lot of fun. Set in a world very familiar to me, Hollywood. I loved it.
April 30, 2024
Reads like a reddit thread at times. I'll let you decide if that's a bad thing or not.
July 29, 2024
I thought myself to be chronically online before reading this - now I think I may be doing okay. That realization is the one benefit of reading this.
The actual process of reading this novel was surreal - for a while the plot would be coherent and even perhaps decent but then the narrative would derail into a rant of bewildering stream of consciousness where the conspiracy theories and nonsensical tangents take over. In addition to simply being difficult to make sense of - the level of chronically online cultural knowledge that was being thrown at us did not even seem to align with what our narrator should reasonably be expected to know and understand as a 40-year-old washed-up child actor who throughout the novel lectures the readers with knowledge of online communities that we do not see him frequent in the actual novel. Frankly, this seemed to be written not for the purpose of telling a story, but to be a soapbox for the author's own ideologies - going as far as to address the readers directly breaking that fourth wall in a very clumsy fashion.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!
The actual process of reading this novel was surreal - for a while the plot would be coherent and even perhaps decent but then the narrative would derail into a rant of bewildering stream of consciousness where the conspiracy theories and nonsensical tangents take over. In addition to simply being difficult to make sense of - the level of chronically online cultural knowledge that was being thrown at us did not even seem to align with what our narrator should reasonably be expected to know and understand as a 40-year-old washed-up child actor who throughout the novel lectures the readers with knowledge of online communities that we do not see him frequent in the actual novel. Frankly, this seemed to be written not for the purpose of telling a story, but to be a soapbox for the author's own ideologies - going as far as to address the readers directly breaking that fourth wall in a very clumsy fashion.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!
November 9, 2024
breezy hollywood-ish story of, ah, reboots. of tv shows, video games, romance, family, conspiracies and more! funny at times, a bit in the conspiracy weeds at times but a nice ride.
extra 1/2 star for Portland tie in.
extra 1/2 star for Portland tie in.
Read
July 6, 2024I just didn’t get it, lol.
June 3, 2024
Very clever! Also, smug (very.) And coy (kind of.) But mostly just ridiculous
June 20, 2024
Rating: 2.5 Stars!!
Review:
Thank you to Pantheon Books for picking me to win this FREE ARC Copy as part of a giveaway on their website earlier this year.
This was my first time reading a YA novel by Justin Taylor so I wasnt sure what to expect but I have to say that sadly this book was just OK for me. I was hoping to like it more than I did but Part 1 was just too descriptive and too long for me with very little happening.
I thought this book was going to be like The OC meets Laguna Beach and Beverly Hills 90210 but sadly I was mistaken.
The Characters were OK but could of been better since I couldn't stand the complaining that the Main characters did through Part 1.
The Setting was beautifully described which made me feel like I was actually in California, New York, and Florida while reading especially when the scenery was described which was just about the only thing I loved about this book.
Overall it could of been so much better. I will read more by Justin in the future but I hope his other books arent like this one was.
Review:
Thank you to Pantheon Books for picking me to win this FREE ARC Copy as part of a giveaway on their website earlier this year.
This was my first time reading a YA novel by Justin Taylor so I wasnt sure what to expect but I have to say that sadly this book was just OK for me. I was hoping to like it more than I did but Part 1 was just too descriptive and too long for me with very little happening.
I thought this book was going to be like The OC meets Laguna Beach and Beverly Hills 90210 but sadly I was mistaken.
The Characters were OK but could of been better since I couldn't stand the complaining that the Main characters did through Part 1.
The Setting was beautifully described which made me feel like I was actually in California, New York, and Florida while reading especially when the scenery was described which was just about the only thing I loved about this book.
Overall it could of been so much better. I will read more by Justin in the future but I hope his other books arent like this one was.
May 30, 2024
3/5 - this was…confusing in a bad way
June 10, 2024
First review I’ve ever written; that’s how much I loved this book. This feels like the necessary third book in a Goon Squad/Candy House series. 10/10, very positive this is the book I will not only most enjoy this year but also continue to think about for years to come.
Read
December 10, 2024Tried reading and listening, both were a DNF for me. Might have been the wrong time to try, but just didn't connect.
March 24, 2025
hey so i didnt like this at all lmao
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews