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Dial-Up and Die: '90s Internet Horror meets Found Footage!
In the summer of 1999, four Maryland high school students died in mysterious circumstances. All of them were obsessed with the internet but when investigators looked into their alternate lives in cyberspace, they found something terrifying.
Some judged it a suicide pact. Others, the work of a serial killer. But there is increasing evidence that the online activities of the victims attracted the attention of something more sinister, something that dwells within the internet itself ...
For the first time ever, this book collects and presents all of the evidence in narrative order, including a recently surfaced online journal long withheld by the authorities. Read the harrowing accounts of the victims themselves through chatroom conversations and emails along with newspaper reports from the time as they paint a terrifying picture of America's youth on the cusp of the millennium and a new technological age.
Some judged it a suicide pact. Others, the work of a serial killer. But there is increasing evidence that the online activities of the victims attracted the attention of something more sinister, something that dwells within the internet itself ...
For the first time ever, this book collects and presents all of the evidence in narrative order, including a recently surfaced online journal long withheld by the authorities. Read the harrowing accounts of the victims themselves through chatroom conversations and emails along with newspaper reports from the time as they paint a terrifying picture of America's youth on the cusp of the millennium and a new technological age.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 20, 2024
3 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
P.J. Thorndyke
19 books13 followersP. J. Thorndyke is a writer of horror, fantasy and adventure fiction inspired by the trashier side of pop culture like dime novels, pulp magazines, and grindhouse movies.
His 'Celluloid Terrors' series consists of standalone horror novels set in different decades and inspired by the horror movies popular in those decades.
He is also the author of the Lazarus Longman Chronicles; a series about a British secret agent in an alternate 19th century that blends Steampunk with the Lost World genre.
His 'Celluloid Terrors' series consists of standalone horror novels set in different decades and inspired by the horror movies popular in those decades.
He is also the author of the Lazarus Longman Chronicles; a series about a British secret agent in an alternate 19th century that blends Steampunk with the Lost World genre.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 28, 2025
Calling all 90's Internet Horror Fans.... this book is for us! Internet Horror meets Found Footage?! Yes please. As soon as I stumbled across this book, I knew I had to have it. Two of my favorite things! This was also my first time reading P.J. Thorndyke and I'll definitely be checking out the rest of their works ASAP after having enjoyed this immensely!
Dial-Up and Die follows four high schoolers that find themselves being targeted online by a mysterious being via the internet. Whenever all four of them are found dead under strange circumstances, a fellow student and former friend of one of the victims, decides to dive deep into the web to figure out what killed them.
The set up of this book read like a dream and was beyond CREEPY. As readers we get to read in a variety of different formats set up like chat rooms, online journal/blogs, and newspaper articles. This was such a fun one and I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy found footage and 90's internet horror then this is going to be a top read for you! It sure was for me.
I need more of these stories in my life. Highly recommend!
Dial-Up and Die follows four high schoolers that find themselves being targeted online by a mysterious being via the internet. Whenever all four of them are found dead under strange circumstances, a fellow student and former friend of one of the victims, decides to dive deep into the web to figure out what killed them.
The set up of this book read like a dream and was beyond CREEPY. As readers we get to read in a variety of different formats set up like chat rooms, online journal/blogs, and newspaper articles. This was such a fun one and I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy found footage and 90's internet horror then this is going to be a top read for you! It sure was for me.
I need more of these stories in my life. Highly recommend!
March 2, 2025
Great book! I'm not that easily scared, but this one frightened me. The story is told in chat logs, mails, Blogposts ect. And perfectly matches the fears people had at the turn of the millennium. It really matches the Zeitgeist.
May 15, 2025
This is the third “retro” horror book I have read by P. J. Thorndyke. All have been fantastic. Looking forward to reading more.
March 31, 2025
I love found-footage books! Yes, they used to be called ‘epistolary novels’, but the technology moved on. These days, it’s blogs and message boards instead of letters - and therein lies the problem.
The first part of this book is the setup for what we know is to come: four teenagers are going about their lives, but then die unexpectedly. All they had in common was sharing horror stories online as part of a contest; except they may have stumbled across something much more insidious.
Then we move on to those seeking the truth behind the deaths, and what exactly the stories contained. Is this a whodunnit or a what-dunnit…?
With strong shades of ‘Hackers’ (in the best way!) but with nods to many of the found-footage movies of the 2000s, I shot through this book in a weekend. The clever formatting - from fonts to images, glitches and what appear to be ‘genuine’ emails - made everything somehow even more real. I remember being a student at University when the online technology we’re so familiar with now seemed new and strange, adding a layer of plausibility to this bizarre mystery. Plus the teenage sense of being at once indestructible in online space and yet very vulnerable in the real world still seems as relevant as ever.
Fast, smart and genuinely creepy.
The first part of this book is the setup for what we know is to come: four teenagers are going about their lives, but then die unexpectedly. All they had in common was sharing horror stories online as part of a contest; except they may have stumbled across something much more insidious.
Then we move on to those seeking the truth behind the deaths, and what exactly the stories contained. Is this a whodunnit or a what-dunnit…?
With strong shades of ‘Hackers’ (in the best way!) but with nods to many of the found-footage movies of the 2000s, I shot through this book in a weekend. The clever formatting - from fonts to images, glitches and what appear to be ‘genuine’ emails - made everything somehow even more real. I remember being a student at University when the online technology we’re so familiar with now seemed new and strange, adding a layer of plausibility to this bizarre mystery. Plus the teenage sense of being at once indestructible in online space and yet very vulnerable in the real world still seems as relevant as ever.
Fast, smart and genuinely creepy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews