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Basilisk
A terrifying and unputdownable horror-thriller novel of fiendish puzzles, compelling mysteries and paranoia about an enigmatic hacker, a deadly online game, and a cyber weapon that makes people go insane. Perfect for readers of Paul Tremblay, Neal Stephenson and Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves, and the people who just have to know the answer.
Alex Webster is an ethical hacker who, like most hackers, prefers questions to answers. So when she and a colleague, Jay Morton, stumble across a mysterious game created by a shadowy figure known as The Helmsman, they are instantly hooked.
As they solve increasingly bizarre puzzles and uncover The Helmsman's deranged manifesto, they are pursued by a sinister group known only as XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX, who will do anything to stop them uncovering the Basilisk, a cognitive weapon which makes anyone who understands it lose their mind.
When Jay disappears, as they hone in on the truth of the Basilisk, Alex is left trying to piece together what's happened to her friend, escape the awful smiling glitch people stalking her every move, and solve The Helmsman's final puzzle.
Alex Webster is an ethical hacker who, like most hackers, prefers questions to answers. So when she and a colleague, Jay Morton, stumble across a mysterious game created by a shadowy figure known as The Helmsman, they are instantly hooked.
As they solve increasingly bizarre puzzles and uncover The Helmsman's deranged manifesto, they are pursued by a sinister group known only as XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX, who will do anything to stop them uncovering the Basilisk, a cognitive weapon which makes anyone who understands it lose their mind.
When Jay disappears, as they hone in on the truth of the Basilisk, Alex is left trying to piece together what's happened to her friend, escape the awful smiling glitch people stalking her every move, and solve The Helmsman's final puzzle.
560 pages, ebook
First published July 22, 2025
49 people are currently reading
1199 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
April 20, 2025
Basilisk is a horror novel about an online game that leads two ethical hackers down a road towards a mysterious cyber weapon for targeting people, not technology. Alexandra Webster worked for a cybersecurity firm, and now we're reading her story, written down to document what happened when her and her colleague Jay found the start of an online game created by 'The Helmsman' that rewarded participants with further "chapters" about a mysterious weapon. Jay disappeared, and Alex was still searching for what happened to him, and who the Helmsman was, whilst evading the strange smiling people trying to stop her.
This is a very distinctively-told horror novel, most easily summarised by saying it is like if you tried to do House of Leaves about a tech-focused ARG rather than a house. The actual writing is partly a narrative written by the ostensible protagonist, Alex, with added comments by someone else investigating the manuscript, and also the texts of the Helmsman's chapters. On top of that, there's links to articles, videos, and playlists, and a general expectation that you get drawn into the mystery enough to want to know what is going on. In that way, it makes you a player too, even if a passive one, and that is perhaps how it is most like an ARG as well as being about one: the meta- and intertextuality make it a horror novel with a 'this is true document we found' framing that actually has that creepy sense that could be true. Alex as a character isn't particularly transparent—in her narrative she barely reveals anything about herself that isn't part of what happened—but this works to allow the reader into the position of Alex, or to project their own things onto her. In a way, this is a book that is more about avatars than actual people.
Despite not being a hacker or a cybersecurity person, I'm otherwise perhaps the target audience for this novel: I love horror and internet horror, I find the concept of ARGs fascinating, I work close enough to tech-y stuff that I can recognise some of the tech terminology and don't find the rest of it intimidating if I don't understand it (and, I love mentioning 'The Game' as an example of a game). Like House of Leaves, there is a lot contained within this novel (or linked from it), including the hacker stuff, but also Old English, The Matrix, cryptic crosswords, philosophy, creepypastas, and other things that all feel part of a certain milieu. However, if you're not really engaged with those as potential ideas that might fit together in some kind of weird way, this book might feel off-putting, rather than a fun sort of rabbit hole. For me, it was the latter, a story packed with references to things I knew a bit about and an atmospheric sense of dread as it slowly unfolds through Alex's narrative.
There's something about modern day fears captured in Basilisk even though it might appear to be a fairly silly horror concept, from the idea that there's some kind of cyber weapon that could actually cause people to go insane as in the book, to other technological thought experiments and conspiracy theories that can cause people to extreme actions. The book itself has sections in The Helmsman's chapters that discuss some of these things, such as Roko's Basilisk and Slender Man, and being aware of some of the very real possible consequences of online ideas makes Basilisk even scarier in some ways. Again, this does require some knowledge of these things already (for example, I think the Zizian cult stuff around Roko's Basilisk is too recent to even be mentioned in the discussion of Roko's Basilisk in this novel), but even just knowing that ideas on the internet can become something more primes you. In this way, the book is also similar to something like Alison Rumfitt's Brainwyrms, another horror novel that takes the internet seriously.
From seeing some early reviews before I started reading, I expected Basilisk to be difficult to read and impenetrable (ironic given that Alex and Jay are penetration testers), but it turned out to be a readable, slow burn descent into what is apparently a purposeful madness. Maybe I'm just really the right person for this book, but I had a great time with it, and if you have any interest in the intersection between horror and technology, especially in terms of the transmission of the horror 'threat', then Basilisk is fun, dark, and has a satisfying enough ending despite feeling like a book that could perhaps never end in a way that really brings it all together.
This is a very distinctively-told horror novel, most easily summarised by saying it is like if you tried to do House of Leaves about a tech-focused ARG rather than a house. The actual writing is partly a narrative written by the ostensible protagonist, Alex, with added comments by someone else investigating the manuscript, and also the texts of the Helmsman's chapters. On top of that, there's links to articles, videos, and playlists, and a general expectation that you get drawn into the mystery enough to want to know what is going on. In that way, it makes you a player too, even if a passive one, and that is perhaps how it is most like an ARG as well as being about one: the meta- and intertextuality make it a horror novel with a 'this is true document we found' framing that actually has that creepy sense that could be true. Alex as a character isn't particularly transparent—in her narrative she barely reveals anything about herself that isn't part of what happened—but this works to allow the reader into the position of Alex, or to project their own things onto her. In a way, this is a book that is more about avatars than actual people.
Despite not being a hacker or a cybersecurity person, I'm otherwise perhaps the target audience for this novel: I love horror and internet horror, I find the concept of ARGs fascinating, I work close enough to tech-y stuff that I can recognise some of the tech terminology and don't find the rest of it intimidating if I don't understand it (and, I love mentioning 'The Game' as an example of a game). Like House of Leaves, there is a lot contained within this novel (or linked from it), including the hacker stuff, but also Old English, The Matrix, cryptic crosswords, philosophy, creepypastas, and other things that all feel part of a certain milieu. However, if you're not really engaged with those as potential ideas that might fit together in some kind of weird way, this book might feel off-putting, rather than a fun sort of rabbit hole. For me, it was the latter, a story packed with references to things I knew a bit about and an atmospheric sense of dread as it slowly unfolds through Alex's narrative.
There's something about modern day fears captured in Basilisk even though it might appear to be a fairly silly horror concept, from the idea that there's some kind of cyber weapon that could actually cause people to go insane as in the book, to other technological thought experiments and conspiracy theories that can cause people to extreme actions. The book itself has sections in The Helmsman's chapters that discuss some of these things, such as Roko's Basilisk and Slender Man, and being aware of some of the very real possible consequences of online ideas makes Basilisk even scarier in some ways. Again, this does require some knowledge of these things already (for example, I think the Zizian cult stuff around Roko's Basilisk is too recent to even be mentioned in the discussion of Roko's Basilisk in this novel), but even just knowing that ideas on the internet can become something more primes you. In this way, the book is also similar to something like Alison Rumfitt's Brainwyrms, another horror novel that takes the internet seriously.
From seeing some early reviews before I started reading, I expected Basilisk to be difficult to read and impenetrable (ironic given that Alex and Jay are penetration testers), but it turned out to be a readable, slow burn descent into what is apparently a purposeful madness. Maybe I'm just really the right person for this book, but I had a great time with it, and if you have any interest in the intersection between horror and technology, especially in terms of the transmission of the horror 'threat', then Basilisk is fun, dark, and has a satisfying enough ending despite feeling like a book that could perhaps never end in a way that really brings it all together.
November 11, 2025
4.5 stars
August 24, 2025
WOOOOOO YEEAAAH
had my initial reaction and now im back for another TIPSY REVIEW for all two of my goodreads followers
this is honestly one of the most intricate, thrilling and insane pieces of fiction i’ve read for a long time. it does take a little bit of acclimatising to when you first get into it given that much of the book includes both annotations and footnotes for the main text which can send your head spinning a bit but once you get your head round it you kind of learn what to properly digest and what to skim. and the extracts of the helmsman’s texts being a mish mash of prose, play scripts, research reports and emails was SO fun. the academic research-style sections in particular were so clever and scratched the post-graduate yearning-for-education part of my tiny brain so i appreciated that too.
i cannot describe how hard it was for me to put this book down. i did a close/open at work over the weekend with only 8 hours between my shifts and i was genuinely twitching in bed trying to resist the temptation to abandon the few hours of sleep i got to finish it up. the only thing i *will* say is that, if you’re at all familiar with the concept of “information hazards” (and “roko’s basilisk” in particular) there is a noticeable - but not utterly detrimental - decrease in the tension throughout the story as you can kind of surmise from the premise what the narrative is building towards. owing to my own research and previous innumerate internet deep dives i already had a bit of background about info hazards but it certainly didn’t detract from my interest in the story. and to anyone reading this review who is interested in reading the book and has no idea what either of those things mean, DONT LOOK THEM UP FIRST. go in blind, you’ll have more fun.
maybe part of me was also slightly disappointed by the ending but i think it ended the only way it could have. ‘basilisk’ is absolutely masterful, eerie, charming, tense and so so much fun. if you have even an oblique interest in puzzles, cybersecurity, sci-fi or what i guess ill call ‘technological horror’ you MUST pick it up. it’s also one of those books that i think would benefit even more from a second read, which i am already considering after hours of being without it. for all of these reasons, it’s going straight to the absolute bangers hall of fame.
had my initial reaction and now im back for another TIPSY REVIEW for all two of my goodreads followers
this is honestly one of the most intricate, thrilling and insane pieces of fiction i’ve read for a long time. it does take a little bit of acclimatising to when you first get into it given that much of the book includes both annotations and footnotes for the main text which can send your head spinning a bit but once you get your head round it you kind of learn what to properly digest and what to skim. and the extracts of the helmsman’s texts being a mish mash of prose, play scripts, research reports and emails was SO fun. the academic research-style sections in particular were so clever and scratched the post-graduate yearning-for-education part of my tiny brain so i appreciated that too.
i cannot describe how hard it was for me to put this book down. i did a close/open at work over the weekend with only 8 hours between my shifts and i was genuinely twitching in bed trying to resist the temptation to abandon the few hours of sleep i got to finish it up. the only thing i *will* say is that, if you’re at all familiar with the concept of “information hazards” (and “roko’s basilisk” in particular) there is a noticeable - but not utterly detrimental - decrease in the tension throughout the story as you can kind of surmise from the premise what the narrative is building towards. owing to my own research and previous innumerate internet deep dives i already had a bit of background about info hazards but it certainly didn’t detract from my interest in the story. and to anyone reading this review who is interested in reading the book and has no idea what either of those things mean, DONT LOOK THEM UP FIRST. go in blind, you’ll have more fun.
maybe part of me was also slightly disappointed by the ending but i think it ended the only way it could have. ‘basilisk’ is absolutely masterful, eerie, charming, tense and so so much fun. if you have even an oblique interest in puzzles, cybersecurity, sci-fi or what i guess ill call ‘technological horror’ you MUST pick it up. it’s also one of those books that i think would benefit even more from a second read, which i am already considering after hours of being without it. for all of these reasons, it’s going straight to the absolute bangers hall of fame.
June 2, 2025
First of all, this is a hugely impressive piece of work. So much has gone into this and it shows a writer capable of some many different styles - narrative, scientific papers, weird fiction, plays, 'found' footage...it's all here and all comes together in a way that works. There is a lot of content but, once you're invested in this story, you'll be wanting to devour every single word.
This one did take me a while to get into, I'll admit that. The opening was good, but not particularly horror-centric. However, like the game at the heart of this story, it intrigued me enough to get its claws into my brain, and before I knew it I was fully in.
I'm probably not the primary audience for this - I'm not a hacker, I'm massively into games or puzzles either, but I am a horror fan and the more this story went on, the more there was to satisfy that particular itch. All of the contents of the Helmsman's Texts, which form the basis of the game that our main character Alex has found herself playing, were super unnerving. But the darkest moments came from those weird, smiling but not-quite-right-or-normal folk who keep turning up and trying to convince Alex to stop playing, with increasingly terrifying methods.
I also enjoyed the 'found' style of this, with the story being presented as something that really happened and that had been forwarded to the author because he works in cybersecurity. The whole piece is annotated with notes from someone who works for the police, and poses even more questions than the story does on its own. Even though you know you're reading fiction - or, you assume it is fiction! - the way it pulls from the real world of shady online doings, the addition of the footnotes and chapters of the game itself...it feels like you're getting a glimpse at something you shouldn't, something that feels unsettling and dangerous.
The full piece is fascinating. We learn about the lore of the game that Alex is playing, we learn what has happened to other people who have completed it - spoiler, not good things! - and we also learn about the mechanics and motivation of the game itself. The more of the game we see Alex and her colleague Jay complete, the more invested we become as a reader...which makes the climax particular effective as things fall apart and we race headlong to that final chapter of the Helmsman's Texts that we've been straining for the whole time.
I've seen a few comparisons to House of Leaves. I can't commit directly having never read HOL, but looking at summaries online I can understand where those comps are coming from. Maybe I'll have to give that a go some time!
For a book that, on the face of it, is about hacking it pulls in so much; uncanny valley, online culture, the dark web, MKultra, and loads more weird stuff besides. It's ambitious, engaging and very much worth the effort needed to wade through everything that is offered here. While it isn't the most outright horrific thing I've read this year, it won't leave me alone. If I think about it too much my paranoia levels creep up and I have an urge to disconnect entirely from anything digital. To me, that suggests an effective story!
Thanks so much to the publishers and to NetGalley for the review copy.
This one did take me a while to get into, I'll admit that. The opening was good, but not particularly horror-centric. However, like the game at the heart of this story, it intrigued me enough to get its claws into my brain, and before I knew it I was fully in.
I'm probably not the primary audience for this - I'm not a hacker, I'm massively into games or puzzles either, but I am a horror fan and the more this story went on, the more there was to satisfy that particular itch. All of the contents of the Helmsman's Texts, which form the basis of the game that our main character Alex has found herself playing, were super unnerving. But the darkest moments came from those weird, smiling but not-quite-right-or-normal folk who keep turning up and trying to convince Alex to stop playing, with increasingly terrifying methods.
I also enjoyed the 'found' style of this, with the story being presented as something that really happened and that had been forwarded to the author because he works in cybersecurity. The whole piece is annotated with notes from someone who works for the police, and poses even more questions than the story does on its own. Even though you know you're reading fiction - or, you assume it is fiction! - the way it pulls from the real world of shady online doings, the addition of the footnotes and chapters of the game itself...it feels like you're getting a glimpse at something you shouldn't, something that feels unsettling and dangerous.
The full piece is fascinating. We learn about the lore of the game that Alex is playing, we learn what has happened to other people who have completed it - spoiler, not good things! - and we also learn about the mechanics and motivation of the game itself. The more of the game we see Alex and her colleague Jay complete, the more invested we become as a reader...which makes the climax particular effective as things fall apart and we race headlong to that final chapter of the Helmsman's Texts that we've been straining for the whole time.
I've seen a few comparisons to House of Leaves. I can't commit directly having never read HOL, but looking at summaries online I can understand where those comps are coming from. Maybe I'll have to give that a go some time!
For a book that, on the face of it, is about hacking it pulls in so much; uncanny valley, online culture, the dark web, MKultra, and loads more weird stuff besides. It's ambitious, engaging and very much worth the effort needed to wade through everything that is offered here. While it isn't the most outright horrific thing I've read this year, it won't leave me alone. If I think about it too much my paranoia levels creep up and I have an urge to disconnect entirely from anything digital. To me, that suggests an effective story!
Thanks so much to the publishers and to NetGalley for the review copy.
June 26, 2025
I'm planning to write a double review of this on my blog alongside Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, because the two books deeply resonate with each other, but some short thoughts here. I've long dreamed of finding a novel that has the playful, interactive quality of gamebooks I loved in my childhood, such as Kjartan Poskitt's Find the Phantom of Ghastly Castle (it only took me 20 years to find the bloody phantom, but I DID IT!) plus the delightful innovation of the best of r/nosleep (e.g. the Stairs in the Woods stories) where readers' comments play along with the fiction and feed into the next instalment. However, I had pretty much decided it wasn't possible, because novels that try to engage with these forms tend to feel gimmicky or try-hard - and obviously enough, not interactive. Then I read Matt Wixey's Basilisk. What a reading experience! This novel follows an ethical hacker who starts working through an online series of puzzles set by the mysterious figure of The Helmsman, who claims that if you solve them all, you will be presented with his basilisk, a cognitive weapon that consists of just four words. If you read them, they will shatter your perception of reality and may drive the unprepared mad. Indeed, most of the people who have seen the basilisk are now dead.
I absolutely adore this kind of Lovecraftian premise - knowledge as horror - and Wixey handles it brilliantly. Along the way, we learn a lot about the dangers that can lurk inside your own brain, from 'philosophical zombie' thought experiments that challenge the reality of sensory experience to linguistic explorations of 'depth-charge sentences' that deliberately mislead. But how the hell was Wixey going to pull off the ending? Would he try and give us an inevitably disappointing basilisk - or cop out? Obviously, I'm not going to spoil it, but I think one of the most impressive things about Basilisk is how it handles the reader's emotions. As I neared the end of the novel, I shared the characters' desperation to know the answer, but was also starting to wonder what it is about humanity that makes us want to know at all costs, even if we're pretty certain the consequences will be horrendous. And as I turned the final pages, I was becoming properly apprehensive... should I maybe just put the book down? This is both a superb horror novel (the Fairlop Waters sequence is unforgettable) and a satisfyingly brainy tour through hacking, philosophy, linguistics, computer science and more. Fantastic.
I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
I absolutely adore this kind of Lovecraftian premise - knowledge as horror - and Wixey handles it brilliantly. Along the way, we learn a lot about the dangers that can lurk inside your own brain, from 'philosophical zombie' thought experiments that challenge the reality of sensory experience to linguistic explorations of 'depth-charge sentences' that deliberately mislead. But how the hell was Wixey going to pull off the ending? Would he try and give us an inevitably disappointing basilisk - or cop out? Obviously, I'm not going to spoil it, but I think one of the most impressive things about Basilisk is how it handles the reader's emotions. As I neared the end of the novel, I shared the characters' desperation to know the answer, but was also starting to wonder what it is about humanity that makes us want to know at all costs, even if we're pretty certain the consequences will be horrendous. And as I turned the final pages, I was becoming properly apprehensive... should I maybe just put the book down? This is both a superb horror novel (the Fairlop Waters sequence is unforgettable) and a satisfyingly brainy tour through hacking, philosophy, linguistics, computer science and more. Fantastic.
I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
June 29, 2025
Thank you so much to Titan books and NetGalley for the ARC!
3 stars!
I have been battling with the rating for this since finishing it and it was a tough one because it's written really well and with so much information and research went into this, it was truly impressive.
It really gave me a digital House of Leaves vibe but within the tech, hacking, ARG world! I loved the use of media within it and it really did grasp my attention to keep reading. Sadly I just didn't love this as much as I had hoped BUT I have to give credit to how well this is written it just wasn't a perfect read for me but that doesn't mean it's not for anyone else.
I can't wait to see what else Matt Wixey will write!
3 stars!
I have been battling with the rating for this since finishing it and it was a tough one because it's written really well and with so much information and research went into this, it was truly impressive.
It really gave me a digital House of Leaves vibe but within the tech, hacking, ARG world! I loved the use of media within it and it really did grasp my attention to keep reading. Sadly I just didn't love this as much as I had hoped BUT I have to give credit to how well this is written it just wasn't a perfect read for me but that doesn't mean it's not for anyone else.
I can't wait to see what else Matt Wixey will write!
October 24, 2025
three days later lol and I finished it. I should not have read this seconds before my period and in the dark cause reading it now, light out, was totally fine haha. i liked how vegas was described in the last part of the book. the ending was the ending i foresaw and i think it fits but is predictable.
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dnf @ page 490 (was almost done but did not want to read the ending I was expecting) I just don't want to read this book anymore lol. As someone with a mental illness this was already probably not a good idea to read about cognitive weapons etc. but I really like puzzles and riddles and solving stuff so I only knew of a digital game going in with a hacker as a main character.
I liked finding out about some stuff I didn't know (cyber security) and I did find the parts with the play-like sections (the ones from 'Marlow Tannhauser') and when The Helmsmann did research etc.
to be interesting but it just took so long to read that I didn't want to be in the mindset of the characters anymore and the weird conspiracy-theorist-esque mind of The Helmsmann's Texts.
Definitely not for a YA audience in my opinion even though the design of the cover seems to me a bit juveline and fun???
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dnf @ page 490 (was almost done but did not want to read the ending I was expecting) I just don't want to read this book anymore lol. As someone with a mental illness this was already probably not a good idea to read about cognitive weapons etc. but I really like puzzles and riddles and solving stuff so I only knew of a digital game going in with a hacker as a main character.
I liked finding out about some stuff I didn't know (cyber security) and I did find the parts with the play-like sections (the ones from 'Marlow Tannhauser') and when The Helmsmann did research etc.
to be interesting but it just took so long to read that I didn't want to be in the mindset of the characters anymore and the weird conspiracy-theorist-esque mind of The Helmsmann's Texts.
Definitely not for a YA audience in my opinion even though the design of the cover seems to me a bit juveline and fun???
Read
September 2, 2025SO glad I persevered past initial formatting problems, redownloaded this, and got to read it. The main story is the testimony of a “white hat” hacker named Alex, who, with her colleague Jay, discovers what seems to be a hidden game orchestrated by a figure calling himself the Helmsman. As Alex and Jay play through the puzzles and challenges they’re set, they receive as rewards single chapters of what seems to be the Helmsman’s memoir: an account of a brilliant but increasingly unhinged scientist in a shadowy government department, conducting research into the feasibility of developing a “cognitive weapon”. He settles on something that, in the world of thought experiments, is known as a basilisk: a sentence that will fundamentally alter the victim’s understanding of reality. Eventually, it becomes clear that whatever Alex and Jay are playing isn’t a game: that there are people willing to kill to stop them from reaching the final level and discovering the sentence that comprises the weapon, and that those who have won the game often react so badly to the basilisk that they die, commit acts of unspeakable violence, and/or become insane.
I can’t improve on Laura’s perceptive disentangling of the ways in which Wixey riffs on the “Lovecraftian knowledge-as-horror” trope, or on her assessment of how cleverly he plays with the reader’s emotions (what does it mean that this book is so gripping? As we race towards the end, potentially meeting the same fates of death or madness as the characters, we still want to know: What is the basilisk? What are the words? And what does that say about us, eh?) The characters are fairly thinly sketched: Alex, Jay, and the mysterious Holly Soames—whose annotations to Alex’s testimony suggest that she, too, works for some shadowy government agency seeking to understand what happened after the fact—are basically player characters, people-shaped stand-ins for the reader’s own curiosity. But they work incredibly well; Basilisk wouldn’t be as effective a book if it went in deep on characterisation and background. Instead, it’s utterly absorbing (I read its 600 pages in a single day; a lot of the length is Holly’s and Alex’s own footnotes to the text, so it’s not actually that long). I also haven’t stopped thinking about it since reading it—about the specific details of what happens, and what various elements of the novel might mean or represent, and more broadly about the implications of its premise. Are there things we just aren’t meant to know? What if the cultural valorisation of endless discovery and the heroic individual who dares enlightenment (Plato’s cave is a recurring motif) is ultimately a trap made out of arrogance? A most superior philosophical techno-thriller; highest recommendation. Source: NetGalley
I can’t improve on Laura’s perceptive disentangling of the ways in which Wixey riffs on the “Lovecraftian knowledge-as-horror” trope, or on her assessment of how cleverly he plays with the reader’s emotions (what does it mean that this book is so gripping? As we race towards the end, potentially meeting the same fates of death or madness as the characters, we still want to know: What is the basilisk? What are the words? And what does that say about us, eh?) The characters are fairly thinly sketched: Alex, Jay, and the mysterious Holly Soames—whose annotations to Alex’s testimony suggest that she, too, works for some shadowy government agency seeking to understand what happened after the fact—are basically player characters, people-shaped stand-ins for the reader’s own curiosity. But they work incredibly well; Basilisk wouldn’t be as effective a book if it went in deep on characterisation and background. Instead, it’s utterly absorbing (I read its 600 pages in a single day; a lot of the length is Holly’s and Alex’s own footnotes to the text, so it’s not actually that long). I also haven’t stopped thinking about it since reading it—about the specific details of what happens, and what various elements of the novel might mean or represent, and more broadly about the implications of its premise. Are there things we just aren’t meant to know? What if the cultural valorisation of endless discovery and the heroic individual who dares enlightenment (Plato’s cave is a recurring motif) is ultimately a trap made out of arrogance? A most superior philosophical techno-thriller; highest recommendation. Source: NetGalley
October 16, 2025
The Basilisk of Matt Wixey’s bold and experimental novel is four words so deadly they can scramble your brain, like a computer worm. The idea of such a cognitohazard is brilliant (though not entirely new). What makes this novel so entrancing is the way it’s layered in multiple threads.
One thread is the story of ethical hacker Alex Webster and her colleague Jay Morton. While testing a client’s computers, they stumble on puzzles that lead to the mysterious Helmsman’s Texts. We follow them as they follow the trail of breadcrumbs, each puzzle solved rewarding them with the next text. Though they are warned off by the sinister Grinning People, they just have to get to the end and find the basilisk, which promises to strip away the illusion from reality. The Helmsman turns out to be a disgruntled agent of the secret state, and in the texts we follow his development of the terrifying bioweapon that is the basilisk. You may already have spotted the parallel with the movie, The Matrix. This is fulsomely acknowledged in the text, as is the allegory of Plato’s cave.
A second thread is the amassing of (real) scientific evidence that makes you believe such a weapon might just be possible. All of this density of research is fully referenced by Wixey.
A third thread is the added commentary and footnotes added by an intelligence operative investigating whether Alex’s account of events might be true.
The fourth thread is the delightfully inventive typography.
This is very much a novel of terrifying ideas. I never really got to grips with the characters (Alex always seemed male to me). But that doesn’t matter because the ideas are so exhilarating.
One thread is the story of ethical hacker Alex Webster and her colleague Jay Morton. While testing a client’s computers, they stumble on puzzles that lead to the mysterious Helmsman’s Texts. We follow them as they follow the trail of breadcrumbs, each puzzle solved rewarding them with the next text. Though they are warned off by the sinister Grinning People, they just have to get to the end and find the basilisk, which promises to strip away the illusion from reality. The Helmsman turns out to be a disgruntled agent of the secret state, and in the texts we follow his development of the terrifying bioweapon that is the basilisk. You may already have spotted the parallel with the movie, The Matrix. This is fulsomely acknowledged in the text, as is the allegory of Plato’s cave.
A second thread is the amassing of (real) scientific evidence that makes you believe such a weapon might just be possible. All of this density of research is fully referenced by Wixey.
A third thread is the added commentary and footnotes added by an intelligence operative investigating whether Alex’s account of events might be true.
The fourth thread is the delightfully inventive typography.
This is very much a novel of terrifying ideas. I never really got to grips with the characters (Alex always seemed male to me). But that doesn’t matter because the ideas are so exhilarating.
July 21, 2025
“If you’re only a little way in, they look like anyone else. But if you get past a certain point, they…their faces change.”
This is such a great piece of ergodic literature!
Basilisk follows an ethical hacker named Alex, who ends up discovering an ARG. Alex and her colleague, Jay, work through the different chapters provided by The Helmsman to try to solve the final puzzle.
As the story itself is being reviewed by another person, it is not essential to understand the world of hacking to feel the full effect of the book, the margins are full of explanations and research to guide you. It is clear Wixey’s background is in this area, and he does a great job of making the knowledge easy to comprehend.
The story itself was way creepier than I anticipated, there are quite a few moments that make you feel like you should be nervously looking over your shoulder. Due to the nature of ergodic literature, it also does such an amazing job of immersing you in to the story and making you feel like you are working at the puzzles alongside them. As you find out more about what the puzzles mean, it builds such an effective feeling of dread for the reader.
It’s quite a chunky book, but I feel like it is the perfect length. The pacing is great and you find yourself desperately wanting to keep reading until Alex and Jay reach the next chapter. If you enjoy books with unusual formats and puzzles to solve then I would definitely recommend.
I was kindly gifted an ARC of this book by Titan Books.
This is such a great piece of ergodic literature!
Basilisk follows an ethical hacker named Alex, who ends up discovering an ARG. Alex and her colleague, Jay, work through the different chapters provided by The Helmsman to try to solve the final puzzle.
As the story itself is being reviewed by another person, it is not essential to understand the world of hacking to feel the full effect of the book, the margins are full of explanations and research to guide you. It is clear Wixey’s background is in this area, and he does a great job of making the knowledge easy to comprehend.
The story itself was way creepier than I anticipated, there are quite a few moments that make you feel like you should be nervously looking over your shoulder. Due to the nature of ergodic literature, it also does such an amazing job of immersing you in to the story and making you feel like you are working at the puzzles alongside them. As you find out more about what the puzzles mean, it builds such an effective feeling of dread for the reader.
It’s quite a chunky book, but I feel like it is the perfect length. The pacing is great and you find yourself desperately wanting to keep reading until Alex and Jay reach the next chapter. If you enjoy books with unusual formats and puzzles to solve then I would definitely recommend.
I was kindly gifted an ARC of this book by Titan Books.
September 24, 2025
genuinely one of the best books i've read in a while. this is the exact type of horror i'm obsessed with, the kind that gets inside you and stays there. it's terrifying because it's realistic, because it could actually happen. the story is insane, and you can feel the insane amount of research poured into every page, but it never feels like it's showing off or trying too hard.
if there's one book that's aggressively underrated, it's this one. less than 100 reviews for something of this caliber is criminal. i haven't been this shaken by a book in a minute, and it was such a breath of fresh air compared to the other horror i've been picking up lately.
the main character feels completely real. you might not agree with her choices, but you understand her. you see what she sees, you get why she does what she does, because at the end of the day, we're all human, and curiosity gets the best of us. and hell, i wanted to know too.
my favorite part was how deeply inside the book you feel as a reader. it's not just a story, it feels like you're part of it, like you're reading something real, some kind of real reenactment or uncovered documentation. cannot recommend this enough.
if there's one book that's aggressively underrated, it's this one. less than 100 reviews for something of this caliber is criminal. i haven't been this shaken by a book in a minute, and it was such a breath of fresh air compared to the other horror i've been picking up lately.
the main character feels completely real. you might not agree with her choices, but you understand her. you see what she sees, you get why she does what she does, because at the end of the day, we're all human, and curiosity gets the best of us. and hell, i wanted to know too.
my favorite part was how deeply inside the book you feel as a reader. it's not just a story, it feels like you're part of it, like you're reading something real, some kind of real reenactment or uncovered documentation. cannot recommend this enough.
May 23, 2025
Wow! This book was totally engrossing and simultaneously nerve wracking! I read an eARC of this book on Net Galley so thank you to the author and the publisher.
I couldn’t put this one down. It’s such an unnerving book. We follow a person working in cyber security as they get drawn into a mysterious game that puts them in real danger. While working at a job with their mentor, they receive a strange message that has them solving a coding puzzle from someone called The Helmsman. They and their mentor quickly become obsessed with solving the full puzzle. But as they learn more they start to get warnings from people that the game is not as they seem and pursuing this path can only lead to danger and misery.
The deeper the characters got into this, the more terrified I became for them. Their obsession with solving this leads them to put themselves in danger, make poor choices and sacrifice their personal lives and health and sanity. There was a real and pervasive sense of jeopardy for the characters throughout. The tension in this book was immense!
This book is written in a multimedia format so we have a narrative from the main character interspersed with fragments from the game, notes from an investigator, even little plays. There is a lot of technical language used but it is footnoted with explanations.
I’d recommend this for fans of books like Ready Player One, Rabbits, Night Film or Blake Crouch. I was completely gripped throughout and I really enjoyed this book.
I couldn’t put this one down. It’s such an unnerving book. We follow a person working in cyber security as they get drawn into a mysterious game that puts them in real danger. While working at a job with their mentor, they receive a strange message that has them solving a coding puzzle from someone called The Helmsman. They and their mentor quickly become obsessed with solving the full puzzle. But as they learn more they start to get warnings from people that the game is not as they seem and pursuing this path can only lead to danger and misery.
The deeper the characters got into this, the more terrified I became for them. Their obsession with solving this leads them to put themselves in danger, make poor choices and sacrifice their personal lives and health and sanity. There was a real and pervasive sense of jeopardy for the characters throughout. The tension in this book was immense!
This book is written in a multimedia format so we have a narrative from the main character interspersed with fragments from the game, notes from an investigator, even little plays. There is a lot of technical language used but it is footnoted with explanations.
I’d recommend this for fans of books like Ready Player One, Rabbits, Night Film or Blake Crouch. I was completely gripped throughout and I really enjoyed this book.
June 20, 2025
💭 #QOTD if you found a hidden game, promising to reveal pretty things and wonderful secrets, would you play it?
Title: Basilisk
Author: Matt Wixey
Pages: 560
Rating: 3/5
Spice/Romance level: 🩷 talk of a relationship but no real romance
#Arc eCopy ( #gifted ) - review left voluntarily
UK re-publish date - 1st July 2025
"Their only crime was curiosity"
A cyber horror about a game that spreads a deadly virus that drives people crazy!
It gave me the black mirror vibe of play thing and I couldn't put it down.
So much research had gone into this. With psychological and social reports, technical terminology, teasing, twists and memorable villains. It reminded me of we happy few with the censored people "Be Happy!" It was incredibly well written.
This book is heavy on terminology. It was a hard read in some places, but it had me hooked. I was definitely curious. I wanted to know the words. I wanted to know the secret. I wanted to know if I'd pass the game.
You'll love this book if you like
- Hacker and cyber worlds
- unreliable narrators
- ARG
- games and puzzles
- psychological mind games
- sci fi horror thriller
- social experiments
- books over 500 pages
Title: Basilisk
Author: Matt Wixey
Pages: 560
Rating: 3/5
Spice/Romance level: 🩷 talk of a relationship but no real romance
#Arc eCopy ( #gifted ) - review left voluntarily
UK re-publish date - 1st July 2025
"Their only crime was curiosity"
A cyber horror about a game that spreads a deadly virus that drives people crazy!
It gave me the black mirror vibe of play thing and I couldn't put it down.
So much research had gone into this. With psychological and social reports, technical terminology, teasing, twists and memorable villains. It reminded me of we happy few with the censored people "Be Happy!" It was incredibly well written.
This book is heavy on terminology. It was a hard read in some places, but it had me hooked. I was definitely curious. I wanted to know the words. I wanted to know the secret. I wanted to know if I'd pass the game.
You'll love this book if you like
- Hacker and cyber worlds
- unreliable narrators
- ARG
- games and puzzles
- psychological mind games
- sci fi horror thriller
- social experiments
- books over 500 pages
May 30, 2025
An absolute brain-melter of a book!
Basilisk exceeded my expectations and then some. what a story, what a concept, and the ending left me breathless, gasping for more! It's hard to believe this is Matt Wixey's debut!
Following the life of hacker Alex, her life takes a turn when she intercepts a live hacking which leads her to a strange and mysterious game. Sucked in by the game's puzzles, she and her colleague endeavour to discover the truth of XXXXXXX, but not everyone is happy about the game's secrets coming to light!
This is a chunky beast of a book, but I promise you it's worth it. It had me hooked, it had me frightened, and I couldn't put it down as we raced towards the ending. And when it did end, I was left feeling like an absolute mad man. This book drove me insane, as was it's very intention, and I'm not the slightest bit mad about it.
Definitely pick this book up. Thank you Titan Books for the advance arc copy! ♥️
Basilisk exceeded my expectations and then some. what a story, what a concept, and the ending left me breathless, gasping for more! It's hard to believe this is Matt Wixey's debut!
Following the life of hacker Alex, her life takes a turn when she intercepts a live hacking which leads her to a strange and mysterious game. Sucked in by the game's puzzles, she and her colleague endeavour to discover the truth of XXXXXXX, but not everyone is happy about the game's secrets coming to light!
This is a chunky beast of a book, but I promise you it's worth it. It had me hooked, it had me frightened, and I couldn't put it down as we raced towards the ending. And when it did end, I was left feeling like an absolute mad man. This book drove me insane, as was it's very intention, and I'm not the slightest bit mad about it.
Definitely pick this book up. Thank you Titan Books for the advance arc copy! ♥️
August 25, 2025
3.5. I enjoyed it, but some aspects held it back from being a 4 in my view. Rounding up as I enjoyed the novelty of all the pieces making up the book.
I understand all the annotations explaining IT/hacking terms are to make the book accessible to everyone, but constantly having my attention drawn to the side of the page, often mid-sentence, broke up the flow for me.
I found the ending disappointing, but realised pretty early on it was the only possible ending.
A large amount of the book was in sort of essays about various hacking, philosophical, and psychological topics. These were interesting, but at times I had to put the book down as I wasn't in the mood for it. The parts actually focussed on what had happened with Alex and Jay, with the discovery and the puzzles, and the outcomes of the puzzles, was great. I feel like there was less of this than there was the essays, though, and the book would have been stronger if the balance went the other way.
I understand all the annotations explaining IT/hacking terms are to make the book accessible to everyone, but constantly having my attention drawn to the side of the page, often mid-sentence, broke up the flow for me.
I found the ending disappointing, but realised pretty early on it was the only possible ending.
A large amount of the book was in sort of essays about various hacking, philosophical, and psychological topics. These were interesting, but at times I had to put the book down as I wasn't in the mood for it. The parts actually focussed on what had happened with Alex and Jay, with the discovery and the puzzles, and the outcomes of the puzzles, was great. I feel like there was less of this than there was the essays, though, and the book would have been stronger if the balance went the other way.
July 27, 2025
This is an impressive meta horror novel and I had a lot of fun reading it. It's a bit of a mash up of some of my favourite books - The Raw Shark Texts, Lexicon, and House Of Leaves (of course). There's even a sprinkle of The Last Days of Jack Sparks too.
Matt Wixler really knows his stuff and is clearly an Internet™️ guy. Along with the traditional narrative there's also articles, essays, images, memes, Reddit posts and more. Some genuinely creepy shit happens and I just fucking loved the whole thing. My only complaint is some of the "essays" took me away from the main narrative because I needed to find out what happened next immediately.
There's a lot of IT terminology but it comes with an abundance of footnotes (also very meta, the footnotes are written by another character) that explains anything too obscure for the average reader.
Matt Wixler really knows his stuff and is clearly an Internet™️ guy. Along with the traditional narrative there's also articles, essays, images, memes, Reddit posts and more. Some genuinely creepy shit happens and I just fucking loved the whole thing. My only complaint is some of the "essays" took me away from the main narrative because I needed to find out what happened next immediately.
There's a lot of IT terminology but it comes with an abundance of footnotes (also very meta, the footnotes are written by another character) that explains anything too obscure for the average reader.
Read
August 26, 2025This is the kind of book that drives me most insane. It's complicated, interesting, and well written enough that I can't put it in my DNF pile. But by about the 50% mark you begin to think that it's not going to have a satisfying ending. And by the 75% mark you're sure of it. And despite that, it's just compelling enough that you still hope to be wrong and keep reading anyway. Matt Wixey clearly knows enough about real hacking and computer security to create a book that's a realistic and enticing look into that world. But, at least for me, this book needed an ending that was an actual ending and not merely a tease gesturing at one.
October 16, 2025
Plot
I admire the unique and meticulous construction of this book, but didn't necessarily fully enjoy the ride especially as the novel progressed. In concept, the idea of a series of online puzzles leading to some unknown prize/weapon is intriguing and should be fun, yet I felt the experience was dampened somewhat by the deliberate overbearing crypticism of the puzzles, which even to our characters, left more questions than answers. Now I never expected to be able to solve any of these puzzles myself of course, but on some level I felt like I should at least be able to understand them somewhat enough to be somewhat intrigued and entertained by them. Here, I simply had to frown and shrug before moving on wondering what the hell I just read.
In terms of the conclusion,
Characters
Regarding the characters, I never felt particularly attached to them, as so much of the journey concerns the fraught danger of solving this trail of puzzles in what is clearly a self-destructive quest there wasn't much room for characterisation that endeared me to them. Admittedly, the book acknowledges itself that hackers are a particular bunch that can behave and think in ways far from endearing, but I would have liked to at least have felt somewhat invested in them and felt something when they all faced the consequences of their actions.
Structure
Now I didn't know before picking up this book that the book was formatted as one long document, spliced in with interludes, documents and narrative all jumbled up in a non-sequential order. I adjusted and all in all it was a unique reading experience though at times left me desiring a traditionally told narrative. This was especially prevalent when the book would present several documents and lengthy technical explanations one after another - while I understand their purpose of immersion, this often would wear me down in what were very half-decipherable scientific discussions where I got the gist and had to push on in what was a really dry research paper. This in combination with the non-sequential narrative really killed the pacing for me, where we might not have seen our character's narrative progress for even 50 pages or more because we're stuck busily reading supplementary material like homework.
Final thoughts
Overall, I liked the idea of this book more than the execution. I can understand why someone might love this as a niche and uniquely formatted story, but this definitely didn't work for me.
I admire the unique and meticulous construction of this book, but didn't necessarily fully enjoy the ride especially as the novel progressed. In concept, the idea of a series of online puzzles leading to some unknown prize/weapon is intriguing and should be fun, yet I felt the experience was dampened somewhat by the deliberate overbearing crypticism of the puzzles, which even to our characters, left more questions than answers. Now I never expected to be able to solve any of these puzzles myself of course, but on some level I felt like I should at least be able to understand them somewhat enough to be somewhat intrigued and entertained by them. Here, I simply had to frown and shrug before moving on wondering what the hell I just read.
In terms of the conclusion,
Characters
Regarding the characters, I never felt particularly attached to them, as so much of the journey concerns the fraught danger of solving this trail of puzzles in what is clearly a self-destructive quest there wasn't much room for characterisation that endeared me to them. Admittedly, the book acknowledges itself that hackers are a particular bunch that can behave and think in ways far from endearing, but I would have liked to at least have felt somewhat invested in them and felt something when they all faced the consequences of their actions.
Structure
Now I didn't know before picking up this book that the book was formatted as one long document, spliced in with interludes, documents and narrative all jumbled up in a non-sequential order. I adjusted and all in all it was a unique reading experience though at times left me desiring a traditionally told narrative. This was especially prevalent when the book would present several documents and lengthy technical explanations one after another - while I understand their purpose of immersion, this often would wear me down in what were very half-decipherable scientific discussions where I got the gist and had to push on in what was a really dry research paper. This in combination with the non-sequential narrative really killed the pacing for me, where we might not have seen our character's narrative progress for even 50 pages or more because we're stuck busily reading supplementary material like homework.
Final thoughts
Overall, I liked the idea of this book more than the execution. I can understand why someone might love this as a niche and uniquely formatted story, but this definitely didn't work for me.
November 10, 2025
Absolutely loved this book, picked it up from the library because of the interesting cover, and was intrigued of the censored parts and images on a quick flip through. I’ve always been fascinated with internet horror, creepypastas and ARGs. Didn’t have a clue this book would be hitting on all these topics! And I definitely lost The Game multiple times while reading, and so have you now.
Might have to buy my own copy of this now to make other people read it, in a way I’m doing what the basilisk told me to do.
Might have to buy my own copy of this now to make other people read it, in a way I’m doing what the basilisk told me to do.
August 31, 2025
En väldigt ambitiös och välarbetad bok där flera texttyper skapar ett slags meta-verk. Stundtals väldigt spännande men lika ofta fick jag bläddra fram några sidor för att känna att storyn faktiskt skulle ta fart. Jag uppskattar slutet och förstod liksom tanken bakom det, men kan samtidigt inte låta bli att känna att det föll lite platt.
Kanske att jag hade uppskattat den mer om jag var mer insatt i datorer och programmering.
Kanske att jag hade uppskattat den mer om jag var mer insatt i datorer och programmering.
November 7, 2025
4.5 stars!! what a crazy and unique page turner!! I honestly don’t know how write this to encapsulate this story… the POV, mixed mediums, and switching timelines are all used so effectively. It’s not classic horror, but it takes the essence of a good horror story and explores it from a hacker’s point of view. I’m still not totally sure about the ending, but I really enjoyed this, and I would recommend if you want a horror mystery and aren’t afraid to think A LOT.
September 4, 2025
This is really hard to describe but it's so good, very compelling and quite confusing but I think the confusion is a really integral part of it. I would definitely say it makes you want to keep reading on.
I would say this is more of a 4.5 for me but I'll round it up because it was super super good and the -0.5 was more to do with my lack of knowledge on some of the subject.
I would say this is more of a 4.5 for me but I'll round it up because it was super super good and the -0.5 was more to do with my lack of knowledge on some of the subject.
October 26, 2025
4.5 because the long footnotes were annoying/ disrupting and I don’t get why they aren’t part of the actual text, otherwise I enjoyed it very much.
I was a little disappointed by the ending because I expected it, and I love getting answers, but then it also feels like the only ending that is appropriate.
I was a little disappointed by the ending because I expected it, and I love getting answers, but then it also feels like the only ending that is appropriate.
October 30, 2025
This was SO GOOD. Though it was at times a bit difficult to wade through the coding jargon, it was really compelling, had such an impactful ending and was inventive with its storytelling the whole way through. House of Leaves did do it better, but that’s not an insult, it got to a very high standard regardless.
December 1, 2024
Thomas Ligotti goes cyberpunk by way of House of Leaves in Basilisk, a compulsive, ambitious, audacious book that will worm into your head much like the viruses it details. It's the kind of book that takes over your life and leaves you afraid to be with your own brain. Damn you, Matt Wixey
April 20, 2025
of fiendish puzzles, compelling mysteries and paranoia about an enigmatic hacker, a deadly online game, and a cyber weapon that makes people go insane. Perfect for readers of Paul Tremblay, Neal Stephenson and Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves, and the people who just have to know the answer.
September 2, 2025
Would have been 5 if the ending was more satisfying but would have been tricky.
Really thrilling in places, considering the different mediums the story is told by, it was easy to read and hard to put down at the end.
Very different to what I’d usually read but enjoyed
Really thrilling in places, considering the different mediums the story is told by, it was easy to read and hard to put down at the end.
Very different to what I’d usually read but enjoyed
October 31, 2025
I enjoyed Basilisk and was intellectually challenged by some of the concepts. NoOt quite edge-of-seat reading, but I always looked forward to opening it the next day to read more. I think this could be made into a good, scary movie.
Want to read
June 27, 2025Interesting, but I'm very put off by the fact that it's labeled "horror." Worth a try though, maybe.
July 29, 2025
First of all… how refreshing to have a book idea that seems new and never done before. This was such an intriguing and mind boggling read but in all the best ways. Quirky and so well executed; the effort that went into making this book believable is amazing and as a result the finished work… epic. The slow build tension kept me on the edge of my seat and like Alex and Jay’s quest for the Helmsman’s clues and chapters I kept going back for more. Equal parts creepy, unique and intense. What a read!
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