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Esc & Ctrl
Vincent wakes up in an apartment in New York City with no recollection of having arrived there. Back in the UK, his girlfriend, Emily, has been murdered. Guided by mysterious phone calls which lead him to a series of clues, he soon suspects he has travelled to New York to find Emily’s killer.
Meanwhile, an explicit video Emily made is going viral. When she shared it with Davison in a private forum, she never expected him to upload it. But she’s only ever spoken to him online, and he might not be who he says he is.
Framed by footnotes and annotations written by Ike A. Mafar and author Steve Hollyman, Esc&Ctrl is a metafictional murder mystery examining the loss of identity in the virtual world of the Internet; a self-begetting novel for the 21st Century.
Meanwhile, an explicit video Emily made is going viral. When she shared it with Davison in a private forum, she never expected him to upload it. But she’s only ever spoken to him online, and he might not be who he says he is.
Framed by footnotes and annotations written by Ike A. Mafar and author Steve Hollyman, Esc&Ctrl is a metafictional murder mystery examining the loss of identity in the virtual world of the Internet; a self-begetting novel for the 21st Century.
320 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2022
26 people are currently reading
1160 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
November 28, 2025
Reads as if an MA / MFA student high on metafiction and literary theory, who has just read House of Leaves and seen the face of Yahweh, has holed himself up in a room for a week and blasted out a novel, subsiding only on uppers, Charlie Kaufman movies, and the vision of his tutor’s stunned face when he waltzes back into class next week and slaps down the manuscript. BOOM! We’ve all been there. An old-skool no-prisoners metafictional throwback, replete with multi-authored footnotes, spliced manuscripts, unsubtle anagrams, and email transcripts, the novel is an amalgam of the author’s Facebook experiments, his own MA thesis (ha!), and (presumably) an old manuscript that he tarted up with meta baubles. Unlike the bloated and portentous House of Leaves, Hollyman’s novel is more lively, tongue-in-cheek, and entertaining in its bloat of postmodern notions and woah-man mindfuckery, and although the outcome of the murder mystery is increasingly irrelevant, the chaotic ride to the climax is extremely entertaining.
February 2, 2024
Esc&Ctrl is a multilayered, metafictional book-within-a-book. This is the setup: the author, Steve Hollyman, wrote a novella called He Knows His Name, a second-person narrative about an angry and lonely man who creates an alternate identity online. The sole manuscript was stolen. Some time later he’s contacted by an academic who claims to have found the missing manuscript – but now it's had a whole additional plotline added to it by an anonymous contributor. This, known as VOID, is a cod-noir episode featuring the amnesiac Vincent, who’s searching for his girlfriend’s killer in New York City. Esc&Ctrl consists of both books spliced together with commentary from both Hollyman and the academic, complete with discussions in the footnotes.
It’s reminiscent of S., The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas and especially theMystery.doc, as well as Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy (which is clearly an influence). Reviewing such a self-aware narrative always presents challenges. It’s difficult to tell how seriously you’re meant to take the poorly written women, or the pompousness of various personas; when artificiality is literally built into the story, any such bugs might actually be features. Somehow, I found Esc&Ctrl to be more than the sum of its parts. He Knows His Name could be a striking short story on its own, but VOID is simultaneously flimsy and pretentious – it’s the bringing together of both, plus all the postmodern flourishes, that makes the whole thing more interesting.
After writing the above, I found out the text of Esc&Ctrl formed part of the author’s PhD thesis. This makes more sense of various references in the footnotes, which sometimes feel out of place as well as being a bit ‘Critical Theory 101’. I also learned it was originally meant to be read in conjunction with a series of Facebook pages set up for the characters, which are referenced in the novel (I don’t use Facebook so hadn’t tried to access these). Knowing all this shifted my perception of Esc&Ctrl: in fact, it’s not just metafictional but transmedia, in debt to hypertext fiction to an extent that isn’t fully evident from reading it as a book. (A weird irony: although the foreword extols the virtues of the print novel, I was unwittingly getting closer to the intended experience by reading my copy in ebook form, navigating through the footnotes by clicking back and forth.) I think it also helps to know that Hollyman was writing it between the late 2000s and early 2010s, when novels about online identity were much thinner on the ground. If what’s being said here – every social media profile is a work of fiction, etc – doesn’t exactly seem mindblowing today, it would have been a fresher observation at the time.
I started to find Esc&Ctrl more interesting once I knew more about its origins, but this information isn’t referenced in the book itself, it’s something I had to go looking for. So should I allow it to affect my opinion? Or should I simply review the words on the page? These questions are strangely pertinent to the book’s project – perhaps it did exactly what it was supposed to after all. Ultimately, the formal experimentation kept me interested in the story even when I found it lacking as... well, a story. It’s a quick, easy read and certainly a page-turner, so well worth a look if you’re into books that play with format and narrative.
It’s reminiscent of S., The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas and especially theMystery.doc, as well as Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy (which is clearly an influence). Reviewing such a self-aware narrative always presents challenges. It’s difficult to tell how seriously you’re meant to take the poorly written women, or the pompousness of various personas; when artificiality is literally built into the story, any such bugs might actually be features. Somehow, I found Esc&Ctrl to be more than the sum of its parts. He Knows His Name could be a striking short story on its own, but VOID is simultaneously flimsy and pretentious – it’s the bringing together of both, plus all the postmodern flourishes, that makes the whole thing more interesting.
After writing the above, I found out the text of Esc&Ctrl formed part of the author’s PhD thesis. This makes more sense of various references in the footnotes, which sometimes feel out of place as well as being a bit ‘Critical Theory 101’. I also learned it was originally meant to be read in conjunction with a series of Facebook pages set up for the characters, which are referenced in the novel (I don’t use Facebook so hadn’t tried to access these). Knowing all this shifted my perception of Esc&Ctrl: in fact, it’s not just metafictional but transmedia, in debt to hypertext fiction to an extent that isn’t fully evident from reading it as a book. (A weird irony: although the foreword extols the virtues of the print novel, I was unwittingly getting closer to the intended experience by reading my copy in ebook form, navigating through the footnotes by clicking back and forth.) I think it also helps to know that Hollyman was writing it between the late 2000s and early 2010s, when novels about online identity were much thinner on the ground. If what’s being said here – every social media profile is a work of fiction, etc – doesn’t exactly seem mindblowing today, it would have been a fresher observation at the time.
I started to find Esc&Ctrl more interesting once I knew more about its origins, but this information isn’t referenced in the book itself, it’s something I had to go looking for. So should I allow it to affect my opinion? Or should I simply review the words on the page? These questions are strangely pertinent to the book’s project – perhaps it did exactly what it was supposed to after all. Ultimately, the formal experimentation kept me interested in the story even when I found it lacking as... well, a story. It’s a quick, easy read and certainly a page-turner, so well worth a look if you’re into books that play with format and narrative.
December 29, 2022
I’m left here sitting like ????? Very unique and immersive read! This book would lend itself so well to a book club discussion. Brilliantly crafted, I’m still trying to make up my mind about what to think.
January 21, 2023
this is quite honestly the best written book i have ever read. this is a book that i will think about for the rest of my life - honestly so mind bending and such a good one to keep rereading to get new perspectives. absolutely brilliant on every level
March 27, 2023
I bought this because I loved the cover and now this book has risen to my FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME status. Oh my god. I have no words. A masterpiece !!!!
If you want to check the vlog on this book https://youtu.be/ePqhZ2E2eUE
If you want to check the vlog on this book https://youtu.be/ePqhZ2E2eUE
December 26, 2022
Described as a “metafictional murder mystery examining the loss of identity in the virtual world of the internet”, Steve Hollyman’s new novel is a sensationally well executed piece of writing that plays with what is real and what isn’t.
When protagonist Vincent wakes up in an apartment in New York, he has no memory of how he got there. Therein follows mysterious and sinister phone calls, an explicit video gone viral, hidden identities online, and a murdered girlfriend back in the UK.
This reads like a Kaufman film, and gave me that sensation of feeling like I’ve been flipped upside down and didn’t know if I was coming or going. It bounces between two different key texts that are supported with conversations about the events in the book via footnotes between the author and a man named Ike A. Mafar. And, I loved that whiplash sensation of confusion and intrigue that this format created.
‘Esc & Ctrl’ reminded me of reading Palahniuk occasionally, then the movie ‘Memento’, and at the very second I thought “this reminds me of House of Leaves”, the book directly addresses the similarities to Danielwski’s magnum opus. This is incredibly self aware writing. It is clever, having these cultural touchstones to trick the reader into a sense of familiarity - then whips away the rug from your under your feet to leave you feeling confused and unsettled.
The unsettling sensation that Hollyman conjures in his writing probes the edges of horror without definitively delving into the genre, and is all the more effective for it, creating a text that challenges the reader, and demands a level of interaction and investment that will reward any effort made to mine the depths of this mystery.
‘Esc & Ctrl’ has become a late and serious contender for a place in my top 10 releases of 2022. It is a serious literary accomplishment.
When protagonist Vincent wakes up in an apartment in New York, he has no memory of how he got there. Therein follows mysterious and sinister phone calls, an explicit video gone viral, hidden identities online, and a murdered girlfriend back in the UK.
This reads like a Kaufman film, and gave me that sensation of feeling like I’ve been flipped upside down and didn’t know if I was coming or going. It bounces between two different key texts that are supported with conversations about the events in the book via footnotes between the author and a man named Ike A. Mafar. And, I loved that whiplash sensation of confusion and intrigue that this format created.
‘Esc & Ctrl’ reminded me of reading Palahniuk occasionally, then the movie ‘Memento’, and at the very second I thought “this reminds me of House of Leaves”, the book directly addresses the similarities to Danielwski’s magnum opus. This is incredibly self aware writing. It is clever, having these cultural touchstones to trick the reader into a sense of familiarity - then whips away the rug from your under your feet to leave you feeling confused and unsettled.
The unsettling sensation that Hollyman conjures in his writing probes the edges of horror without definitively delving into the genre, and is all the more effective for it, creating a text that challenges the reader, and demands a level of interaction and investment that will reward any effort made to mine the depths of this mystery.
‘Esc & Ctrl’ has become a late and serious contender for a place in my top 10 releases of 2022. It is a serious literary accomplishment.
April 10, 2023
The concept of this book is unlike any other I've read. The author himself is basically a character in the story, writing footnotes and reviewing the story as it goes along to work out the mystery of who stole his manuscript and added to it without his knowledge.
But it all feels like he's trying too hard to be clever. You can see that Steve Hollyman is a university lecturer, this book feels like both a fictional story mixed in with a university paper with references to ideas about the meta-universe and also philosophy. It feels pretentious and annoying at times, disrupting the flow of the story by adding footnotes to seem clever, (when you think about them they are sometimes irrelevant) but in actual fact it just makes it disjointed.
On top of the two people writing lengthy footnotes, the actual story has two sides/viewpoints alternating throughout. They jump about in different moments in time, which usually make a story interesting but in this case it is hard to keep up with the 4 narrations going on all together.
I agree you shouldn't judge a book by its cover - the cover by Luke Bird is great, but the writing itself is rubbish mixed in with pretentious comments.
It is also hard to know if the misogyny is Steve Hollyman or the character. But considering that Steve himself is practically a part of the story, I can't help but feel it is his own misogyny.
But it all feels like he's trying too hard to be clever. You can see that Steve Hollyman is a university lecturer, this book feels like both a fictional story mixed in with a university paper with references to ideas about the meta-universe and also philosophy. It feels pretentious and annoying at times, disrupting the flow of the story by adding footnotes to seem clever, (when you think about them they are sometimes irrelevant) but in actual fact it just makes it disjointed.
On top of the two people writing lengthy footnotes, the actual story has two sides/viewpoints alternating throughout. They jump about in different moments in time, which usually make a story interesting but in this case it is hard to keep up with the 4 narrations going on all together.
I agree you shouldn't judge a book by its cover - the cover by Luke Bird is great, but the writing itself is rubbish mixed in with pretentious comments.
It is also hard to know if the misogyny is Steve Hollyman or the character. But considering that Steve himself is practically a part of the story, I can't help but feel it is his own misogyny.
December 7, 2023
Literally reactivated my GoodReads account just to review this book because I’m so annoyed I spent a tenner on this and I want to warn others.
I know taste varies but I can’t believe the reviews of people saying it’s the best book they’ve ever read/very clever??? It’s possibly the most pretentious thing I’ve ever read and hours of my life I’ll never get back.
The premise on the blurb sounded so intriguing and had a lot of potential but the execution is just rubbish. Meta fiction isn’t for everyone I suppose but this was a slog to get thorough. Just endless pointless descriptions of whatever room the narrator happened to be in plus endless distracting footnotes that take you out of the story. Cannot describe my rage upon realising the footnotes were going to continue taking up half the page on almost every page.
I agree a lot with similar reviews below about the writer trying desperately to sound very clever and deep. Also the ones about the constant misogyny when describing any female character and him promoting his band (lame).
Overall, interesting idea for a book but that’s where the positives end, the book itself was boring and confusing. The “twist” if you can call it that at the end is also fairly obvious from the start. 0/10 and I resent every good review that influenced me to buy this….
I know taste varies but I can’t believe the reviews of people saying it’s the best book they’ve ever read/very clever??? It’s possibly the most pretentious thing I’ve ever read and hours of my life I’ll never get back.
The premise on the blurb sounded so intriguing and had a lot of potential but the execution is just rubbish. Meta fiction isn’t for everyone I suppose but this was a slog to get thorough. Just endless pointless descriptions of whatever room the narrator happened to be in plus endless distracting footnotes that take you out of the story. Cannot describe my rage upon realising the footnotes were going to continue taking up half the page on almost every page.
I agree a lot with similar reviews below about the writer trying desperately to sound very clever and deep. Also the ones about the constant misogyny when describing any female character and him promoting his band (lame).
Overall, interesting idea for a book but that’s where the positives end, the book itself was boring and confusing. The “twist” if you can call it that at the end is also fairly obvious from the start. 0/10 and I resent every good review that influenced me to buy this….
January 7, 2023
I'm so confused but I loved it. This book was everything I wanted it to be from its description. I loved the metafictional aspect of it and the use of the footnotes and emails. It was so fun and interesting to read and, even though I still can't quite get my head around the ending, I absolutely loved the experience of reading it.
August 19, 2024
I literally read this book in two sittings. I was obsessed. I had to know what happened and whether my hunch was right and I genuinely couldn’t make myself go to sleep without finding out. Loved it though, good plot, well written, and one of those books you finish and you want to read it again so you can see everything when you already know the ending. Wish I could do 4.5 stars
January 4, 2023
An engaging catfishing thriller that races by and left me hooked, even if the meta-fiction gets a bit too self-involved at times, the story never outstays its welcome.
February 20, 2024
Thank god it’s over
December 20, 2024
i will be thinking about this for quite some time
March 3, 2024
this is a perfect example of why you should not judge a book by its cover.. i LOVE the cover of this book but wow the book itself was a massive disappointment. the concept of footnote annotations to the story itself was intriguing in premise but in reality was really quite annoying and made it difficult to follow the story - not to mention the annotations were pretentious af. the two narratives were pretty confusing throughout the whole story but especially at the end - i just didn’t really get it.
September 7, 2024
1.5 I don’t get it
June 1, 2024
Omg. That was so clever and had me second-guessing everything within the book. Holy fuck
March 2, 2023
Need some time to decide whether I liked that ending or not. I'm not even sure I understood the last 50 or so pages. Review to come!
December 24, 2022
An intriguing mystery that's wrapped in a heavy layer of meta-narrative that at times is interesting and thought-provoking and at others is confusing and kind of detracts from the story, turning it into a mix between intelligent mystery and pretentious bore. It all clicks in the end, but I think I would have just preferred to have something that was entertaining from start to finish. Some of the plot and descriptions also seem problematic to me - I'm still determining if these are intentional choices for character building or if it's just some kind of deep-rooted misogyny on behalf of the author.
Also, stop plugging your band in your book - I'm not listening to your music, fuck off.
6/10
Also, stop plugging your band in your book - I'm not listening to your music, fuck off.
6/10
November 5, 2022
That was a hell of a roller coaster. I read it in three sittings, would have been less if daily life didn’t get in the way.
A fantastic read. I wish I was more eloquent so I could write a well crafted review. But I have just closed the book and my head is still spinning.
The multiple layers of this seemed to be daunting at first. And I thought I was going to get lost in the complexity of it all. But that was not the case. A very creative execution to a very modern story.
Top 3 of this year 2022 for me 👏🏼👏🏼
A fantastic read. I wish I was more eloquent so I could write a well crafted review. But I have just closed the book and my head is still spinning.
The multiple layers of this seemed to be daunting at first. And I thought I was going to get lost in the complexity of it all. But that was not the case. A very creative execution to a very modern story.
Top 3 of this year 2022 for me 👏🏼👏🏼
December 6, 2023
Mijn brein is gefrituurd (op een goede manier tho)
November 17, 2024
What the actual fuck.
Edit: I picked this book up from a booktok recommendation from here : https://www.tiktok.com/@whats.amber.r...
I was so intrigued by the metafictional aspect of it as there's a mystery within another mystery, following the story where Steve's original manuscript is stolen and rediscover a few years later with additional material added to it by some unknown source. the use of footnotes throughout the text to give more in-depth detail of what you're reading.
When first reading this book it took a bit of time to get used to reading the "manuscript" and when to read the footnotes as at first it was taking me out of the story. however, after I was fully stuck in to reading this book it was a seamless read that grabs your attention - making you want to know more.
I have to say that after the halfway point of the read is when I truly got into the book. loving the use of social media, the unreliability of the main character and how the footnotes change over the progression of the story.
its been about 3 days since I finished this book and I keep thinking about it. its truly unlike anything I read before.
Edit: I picked this book up from a booktok recommendation from here : https://www.tiktok.com/@whats.amber.r...
I was so intrigued by the metafictional aspect of it as there's a mystery within another mystery, following the story where Steve's original manuscript is stolen and rediscover a few years later with additional material added to it by some unknown source. the use of footnotes throughout the text to give more in-depth detail of what you're reading.
When first reading this book it took a bit of time to get used to reading the "manuscript" and when to read the footnotes as at first it was taking me out of the story. however, after I was fully stuck in to reading this book it was a seamless read that grabs your attention - making you want to know more.
I have to say that after the halfway point of the read is when I truly got into the book. loving the use of social media, the unreliability of the main character and how the footnotes change over the progression of the story.
its been about 3 days since I finished this book and I keep thinking about it. its truly unlike anything I read before.
April 29, 2024
For the first 50 pages I thought this was to smart for its own good but then it settled and I got so invested. A really good mix of being super-meta but also interesting?
One of the very few books I wish was longer. Another 50 pages focussed on having more Character stuff would have elevated this quite nicely.
One of the very few books I wish was longer. Another 50 pages focussed on having more Character stuff would have elevated this quite nicely.
July 3, 2025
This is my best read of 2025 yet. It’s a book that makes you rethink everything and the plot twist was totally unexpected. Very immersive and unique.
The funny thing is that I was extremely confused 70% of the time but at the end I was able to connect all the dots and appreciate the book even more.
I absolutely loved this and would 100% recommend it. 📖📚
The funny thing is that I was extremely confused 70% of the time but at the end I was able to connect all the dots and appreciate the book even more.
I absolutely loved this and would 100% recommend it. 📖📚
July 2, 2023
3,5 stars, I feel like I haven’t necessarily understood the entire plot with all the switching around of the characters/universes, will renew my rating and review if/when i re-read it at some point.
Overall an interesting concept and an enjoyable read.
Overall an interesting concept and an enjoyable read.
June 16, 2024
Well... I would describe this as a weird very meta mystery suspense that I would totally recommend to people that love non lineair storytelling and stories within stories. Captivating from the very foreword till the end.
July 13, 2025
An interesting bit of meta fiction! A little blunt in how it explores it's themes, but I found it a compelling read.
I always love a footnote, but Hollyman's use of them here works very well in helping to tell the story.
I always love a footnote, but Hollyman's use of them here works very well in helping to tell the story.
October 23, 2024
I have never felt so disorientated after finishing a book
April 29, 2025
I really enjoyed the interactive and referential aspects of this (the book leads you to scholarly sources on identity, realism, postmodernism et.) as well as to a facebook page that forms part of the narrative. The posts on the page are from 2012, indicating that more than ten years have passed since they were published. (In comparison, the book was only published in 2022.) Overall, I was really engaged and interested, however some of the novel's main ideas around online identity or the text's practical attempts at metafiction are trialled and tested by now. This will be a great read for reader's who enjoyed Auster's New York Trilogy.
March 27, 2025
This was a very unique and immersive read! I felt like reading this was a similar experience to a murder mystery game - reading the footnotes for clues etc. I also enjoyed reviewing the corresponding facebook accounts for the characters
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews