The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A raucous and wickedly smart satire of Hollywood, toxic fandom, and our chronically online culture, following a washed-up actor on his quest to revive the cult TV show that catapulted him to teenage fame
David Crader is a has-been. A former child actor from the hit teen drama Rev Beach, he now rotates between his new roles as deadbeat dad, recovering alcoholic, and occasional videogame voice actor. But when David is summoned to Los Angeles by Grace, his ex-wife and former co-star, he suddenly sees an opportunity for a reboot—not just of the show that made him famous, but also of his listless existence.
Hollywood, the Internet, and a fractured nation have other plans, however, and David soon drinks himself to a realization: This seemingly innocuous revival of an old Buffy rip-off could be the spark that sets ablaze a nation gripped by far-right conspiracy, climate catastrophe, and mass violence.
Reboot is a madcap speculative comedy for our era of glass-eyed doom-scrolling and Millennial nostalgia—and yet it’s still full of heart. It’s a tale of former teen heartthrobs, striving parents, internet edgelords, and fish-faced cryptids, for anyone who has looked back on their life and wanted—even if but for a moment—to hit “reset.”
Genre: Literary Fiction
David Crader is a has-been. A former child actor from the hit teen drama Rev Beach, he now rotates between his new roles as deadbeat dad, recovering alcoholic, and occasional videogame voice actor. But when David is summoned to Los Angeles by Grace, his ex-wife and former co-star, he suddenly sees an opportunity for a reboot—not just of the show that made him famous, but also of his listless existence.
Hollywood, the Internet, and a fractured nation have other plans, however, and David soon drinks himself to a realization: This seemingly innocuous revival of an old Buffy rip-off could be the spark that sets ablaze a nation gripped by far-right conspiracy, climate catastrophe, and mass violence.
Reboot is a madcap speculative comedy for our era of glass-eyed doom-scrolling and Millennial nostalgia—and yet it’s still full of heart. It’s a tale of former teen heartthrobs, striving parents, internet edgelords, and fish-faced cryptids, for anyone who has looked back on their life and wanted—even if but for a moment—to hit “reset.”
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"For all the talk of an Other America - that underground country whose president is Trump and whose capital is Florida - we have precious few novels of its condition, and none as powerful, passionate, whacked-out, and pathic as Justin Taylor's Reboot." - Joshua Cohen
"Reboot is the perfect 21st century novel - ecstatically funny and heartbreaking." - Daniel Hornsby
"A laugh-out-loud, bingeable romp, that rare, bang-up novel as big-hearted as it is ambitious, written by a writer at the height of his wild gifts." - Tracy O'Neill
"Justin Taylor is cursed with equal portions of modesty and genius. What inevitably results is a multilayered masterpiece about a paradox." - Nell Zink
"Reboot is the perfect 21st century novel - ecstatically funny and heartbreaking." - Daniel Hornsby
"A laugh-out-loud, bingeable romp, that rare, bang-up novel as big-hearted as it is ambitious, written by a writer at the height of his wild gifts." - Tracy O'Neill
"Justin Taylor is cursed with equal portions of modesty and genius. What inevitably results is a multilayered masterpiece about a paradox." - Nell Zink
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