As is obvious by the rating, I did not enjoy this. This was also almost a DNF for me, but I was 60% in so I decided to persist.

I feel like this book was two separate books and neither was particularly engaging or effective for me, not did they transition well from one to the other. We start off with what, to me, was the more interesting part of the book: a man works for a startup and is simultaneously incredibly invested in his work and insecure about whether he is an integral part of the team (the other members being The Founder and The Engineer). He takes us through his daily commute, the tedium and heavy time investment needed in content moderation, and how it eventually numbs the person doing it, and his quest to retroactively create a mission statement for the company and convince The Founder that he needs to hire someone to help him with the ever-expanding content backlog. All very relatable problems and somewhat interesting due to the author's credentials as the first Instagram hire. Honestly, hearing about the algorithm and questions and business model of DateDate was the most interesting part of this book for me.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

I thought of Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke when I read the blurb of this book. Some aspects also gave me the corporate tech vibes of The Circle by David Eggers. Some parts of the narrative were slow but I did enjoy the overall storyline and characters.

I am a big fan of speculative fiction and Josh Riedel has delivered excellent speculative fiction that I think many will love.

Ethan is a strong character and I love the development he goes through from the start of this book to the end. Riedel has given the reader a lot to digest and uncover has he presents scenarios that seem quite plausible for our current world.

In a way, this book is a bit of a thriller has the mystery of the "black photos" takes Ethan down a path he certainly was not expecting.

Great read!

DNF @ 10%. I love a freaky tech dystopia but this one just isn't working for me. The premise seemed interesting, but in execution, I think I'm a little too picky to keep looking past what I don't like about it.

Josh Riedel's novel felt to me like two books smushed together, one a more familiar story of working in start-ups in the early '10s and the other a sci-fi epic. It doesn't quite succeed in either, but it doesn't fail, exactly, either. I thought one of the thinks Riedel was particularly adept at was conjuring the specific texture of San Francisco. It's not quite a love letter, but it felt exactly correct, as sure as its geography as the most map-obsessed hard-boiled crime novel. Riedel's deft descriptions of place also come in later, in the other worlds that he travels through via a blip in the technology of an app he's working on. The plot left me wanting a little bit more, but in general, I enjoyed the ride, and I'd look forward to reading whatever's next from Riedel.

This book had an interesting concept and it's clear that the author knows the world he was writing about very well. However, I just couldn't manage to feel invested in the protagonist or what was going on. The female characters also left a lot to be desired and felt like they were only in service of Ethan's growth. This book might appeal to people involved in tech in the early 2010s.

It started rather slow, but the second half was compulsively readable. I just think the book was trying to do too much to the point where elements started to contradict each other, even using in-world logic. The main character and his motivations were also a bit odd and it was unclear what he really did. A lot of threads were picked up and discarded. I think this could have been refined more, but I still found it an interesting read.

There's some interesting stuff in here, but I did struggle to connect with the protagonist (I felt kept at a distance for almost the entire book) and I found the divide between the realistic and the hyperrealistic to be a bit confusing to track at times. There was also a distinct lack of narrative momentum and the plot could feel a bit episodic. I wanted to like this more, and will definitely check out more from this author in the future.

Please Report Your Bug Here, by Josh Riedel, is a mixture of coming of age, social commentary, and fantasy novel. The protagonist is Ethan Block, who has a liberal arts background but is working on a start-up social media site called DateDate. He works with just two other people, known as the engineer and the Founder, until they are bought by The Corporation, a bigger social app that appears to be modeled on Facebook.

During his employment in social media, Ethan is witness to the dawn of certain technologies, and how, in the pursuit of wealth, this social media platform is willing to expose the general public to potential harm with features that are not completely understood. This is where it becomes part fantasy novel. The author creatively conjures up a possibility that does not seem possible in real life, at least not literally, to drive a plot about social media that is unique.

Ethan is both intrigued and disturbed by what is at first referred to as “the black box bug,” and he and Noma, a young woman who is hired as a contractor at DateDate, start to investigate this phenomenon. Noma contributes mystery to this story, as she has prior knowledge that she does not immediately share with Ethan.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a strong sense about Ethan’s emotional state, or his feelings about others. For example, his one long relationship came to an end, and the thoughts Ethan shares with the reader about this are not enlightening. I thought he seemed like an ambivalent stranger throughout the story. Noma is a sympathetic and intense character, and I might have related to her more, had she been the focus of this cautionary tale.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable story with an inventive plot, though it was not an urgent read for me. There were times when the dialogue seemed a bit improbable to me, perhaps because of a lack of experience on my part with this particular work environment and culture.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for sharing this new novel.

This was fragile, silicon-steeped masculine tripe at its least repulsive, but still fairly revolting. Wading through the semi-constant brand-dropping was a chore, and YES! We get it! The story is set in SF and the SF adjacent! ENOUGH! The author would’ve been better served describing the scenery than blurting out place names like that was somehow interchangeable.

What is clear is that the author wants to craft an interesting story. He can string together coherent sentences, which is more than many can do. His concept was a compelling one, and in the hands of a more skillful writer, it could have been something quite a lot more satisfying. And I truly believe he gave it what he could. The desire for the ingenious was palpable, but I was left feeling how tenuous the author’s comfort was with anything too deep or rich or puzzling about the mess that is the human condition. He almost seems more comfortable when describing the mundane details of the tech world than the people who exist in/around/against it, and alas, therein lies the real story.

This whole trope of tech getting under our skins, into our lives, our hearts, and our heads has been done to much more successful effect elsewhere. Like The Verifiers by Jane Pek or Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Even Dave Eggers’ The Circle. Seek out that elsewhere, readers. Save yourselves the disappointment (and time).

This was a great debut. I loved the concept of the story; at times it felt like this was a bit satirical mixed with the speculative fiction and it worked really well for me. I listened to this on audio and I felt like the narrator also brought a lot to the story in his narration style. I was engaged with the story and curious as to where this weird little book would lead and what exactly the unspecified location that Ethan Block (our main character) keeps getting transported to is.

I will say, this book felt like it was leading up to a big climax which..did not happen. As things seemed to be getting more sinister and more weird, it felt as if we would see a huge, action-packed breaking point in which there is insight or a rescue from this other world the portal allows Ethan to travel to. But alas, the climax and resolution was mildly underwhelming which is the main reason this was more of a 3.5 rather than a 4 star read for me. I loved the unique concept, I was invested in Ethan’s story and his transition from the startup to the The Corporation, along with all of the weird, futuristic (but also realistic) bits sprinkled into this novel, I was just left wanting more with the ending.

This is a book that I have not seen at all on bookstagram and has a surprisingly low rating on goodreads. If the synopsis sounds interesting, you’re a fan of speculative fiction and/or big tech satire, you should pick this one up and give it a go. I would definitely be interested in future books by Riedel and found this overall to be a pretty strong debut novel.

Like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow with a Nick Carroway style of narrative detachment. Please Report Your Bug Here is a reflection on relationships: romantic, platonic and — most importantly — the relationships we have with ourselves.

Riedel has a very unique concept with this book, and I was instantly intrigued. I do believe the book lost direction somewhere in the middle but i really look forward to seeing what this author writes next!

This book made me feel like I was living in a liminal space. It was weird, and made me keep turning the page. Quick read!

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

My thoughts bounce between 3 or 4 stars. But ultimately, the book still has me thinking about it, so 4 stars it is.

This interesting, bizarre, strange book resembles something of Annihilation (the trippy, sci-fi movie; I never read the book) except this book was a little less sci-fi and more, as the young kids are putting it, "magic realism." This book was equal parts everyday-dread of life, job, and relationships and a thought-provoking, what-the-hell-is-going-on wonder of a sci-fi mystery. What exactly was going on? By the end, was it clear to you what happened? Is the point of all <u>TO</u> leave you pondering the occurrences in the book and create a meaning behind it all for yourself, similarly to how some interpret Annihilation as a story about cancer?

The book felt incomplete, yet filled with details. The author has a lot of big ideas, I can tell. Having been the first employee of Instagram, that certainly reflected heavily in this book and can see how he created this idea, this otherworldly plot. I didn't hate it. As a matter of fact, I would be curious to read more of his work and see where he takes his writing career.

One piece of advice: CHANGE THE COVER. The cover doesn't do this book any favors. It is not attention-grabbing and the Golden Gate Bridge, aside from the main character's slight interest in photography and it being based in Silicon Valley, doesn't even play a role in the book. The colors are weird (neon green and fuchsia - why?!) and the font seems like you just went with the default.

Ethan Block is employee #1 at DateDate, an app that matches you with your future beloved. His job is mind-numbing - he wipes bad content from the site. His existence is mind-numbing - he goes to work and that's about it, sacrificing a social life and convincing himself he's the peer of DateDate's founder (Founder) since they were friends way back when.

Ethan and contract employee Noma identify some weird glitches in the app, DateDate gets sold and Ethan starts working at the "Corporation", DateDate's new home. Riedel nails the corporate setting: every perk possible available for free, getting from building to building on the Corporation's comp bikes, the shuttle ride from SF to Silicon Valley, the business speak (mission statements, ack!), the way every aspect of a product is monetized, the way the workers in tech are exploited. It's obvious Riedel knows what he's writing about - he was an early employee (#1 ???) at Instagram.

The big mystery centers on the glitches, and Ethan gets pulled in even more deeply. Despite the NDA he signed this is his recounting of those events. Please Report Your Bug Here is an entertaining page-turner, and a chilling story of technology (and those behind it) gone bad.

My thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for the ARC in exchange for this review.

What an absolutely bizarre book! Please Report Your Bug Here was mind-bending for me and I really enjoyed that aspect. Thank you to MacMillan Audio for granting me access to the audiobook and to Henry Holt & Company for granting me access to the e-book. This book was perfect for bouncing between the text and the audio.

This book starts by telling you that once you sign an NDA it's for life and how Ethan Block should not be telling us his story. Uhm, I'm a total sucker for anything where I get to see behind the curtain, fictional or not, so I was so intrigued.

Ethan works for a highly successful company making good money and working on their dating app, DateDate. I enjoyed how Ethan found it frustrating how his friends would ask him which famous people used the app. However, when his love life falls apart, Ethan decides to checkout his data and all of a sudden he disappears somewhere entirely different. He assumes it's just a glitch, but soon realizes it's much much more. Things are definitely not as they seem.

Did I love this book? No, but I liked it a lot and found it thought provoking. We are constantly allow our data to be shared on the internet with little to no thought about it. This book is a reminder of what we share, how we share, and how this book feels futuristic, but part of me feels like it's not so hard to stretch my mind to think it could happen in the near future...

This is a decent debut novel by a writer with talent, but I have some qualms that would prevent me from overwhelmingly enjoying it. I am a fan of fantastic realism and the acceptance of the uncanny in storytelling, but the "just go with it" attitude that the characters have with the "bug" in the app that sends people to alternate worlds was just too hard for me to accept. With a world incredibly close to our own, it was just too hard to grasp the idea that it would just be so normal for people to be transported vast distances through an app. The concepts and characters were compelling, I just found that one hurdle just a little too much in terms of my full enjoyment of the story.

4/10

The author, Josh Reidel, was the first employee at Instagram. I’m guessing he was there during their rapid growth. And I’m guessing he was there during and after their acquisition by Facebook.

That’s important to know.

This book is positioned as a “fast paced”, action-packed, science fiction mystery.

Keep in mind that it is not fast paced, nor action packed. It has a little bit of fantasy but not much science fiction and the mystery is so esoteric, it’s less a mystery and more of a slight question that the reader may or may not care about.

Ethan is the first employee of a dating app, based in Silicon Valley. The app is gaining in popularity quickly and eventually gets acquired by a mega company in Silicon Valley (sound familiar?).

There’s only one catch. A glitch in the app allows users to teleport to other locations and other worlds. Ethan discovers this by mistake and then tries to find out how and why it happens.

The challenge is, I just don’t care. With fantasy books, it’s less important to understand why the fantastic element exists and more important to explore what happens within that fantastic realm.

Unfortunately in this book, the author is so focused on the conflict of whether people should go through the portal to the other world, that the actual happenings in the other worlds are not even interesting.

This book felt like the vibe you get from watching the movie Lost in Translation combined with an attempt at the insanity of a movie like Being John Malkovich.

The difference is that those two are masterful works of art whereas this book may not even be considered art, much less masterful.

I love time travel books a lot. This might be the most boring one I’ve read. Of the author is creating a portal to anywhere in space-time, why not make it interesting.

Perhaps there is a greater meaning to this book that I’m too dimwitted to understand. I’m open to that concept. Short of that, I couldn’t wait to get to the end of this book - which, incidentally was just as anticlimactic as the rest of the novel.

Hard pass.

#netgalley #pleasereportyourbughere

This is the worst book I have read in a long time. Only my sense of duty caused me to finish. I was lured by the teaser describing a computer bug that took the narrator to another world. Unfortunately, the more I read of this other world, the more boring it became. Ethan, the narrator, was totally passive and filled the pages with descriptions of bus rides on public transportation in San Francisco and the making of high end coffee drinks. . His efforts to turn his story into a mystery of tracking down and rescuing a missing child in this other world were a transparent attempt to add life to a boring narrative. Unfortunately, the child was just as uninteresting as the narrator. I am doing you a big favor by recommending you pass on this one.