Saturday Review: “Virtually Real,” a review by Barbara Bennett of Lindsay Starck’s Monsters We Have Made (2024), in NCLR Online Winter 2026
Lindsay Starck’s second novel, The Monsters We Have Made, is a thrilling story based on the real Slenderman stabbing. The narrative follows a family as they deal with the fallout after their daughter, Faye, and her friend attempt to kill their babysitter “in the name of their internet siren called the Kingman.” The book turns into a mystery that “keeps the reader wondering if the Kingman is real – or if believing in him will make him real.”
The novel grapples with the reality of the internet’s impact on kids. Bennett remarks, “Any delusion strengthens through repetition. How many “likes” and “shares” does it take to make something real, the novel asks.” And also, how much responsibility lies with the adults in their lives? Again, Bennett says, “Professor Wolff claims that the Kingman is “not a lie. . . . It’s a story” (261). What is the difference, and how do we figure out how this works in both the virtual world and the real world?”
Read Bennett’s review here! Get your own copy of the book from the publisher or your local independent bookstore!
