Deadstream

January 15, 2025
Agoraphobic streamer Teresa's safe online world is shattered after witnessing a fellow streamer being attacked by a shadowy presence. Seventeen-year-old Teresa has been afraid to leave her bedroom ever since surviving the car accident that killed her best friend a year ago. Her isolation is hurting her relationships with family and friends, but she's created a safe space in her room, doing online school and focusing on being a reasonably successful livestreamer; she has a supportive group of fellow queer streamers, the Rainbros. Her sense of security is shattered after a popular streamer is physically assaulted and eventually dies on screen as thousands watch. The shadowy attacker appears in other streams and chats, including Teresa's own, encouraging them to "open the door." Frozen with anxiety and increasingly terrified to leave her room, Teresa struggles to overcome her fears before the ghoulish figure endangers more lives, including those closest to her. Interspersed with transcripts from livestreams, online threads, video comments, and text messages, the narrative brings the action from the first chapter. Romasco-Moore creates a claustrophobic atmosphere as Teresa's anxiety increases and she refuses to leave her room. Through haunting scenes, the author builds the tension, leaving readers questioning whether anywhere is truly safe. The book also explores themes of grief, mental health, isolation, and the strength of online friendships. Main characters are cued white; Teresa, who's questioning her gender identity, identifies as pansexual. A thrilling, claustrophobic horror that explores the danger of a ghostly online presence.(Horror. 14-18)

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March 1, 2025
Grades 9-12 After the traumatic death of her best friend, Teresa finds herself living in an increasingly small and suffocating world--reduced to the size of her bedroom, though she fears it might shrink even further. Her only reprieve from these dark thoughts--and her sole connection to the outside world--comes from the streaming community she's recently joined. This safe space is suddenly shattered when a shadowy force begins to haunt people's live streams, inexplicably leaving its victims in an eerie, unresponsive state. When a famous streamer dies shortly after one of these incidents, and the entity starts targeting Teresa and her small group of online friends, she becomes determined to stop it--even if it means facing her fears and leaving the confines of her self-imposed isolation. Romasco-Moore perfectly captures the irreverent and intentionally inscrutable spirit of today's internet, telling a thoroughly terrifying and viscerally modern ghost story that explores themes of grief, identity, belonging, and the double-edged nature of social media. A companion to other online-savvy thrillers like Tatiana Schlote-Bonne's Such Lovely Skin (2024) and Adam Cesare's Influencer (2024).

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Starred review from April 1, 2025

Gr 9 Up-Ever since the accident where she lost her best friend, Teresa has become increasingly reclusive and has progressed to the point where she barely leaves her own bedroom. Her one source of solace? Online streamers and their content, where chat room participation and clip grabbing for repost on her own channel keep her mind occupied and her sanity in check. All is called into question and paranoia begins to run rampant when one of her favorite streamers has a shadowy figure appear behind him. Within days, he is dead. This shadow has continued to spread to others online, showing up after prompting a streamer to "open the door." Can Teresa do anything to help? Will the shadow get her as well? And what started all this? This is a fast-paced modern horror thriller, catered to those familiar with online streaming. The inclusion of sections of the chat may throw off some readers, but it is not hard to follow. This YA novel covers some hard-hitting topics such as suicidal thoughts, paralyzing anxiety, and agoraphobia, but also reliance on friends, overcoming fear, and trusting yourself. VERDICT A book that gets readers in its clutches and refuses to let them go; many will want to consume it in one sitting.-Adam Fisher

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