Viral by Matthew Sperling
Review by Rachel Farmer
Matthew Sperling’s Viral is a scathing depiction of Berlin’s cutting-edge startup scene, highlighting its fluid morality, volatility, and unimaginable potential. It follows entrepreneurs Alice and Ned, joint owners of a social media content production and marketing company — British immigrants seeking a fresh start amid the city’s cosmopolitan, dynamic atmosphere. Their company, The Thing Factory, is growing rapidly and is on the cusp of seven-figure success, while the two owners ponder their own plans to bring their radically different ambitions to fruition. Soon, an event occurs that could do a lot more than just scupper their chances of success; it might even threaten their lives.
Viral has an effortlessly modern feel, slinging around industry jargon and social media content ideas that are fully plausible and true-to-life. Sperling is unafraid to meet readers familiar with social media on their own turf without patronising them, but with a canny wink and a nudge to the more eyeroll-worthy aspects of the industry. He treats its many foibles as an in-joke rather than an object of open ridicule, and in doing so creates a novel which manages both critique and good-natured mockery. This is epitomised by his characters, who earnestly describe themselves as “Buddish” (a little bit Buddhist) and socialise at bone-broth bars, falling just short of becoming parodies of themselves.
The novel is just as likely to give its readers pause for thought as it is to elicit a wry smile. In the course of the story, the protagonists’ ideas of right and wrong are put to the test and, more often than not, are cast aside in the face of greater temptation. What they once considered a firm moral stance becomes pliable when faced with a decision involving large sums of cash, their principles reluctantly (or not-so-reluctantly) sacrificed on the altar of success. The characters’ discovery of the surprising ease with which they abandon their principles only jars with others’ perception of them, or their perception of themselves: ‘… it felt humiliating to her to have done this. It was humiliating to her sense of who she was.’
Ned, in particular, suffers from that particular failing so greatly exacerbated by the age of social media—his ideas about his own character are largely dependent on what others think, to the point where he is able to excuse his actions, no matter how heinous, as long as they don’t impact on his external image: ‘He knew his lack of guilt was strange on some deeper level than this, and that no good would come from probing into it. He had learned that introspection told one very little. If people treated you like a good or kind or otherwise valuable person… then you probably were one.’
Viral is perhaps somewhat mismarketed as a thriller, prioritising its satire over twaits and turns. Nonetheless, it is a fast-paced, fun, and engaging takedown of the social media startup scene and the moral ambivalence of its characters. It probes into the darker side of the industry in a level-headed manner that is mercifully free of hand-wringing. Add to this the deft assurance of Sperling’s writing and the affectionate portrayal of the city of Berlin, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable, rip-roaring read.
Viral is published by rivverrun 17th September 2020