Girl Gone Viral

by Arvin Ahmadi

Overview

"Smart, timely and riveting."—The New York Times Book Review

Perfect for fans of Warcross and Black Mirror, Girl Gone Viral is the inventive and timely story of a seventeen-year-old coder's catapult to stardom.

For seventeen-year-old Opal Hopper, code is magic. She builds entire worlds from scratch: Mars craters, shimmering lakes, any virtual experience her heart desires.

But she can't code her dad back into her life. When he disappeared after her tenth birthday, leaving only a cryptic note, Opal tried desperately to find him. And when he never turned up, she enrolled at a boarding school for technical prodigies and tried to forget.

Until now. Because WAVE, the world's biggest virtual reality platform, has announced a contest where the winner gets to meet its billionaire founder. The same billionaire who worked closely with Opal's dad. The one she always believed might know where he went. The one who maybe even murdered him.

What begins as a small data hack to win the contest spirals out of control when Opal goes viral, digging her deeper into a hole of lies, hacks, and manipulation. How far will Opal go for the answers—or is it the attention—she's wanted for years?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425289914
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	402,876
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	790L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Arvin Ahmadi grew up outside Washington, DC. He graduated from Columbia University and has worked in the tech industry. When he's not reading or writing books, he can be found watching late-night talk show interviews and editing Wikipedia pages. Down and Across is his first novel, followed by Girl Gone Viral.

Editorial Reviews

Raves for Girl Gone Viral:

"Tense, twisty, and oh-so-timely, Girl Gone Viral is the perfect thriller for the virtual reality era. Don’t start this book unless you can finish in one sitting. I loved it!”—Brendan Reichs, New York Times bestselling author of Nemesis

“In Opal’s story, Arvin Ahmadi has crafted a timely and gripping sci-fi tale, grounded in the technology that links us, and what finding ourselves within it can cost.”—Alex London, bestselling author of Proxy and Black Wings Beating

"A fast-paced Black Mirror episode with an endearing teenage protagonist." —Marie Claire Magazine

From the Publisher

Throughout the compulsively readable story…Ahmadi raises thought-provoking questions about the role and influence of social media in our lives…While this smart, timely and riveting novel addresses…profound questions, Ahmadi keeps the philosophy tucked neatly between the lines, foregrounding the emotional questions that drive Opal and her friends' story…Ahmadi shows that the best investments are the ones we make in each other, because the opportunity to love another person is something each of us can offer and all of us deserve.

The New York Times Book Review - Brendan Kiely

03/25/2019

In this near-future thriller, Ahmadi (Down and Across) questions the benefits of technology and its role in creating instant celebrity, shortening attention spans, and insidiously impacting democracy. When 17-year-old coder Opal Tal’s father, Aaron, went missing seven years earlier, she attempted to track him down by reaching out to his business partner, Howie Mendelsohn. But Opal’s requests were ignored. Now legally known as Opal Hopper and a senior at Palo Alto Academy of Science and Technology, she is given an opportunity to meet Howie by entering the Make-a-Splash competition on WAVE, a virtual reality social media site that Howie created. All Opal has to do is give up her privacy and become a viral media sensation, which she and her friends do using ill-gotten information about how people react to an infamous personality’s very public emotional breakdowns. The narrative blends with texts, transcripts, and other technologies, sometimes affecting pacing, but Ahmadi’s relatable characters keep the story engaging. Ages 12–up. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM Partners. (May)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2019

Gr 8 Up—When 17-year-old Opal Tal's father disappeared seven years ago, everyone believed it was suicide…except Opal. After years of desperately searching for her beloved Abba, Opal changes her name to avoid the stigma and attention and tries to move on with her life. But when WAVE, the world's leading virtual reality platform, announces a contest to create the most viral VR experience, Opal has to enter. Because first prize is a chance to meet the company's founder and reclusive gazillionaire, Howie Mendelsohn—the same Howie Mendelsohn who was working with her dad when he disappeared; the same Howie Mendelsohn who was the last person to see him alive. Now Opal must discover how far down the virtual rabbit hole she is willing to go to find out what really happened the night she lost her father. The world of Ahmadi's book is as much a character as any other. Setting his book in a not-too-distant future where Seth Meyers is considered "old school" and political lines are drawn not between Republicans and Democrats but instead between Technology and Luddites, Ahmadi creates a nice balance between the familiar and the future. Characters power the story and, though there is not much action, there are still plenty of surprises and suspense. Ahmadi leaves enough loose ends dangling that a sequel is possible, which would be eagerly anticipated by readers. VERDICT Despite a slow start, this novel picks up the pace and rounds into a very entertaining story with a protagonist readers will invest in.—Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX

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