There Is No Anti-Memetics Division by QNTM (aka Sam Hughes) was one mind-bending rollercoaster ride of a book. How do you combat a creature that exists as a concept and can erase your ideas immediately as you have them?

Originally, this was posted as an online series of stories based on the fictional SCP Foundation, which was built as a collaborative writing project on Wikipedia by its users as a mysterious organization that studies unique creatures named “Unknowns”. Each entry is presented as a scientific case file, cataloged by a letter/number sequence and a corresponding danger level defined by a Greek letter. While some of the creatures listed are hysterical, others, like the ones explored in this book, are downright terrifying.

This story focuses on a subclass of creatures known as antimemetics. They hide in plain sight, feeding off memory and thought, shaping reality and wreaking havoc on society without anyone realizing they’re there. Any that are captured by the Organization are studied by its Anti-Memetics Division. They must be specially contained, and the workers dealing with them have to follow very specific precautions with everything from having to use paper and pen (because their ideas can be stolen from their heads), injecting themselves with medicine to allow them to retain their memories from day to day, and even leaving notes for their future selves.

The book unfolds through a series of interconnected stories that follow different members of the Division and their pursuit of knowledge regarding these creatures. As they piece everything together, they realize that something huge and monstrous is coming for our world…or has already. There are a few main characters that are threaded throughout these stories, but don’t expect any happy endings.

Without giving anything away, some scenes are quite grisly and disturbing, while others are thought-provoking and haunting. This book is dense with the science unique to its world, which makes it sometimes difficult to follow, but not impossible. There are also a few time jumps, both forward and back, that can add to the confusion.

This is not a book for the squeamish, nor is it a light read, but if you’re a fan of smart, concept-heavy horror that truly gets under your skin, this one’s a standout. It’s unlike anything else I’ve read. I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy horror with a heavy dose of existential dread, which is a genre I happen to love.

Thank you to the publisher Ballantine Books, the author QNTM, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.