Book Review: ReSet

ReSet, Jesse Severson, Independently Published, 2024, Paperback and eBook, 227 pages. 

Reviewed by Damian Serbu.

Jesse Severson’s third novel explores the implications of a pill that resets a person’s health to perfect. What appears to be a miracle also contains an underbelly of human depravity. 

The protagonist, Matthew Sterling, has a bitter view of the world. He is brilliant but flawed. He attended medical school but was expelled. Matthew’s desire for wealth and his need for retaliation against detractors and enemies compromise his ability to cure any disease. He becomes Dr. Jekyll, pursuing his dream, even at the expense of innocent victims. Matthew morphs into a treacherous beast, almost of a comic book villain variety, in his disdain for people and quest for chaos.

He longs for accolades and masks his hurt with unrepentant power and cold disregard for the feelings and health of others. 

The story also includes the narratives on the other side of this tale – three people who need the pill to survive. Severson lets you consider the people in desperate need of the cure. Desperate people go to great lengths to save themselves. What lengths will they go to survive? The reader feels for their plight. 

The story provides political intrigue, as well as the elements of a thriller. Matthew may be a dark protagonist, but Severson wants you to find out if he can be redeemed. This is a story asking you to enter the mind of a fallen figure to search for their humanity.