>>24547998The novel, set in 2012, follows a 22-year-old graduate student in evolutionary psychology who is a virgin and identifies as an "incel". He makes a pact to lose his virginity by his 23rd birthday or orchestrate his own death by starting a fatal fight. The plot is driven by this deadline as he systematically attempts to pick up women using a pseudo-scientific model of seduction he develops, meticulously logging his hundreds of rejections. His primary relationships are with his cynical pickup-artist friend, Jason, who offers him manipulative dating advice, and his sister, Rachel, with whom his relationship frays and eventually breaks over his toxic worldview. After numerous failures, including a date that ends poorly when he pressures the woman to come home with him, he gets into a bar fight. This altercation leads him to meet a redhead named Chloe. The protagonist goes on a date with Chloe and successfully brings her back to her apartment. However, he suffers from severe performance anxiety and erectile dysfunction. Chloe is kind and helps him, and they have a brief, mechanically successful but emotionally hollow sexual encounter. He has technically achieved his goal just before his birthday. The next day, he wakes up feeling just as empty, realizing that losing his virginity has not solved his profound loneliness or self-loathing. He throws away his suicide materials and the calendar marking his deadline. The novel ends with him still emotionally lost, his future deeply uncertain.
