The Game by Scott Kershaw

Reality, reason, and well-drawn characters are not necessary in a thriller. Thrillers are built on plot and pace, and this one succeeds in the end, despite characters I did not care about acting unbelievably in a game no one can figure out. Suspend your disbelief for optimal enjoyment.

Five random strangers are forced to play a game. Player One: Maggie, a young woman who gave her baby up for adoption but retains the right to have him (now eight years old) some weekends. Player Two: Brett is a game developer who finds he loves his hockey buddy Craig more than his wife. Player Three: Sarah is a negligent mom married to a disinterested husband, both addicted to online gaming.

Player Four: Noah, a Parisian drug runner engaged to an Estonian model. Player Five: Linda is ex-police, now working security at a UK airport, who can handle herself, but not her seventeen-year-old daughter Alyssa. Each receives a message with a photo of a kidnapped victim from an untraceable number: Do not share this message or go to the police. You are being monitored. Your loved one has been kidnapped. You must play the game, or they will be killed. There can only be one winner. If you lose, your loved one will die. A mistake in contacting the police is met with swift violence, so it's no joke.

Using only burner phones, they must meet in the UK before a timer runs out. With no money or clothes, using a stolen passport—even stowing away in the boot of a lorry—they gather to find the journey is not over. On a five-hour drive into Scotland, they have no choice but to blindly trust each other and discover how they are connected.

Before discovering Player Six.

A mastermind has the unlikely task of coordinating timed messages and monitoring both the players and kidnappers. I am always up for an adventure, but it strained plausibility on everyone's part, and I felt silly continuing to read it. It wasn't for the writing or characters. Usually, a twist grabs you, but by page 354 no one knew what was happening, including me. It has something to do with a pregame held in Monaco a year and a half ago—an all-female tournament of online influencers. I give it to Kershaw that he did pull it together, and the dark and nasty finale was suitably violent. This debut thriller received positive reviews, and undiscerning excitement seekers will be satisfied.

2022 / Tradeback / 448 pages