The Game by Scott Kershaw

 

Description from the Publisher:

"To save their life, you have to play.

Across the globe, five strangers receive a horrifying message from an unknown number.

THE PERSON YOU LOVE MOST IS IN DANGER.

To save them, each must play The Game – a sinister unknown entity that has a single rule: there can only be one winner.

IF YOU LOSE, YOUR LOVED ONE WILL DIE.

But what is The Game – and why have they been chosen?

There’s only one thing each of them knows for sure: they’ll do anything to win…

WELCOME TO THE GAME. YOU’VE JUST STARTED PLAYING."

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I have to say kudos to the designer of the cover ... how good and striking is that?!?  If that doesn't grab your attention, then the blurb certainly will ... well, it did me but then I am a bit of a sucker for these types of stories every now and again 😎

The story - 5 people in 3 countries suddenly find themselves in The Game but it's not your run-of-the-mill game of Monopoly; no, it's something far more sinister.  If they refuse to play, the one they love dies; if they tell anyone, their loved one dies ... they have no choice but to participate but there can only be one winner.

The pacing of the book is fast and flowing with the story being told from the perspective of all the characters and occasionally some of their loved ones.  The plot is intriguing - you don't know until near the end why the participants have been chosen or who the 'puppet-master' is which made trying to work out the 'why' difficult but all is revealed in an ending that is as surprising as it is violent.

Now, I'm not going to say that all is perfect with this book, there are a number of times where you have to suspend belief a little and it does deal with themes and uses language that some may find unpalatable, e.g. homophobia, racism, abuse, rape, suicide, and there are numerous scenes of violence, so if you find these are triggers for you, I would give it a miss.

Overall, I think this is a very creditable debut and I will be looking out for more of Mr Kershaw's work in the future and I must thank HQ and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Game and sharing my thoughts.

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