Book Review: Game

Game by Anders de la Motte
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
U.S. Publication Date:  December 2013
Source:  Received copy from the publisher

Follow the rules and everybody gets hurt . . .

One Sunday morning after a long night of partying, Henrik “HP” Pettersson, a slacker with a lot of ego and very little impulse control, finds a cell phone of an unfamiliar make on a commuter train. Through insisting and slightly uncanny messages that refer to him by name, the phone invites him to play a game. HP accepts without hesitation.

The rules are that HP must complete tasks that range from childish pranks to criminal acts, as allocated by the mysterious Game Master. HP is the perfect contender—alienated from society, devoid of morals, and desperate for fame. His completion of the assignments are filmed and uploaded onto a protected server where viewers rate the Players’ performances.

The Game starts out innocently enough and then becomes increasingly risky, threatening the safety of someone close to HP. He is determined to become a superstar, but when the dark and tragic secrets of his family’s past are at stake, HP must make a choice. Will he suffer the humiliation of defeat, or will the need to win push him to the limit—no matter the cost?

I'm not quite sure what to think about this book. On the one hand, it was pretty interesting. There are lots of twists and turns, and the reader really doesn't know exactly what's going on, even to the very end. The main character was so unlikable that it made the book hard to read. It's no fun being inside the head of a jerk for a whole book. But somehow, when finishing the book, I kinda want to read the next one. So I guess you could say I liked the book well enough.