The God Game by Danny Tobey

Charlie and his friends think it's just an AR game, until it starts having effects in real life. Things go right - and wrong - depending on how they perform in the Game. Still, it can't make them kill people, can it? Not unless they want to...

Now here's a dilemma. How do we know that the reviews for this book are real reviews and not just the Game messing with us?

That's the kind of paranoia this title gives you. If it means anything, I can tell you that I am a really real person. But of course, the Game might say that as well if it was trying to fool you...

This is a great read. The POV is confusing at times; a section will be in someone's POV and then slip to someone else's, then back to the first person. I got used to that, though, and it didn't impact my reading too much. The story itself is fast, furious, and paranoia-inducing, with just a hint of a possible sequel. Brilliant. I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a good techno thriller.

You are invited!
COme inside and play with G.O.D.
Bring your friends!
It;’s fun!
But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.™ Lose, you die!

With those words, Charlie and his friends enter the G.O.D. Game, a video game run by underground hackers and controlled by a mysterious AI that believes it’s God. Through their phone-screens and high-tech glasses, the teens’ realities blur with a virtual world of creeping vines, smoldering torches, runes, glyphs, gods, and mythical creatures. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them with expensive tech, revenge on high-school tormentors, and cash flowing from ATMs. Slaying a hydra and drawing a bloody pentagram as payment to a Greek god seem harmless at first. Fun even.

But then the threatening messages start. Worship me. Obey me. Complete a mission, however cruel, or the game reveals their secrets and crushes their dreams. Tasks that seemed harmless at first take on deadly consequences. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them, appearing around corners, attacking them in parking garages. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win?

And what of the game’s first promise: win, win big, lose, you die? Dying in a virtual world doesn’t really mean death in real life—does it?

As Charlie and his friends try to find a way out of the game, they realize they’ve been manipulated into a bigger web they can’t escape: an AI that learned its cruelty from watching us.

God is always watching, and He says when the game is done.