Players

by Paul McAuley

The body of a teenage girl found in mountain forest two hundred miles from her home. The corpse of a young man in the Nevada desert, his heart and eyes removed. The post-apocalyptic world of a role-playing video game, created by a man driven by delusions of superhuman supremacy. And rookie detective Summer Ziegler, pitched headlong into her first major case. But while Summer tries to unpick the killer's twisted logic, he lures her into a cat-and-mouse game with a spectacular climax of his own devising . . . 'Jaw-droppingly good.' Michael Marshall 'In the footsteps of Lee Child and John Connolly.' Independent on Sunday 'A truly suspenseful plot.' Irish Independent 'McAuley has dragged the cyber-thriller firmly into the twenty-first century.' Daily Mirror

Genres: Thriller, Science Fiction

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Since about 2000, book jackets have given his name as just Paul McAuley.

A biologist by training, UK science fiction author McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction, dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternate history/alternate reality, and space travel.

McAuley has also used biotechnology and nanotechnology themes in near-future settings.

Since 2001, he has produced several SF-based techno-thrillers such as The Secret of Life, Whole Wide World, and White Devils.

Four Hundred Billion Stars, his first novel, won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1988. Fairyland won the 1996 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 1997 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel.

Reviews

[Krait · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have been better if it had been 200 pages shorter.

[Gustaf Erikson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mainstream detective thriller by McAuley, who is mostly known for his SF. Competently put together but with an artificial air.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t read detective/police procedurals very often but get a yen for one every so often and this one very taut and twisty!