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Game Over
When Hades, a new video arcade, opens downtown, all the teenagers are thrilled. But the video games are not only violent, the figures on the screen take on familiar faces and characteristics of kids from school. Soon the teens are not only committing bizarre, violent acts . . . they're dying one by one.
- GenresHorror
10 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1993
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 16, 2021
If a creepy middle-aged arcade owner—who is a dead ringer for the Monopoly man btw—hands out free tokens for his v obscure killing games and invites you to his super secret back room to play his super special virtual reality games, maybe…don’t. Bc a teen murder-spree epidemic may be in the works.
Lollll I couldn’t stop laughing at how blocky and flat these early 90s video game graphics must’ve been. I’m not convinced they were detailed enough for the in-game characters to look exactly like the protag/classmates’ irl enemies, but sure ok. Suspension of disbelief!
It’s a little slow at first, but the second half makes up for that—trust me. Plenty of bloodshed. So much…”wet thunks” and “charred and bubbling” bodies. These were some of the sickest, most horrifying deaths I’ve read in a YA. Locke isn’t afraid to get gross or throw in a few curse words here and there. This is…not Fear Street. Sooo dramatic, each killer (yes, there are MULTIPLE KILLLERS) SCREAMS out the name of their chosen game during their kills lol. Like whatttt.
Ending is a bit cheesy, with some predictable religious bits thrown in there, but I really enjoyed the descriptions of the games and overall craziness—especially that whole LIZARD DEMON SHOWDOWN at the end. Whoa.
Lollll I couldn’t stop laughing at how blocky and flat these early 90s video game graphics must’ve been. I’m not convinced they were detailed enough for the in-game characters to look exactly like the protag/classmates’ irl enemies, but sure ok. Suspension of disbelief!
It’s a little slow at first, but the second half makes up for that—trust me. Plenty of bloodshed. So much…”wet thunks” and “charred and bubbling” bodies. These were some of the sickest, most horrifying deaths I’ve read in a YA. Locke isn’t afraid to get gross or throw in a few curse words here and there. This is…not Fear Street. Sooo dramatic, each killer (yes, there are MULTIPLE KILLLERS) SCREAMS out the name of their chosen game during their kills lol. Like whatttt.
Ending is a bit cheesy, with some predictable religious bits thrown in there, but I really enjoyed the descriptions of the games and overall craziness—especially that whole LIZARD DEMON SHOWDOWN at the end. Whoa.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2016
This was insane! I loved it. There is so much talk in the media these days about computer games contributing to violence, and here's this little mid-90s teen horror tale tackling the issue well ahead of its time. Lots of gory set-pieces makes this a minor classic in my eyes!
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December 21, 2025Game Over
Officer Emery Hawkes of the Dinsmore Police Department is out making his night time rounds when he hears a sound above him. He looks up and sees something circle. Something with bat-like wings, a long tail, and an arrowlike head. It comes closer and closer and seems to be headed for the burnt-out hardware store. He radio’s in and follows it, but then the shape seems to disappear (leaving a foul smell behind).
When he goes to investigate the hardware store, a voice tells him it’s nice to see him that claws pull him into the darkness and slash him repeatedly before he can scream. Lorinda looks around for Joey after school but he’s not there. Another student (PJ) says its no secret where he is (The Galaxy-playing video games-). He mentions “the cop that disappeared last night”. His car was found behind the hardware store running and he’s now being searched for.
PJ (now at the Galaxy) tells Joey about the cop. This doesn’t get his attention. He tells him about the hardware store being turned into something else. There’s a canvas that just went up today. This doesn’t get his attention. But when he tells him Lorinda’s coming *this* pulls his attention away from “Starburst Warriors”. That’s when he realized he forgot he was supposed to meet her after volley ball practice. The thing is even tho Joe loves Lorinda, he’s obsessed with video games and she pretty much hates them. Lorinda shows up and it doesn’t take long for them to make up after he says she’s more important to him than the video games.
He actually gets her to play “Cosmic Dolphin” and she gets into it and enjoys it. Again tho, she expresses her insecurity over her thinking he enjoys video games more than her. So, he suggests a walk. Joey unconsciously walks toward the hard ware store. They see the canvas and decide to go have a look. They see a sign that says GRAND OPENING TONIGHT and think no way can someone pull off an opening this quick. The store’s owner got drunk and set the place on fire and it will take months until its ready for a re-opening.
All of a sudden a tall, fat, man in a dark suit says its very much true and says his name is Everett Blacke, the owner. The opening will be at eight. Surprisingly he knows Joseph’s name. A lucky guess he says. He says he’ll enjoy his establishment very (very) much! It’s just the place for him. He looked into Mr. —Blacke’s eyes and knew—he just knew without a doubt—that the man was right. He pleads with Joe to come because he has a grand-opening discount for him before walking off and disappearing. Lorinda immediately lets it be none that she doesn’t like this man. There’s something off about him and this place. She says they should just forget him.
Joe gets Lorinda to come with him by promising that if she feels like something is off they’ll leave right away. When they get there (there) are only teenagers and all of them seem to be talking about Mr. Blake. The cover over the building is moved-without a person- and they see a sign that says HADES VIDEO ARCADE TAKE A CHANCE! Joe asks Lorinda is she knew about this and she says she just kinda had a bad feeling. Joe says they can leave, but Lorinda says they might as well check it out. Inside there’s a sign that says WELCOME TO HELL. As Joe walks up and down the ailses and looks at the games, none of them are familiar to him.
There are some jerks from school that like to tease Lorinda for being an athlete. Joe offers to leave but Lorinda says they should stay and play a game and not give them the satisfaction of leaving. So, they decide on a game called “Safari Slaughter.” He’s surprised to find that one of the game’s enemies is one of the jerks (David Caldwell). He takes him out with a machete. Then there’s another one (Al DiCosta). Lorinda doesn’t seem to see the faces. Joe and Lorinda start to leave, but Mr. Blake stops and asks Joe what he thinks of the place and seems to know about Joe’s skills. Mr. Blake gives him five dollars’ worth of game tokens and tells him all he asks is that he spread the word.
Lorinda notices that something is wrong with Joe but he doesn’t tell her about the faces he saw. He can’t deny (but feels bad about) that it felt good chopping those guys up. The next day, Lorinda suggests they go back to Hades because she didn’t get a chance to play with him. While playing “Safari Slaughter” again, one of the explorers faces happens to be Trina Scott (another one of the mean kids) while Lorinda is playing. Joe sees Trina as a male.
Lorinda, she swung the machete and lopped Trina’s head from her neck, Lorinda lets out a whoop and keeps playing. One of the explorers becomes Kristi Parks, Trina’s best friend. She slices Kristi’s abdomen open. Red and gray cartoonish insides spilled out with a slurping sound, and Kristi fell dead. Lorinda starts to laugh like a maniac. When she calms down, she says she doesn’t want to play the game again and wants to go home. They decide to look for PJ and decide they’ll find him at the game he mentioned to Joe earlier “Road Kill”. They don’t find the game or PJ. When they try to leave, Mr. Blake snatches Joe back and tells him there’s something he needs to show him. He says he wants to show him the back room where the virtual reality games are, but later when he takes his lady friend home. Joe says maybe tomorrow night.
Meanwhile, PJ as at Hades playing the game that no one sees and getting carried away with all the kills. PJ is absent at school. But he’s at Hades (out of money) pulled by the temptation. Mr. Blake tells him he knows where to find more money (in his mom’s room in her jewelry box). His mother comes home and he asks why he’s home. He ends up losing his patience with her and tells her to leave him the hell alone. Then he returns to Hades. Mr. Blake invites PJ to come to his back room to see the VR version of the game he’s playing. PJ accepts even tho he’s told it might be more expensive to play this game.
PJ comes late to a Christian Youth Group meeting about good vs Evil. When he hears the lecture about just ignoring people who do bad things against because it’s what God would want you to do, he calls it bull, gets upset, and walks out. Joe goes after him but he’s already gone. Joe sees a car coming and realizes whose car it is. Its PJ’s parents car and its driving for David and Kristi. He yells out to them but its too late. PJ hits them both. As he drives away he yells ROAD KILL! Then he comes back and starts to run over them repeatedly. The car begins to spin and then the Buick then catches on fire. Mr. Blake comes out and smiles at the car in flames. PJ (in flames) tries to struggle to get out the car. He screams for Blake but he’s soon engulfed in flames.
*(The windows cracked and burst, their shards tinKling thickly on the sidewalk. The figure in the flames fell limp, hanging out of the driver’s window, still smoking and flickering with flames. But it wasn’t P.J. Not anymore. Now it was black and lumpy and glistening with something other than sweat. There’s an assembly held for the 3 students and funeral’s. Hades popularity continues. There are now no signs of Road Kill or Safari Slaughter. Joe returns to Hades and Mr. Blacke gives him the use of the arcade with free tokens. Joe asks about the game Road Kill. He says he doesn’t have it but he can order it. He asks about Safari Slaughter and he says it broke down and he had to replace it. However, he has it in the VR back room.
Joseph is going to tell him no, but finds himself saying sure. In the room, he’s given the helmet, gloves, and something that feels like a machete. In the game, Joe takes out Al DiCosta. Then he encounters Trina Scott. She shoots him and he falls backwards and then forwards. He rips off the helmet and Mr. Blacke is there laughing. Joe realizes the people are real and tries to confront Mr. Blacke but they just stare at each other. He tells him he thinks he should go. Mr. Blacke says if he likes but he knows he’ll be back. Meanwhile, other students like (Arlo and Louisa) play the games obsessively and start to wonder what it would be like to do the damage to their enemies (shown on the screen) with the weapons from the game in real life.
Joe sees Arlo kill Bruce with an ax and the police take him away. At school, he hears screams and finds Lousin in the girls bathroom with a hammer in her hands standing over a bloody body on the floor. It doesn’t take long for Joe and Lorinda to figure out that Mr. Blacke is using the games to prey on their anger and fears to get them all to kill each other. They realize that the things that each PJ, Louisa, and Arlo were each yelling out phrases that sounded like the games in the arcade but there were no games with those names. So, they decide to talk to Pastor Crane about if it’s evil.
They pay Hades a visit but there’s no games called “Death Match” “Road Kill” or “Hammer Head”. He invites them in the back room to take their minds off the tragedy. He introduces them to this game that’s sort of like ping pong but instead of with paddles there are guns and the table has spikes. Joe wins because there are less balls on his side, But it turns out they aren’t balls. They’re heads one of them is PJs. The others are of David, Kristi, Kaya, and Bruce’s. Lorinda screams. Mr. Blacke asks if they enjoyed the game. He hopes so because it’ll give him a good idea of what’s to come.
Mr. Blacke tells him he’s decided he’s his opponent but just know he’ll win. A long, forked, tongue slithers out his mouth. Joe asks him who he is. He says he has many and asks which he prefers and then he starts to laugh and his voice distorts and gets deeper. Joe and Lorinda get the hell out of there. (He says his name is Legion). They go to Pastor Crane’s house but his neighbor tells him he and his wife are out of town until tomorrow night. They decide to call him tomorrow from a pay phone and if he’s there they’ll skip school.
Jay is playing a game called “Heart attack” and thinking about cutting on Bev’s heart. He always knew she was out of his league but he asked her out anyway doing an impersonation. She just laughs at him and tells him he’ll be a great comedian some day. On his way out she calls him over to her and her clique and asks him to do an impression. They need a good laugh. He tells all of them to (I imagine) to kiss his a**. Mr. Blake intercepts and tells him to go do what he was thinking and that he’ll see him again. Stephanie watches Tim leave with Trina. He used to be hers. She’s playing a game involving an ax and imagines the ax embedding itself on Trina’s neck. Mr. Blacke tells her tells her he has the same virtual reality game in the back.
Jay kills Bev with a sword yelling Heart attack as he does. Bey’s mom shot him and Joe finds out now he’s in the hospital. After this he’ll go to the police and juvenile detention. Stephanie kills off Trina and then Tim with an ax. Joe and Lorinda convince the Pastor to go with them to confront Mr. Blacke. Surprisingly they find that the arcade is closed. Once inside, Blacke knocks out Lorinda and the Pastor. Now he tells Joe its time to play. They’ll be playing for his friends souls. He tells him the game will be like a dream or a nightmare. There will be no rules. It will be too the death.
Joe realizes all he has to do is use his imagination and he can conjure up any weapon. He also realizes while fighting this morphing creature he can’t take off the VR gear. The “thing” offers to make a deal with him (as PJ did who now works for him) but Joe says he’d rather die. He holds up the Pastor Crane and Lorinda in his tentacles. Joe still says no way tho they appear to beg him. Joe says if he’s evil he can call on good (God’s armor) and there’s a flash of white light. He’s now wearing a helmet and a sword flashing white light. The Pastor and Lorinda disappear. The creature turns bat-like.
With the sword he vanquishes the creature and then the armor disappears. Then Mr. Blake’s body burst into flames and then the room. Joe rips the VR gear off. He gets Lorinda and Pastor Crane out of the arcade and into the daylight. An ambulance is called. The arcade goes up in flames as Joe gets Pastor Crane out. The fire department is called. Joe says a living thing in the smoke -made of flames- fly upward until its gone.
Rating: 6 Very interesting concept! This one was a little harder to find. The title caught my attention out of curiosity for trying to create something similar with the same name.
Officer Emery Hawkes of the Dinsmore Police Department is out making his night time rounds when he hears a sound above him. He looks up and sees something circle. Something with bat-like wings, a long tail, and an arrowlike head. It comes closer and closer and seems to be headed for the burnt-out hardware store. He radio’s in and follows it, but then the shape seems to disappear (leaving a foul smell behind).
When he goes to investigate the hardware store, a voice tells him it’s nice to see him that claws pull him into the darkness and slash him repeatedly before he can scream. Lorinda looks around for Joey after school but he’s not there. Another student (PJ) says its no secret where he is (The Galaxy-playing video games-). He mentions “the cop that disappeared last night”. His car was found behind the hardware store running and he’s now being searched for.
PJ (now at the Galaxy) tells Joey about the cop. This doesn’t get his attention. He tells him about the hardware store being turned into something else. There’s a canvas that just went up today. This doesn’t get his attention. But when he tells him Lorinda’s coming *this* pulls his attention away from “Starburst Warriors”. That’s when he realized he forgot he was supposed to meet her after volley ball practice. The thing is even tho Joe loves Lorinda, he’s obsessed with video games and she pretty much hates them. Lorinda shows up and it doesn’t take long for them to make up after he says she’s more important to him than the video games.
He actually gets her to play “Cosmic Dolphin” and she gets into it and enjoys it. Again tho, she expresses her insecurity over her thinking he enjoys video games more than her. So, he suggests a walk. Joey unconsciously walks toward the hard ware store. They see the canvas and decide to go have a look. They see a sign that says GRAND OPENING TONIGHT and think no way can someone pull off an opening this quick. The store’s owner got drunk and set the place on fire and it will take months until its ready for a re-opening.
All of a sudden a tall, fat, man in a dark suit says its very much true and says his name is Everett Blacke, the owner. The opening will be at eight. Surprisingly he knows Joseph’s name. A lucky guess he says. He says he’ll enjoy his establishment very (very) much! It’s just the place for him. He looked into Mr. —Blacke’s eyes and knew—he just knew without a doubt—that the man was right. He pleads with Joe to come because he has a grand-opening discount for him before walking off and disappearing. Lorinda immediately lets it be none that she doesn’t like this man. There’s something off about him and this place. She says they should just forget him.
Joe gets Lorinda to come with him by promising that if she feels like something is off they’ll leave right away. When they get there (there) are only teenagers and all of them seem to be talking about Mr. Blake. The cover over the building is moved-without a person- and they see a sign that says HADES VIDEO ARCADE TAKE A CHANCE! Joe asks Lorinda is she knew about this and she says she just kinda had a bad feeling. Joe says they can leave, but Lorinda says they might as well check it out. Inside there’s a sign that says WELCOME TO HELL. As Joe walks up and down the ailses and looks at the games, none of them are familiar to him.
There are some jerks from school that like to tease Lorinda for being an athlete. Joe offers to leave but Lorinda says they should stay and play a game and not give them the satisfaction of leaving. So, they decide on a game called “Safari Slaughter.” He’s surprised to find that one of the game’s enemies is one of the jerks (David Caldwell). He takes him out with a machete. Then there’s another one (Al DiCosta). Lorinda doesn’t seem to see the faces. Joe and Lorinda start to leave, but Mr. Blake stops and asks Joe what he thinks of the place and seems to know about Joe’s skills. Mr. Blake gives him five dollars’ worth of game tokens and tells him all he asks is that he spread the word.
Lorinda notices that something is wrong with Joe but he doesn’t tell her about the faces he saw. He can’t deny (but feels bad about) that it felt good chopping those guys up. The next day, Lorinda suggests they go back to Hades because she didn’t get a chance to play with him. While playing “Safari Slaughter” again, one of the explorers faces happens to be Trina Scott (another one of the mean kids) while Lorinda is playing. Joe sees Trina as a male.
Lorinda, she swung the machete and lopped Trina’s head from her neck, Lorinda lets out a whoop and keeps playing. One of the explorers becomes Kristi Parks, Trina’s best friend. She slices Kristi’s abdomen open. Red and gray cartoonish insides spilled out with a slurping sound, and Kristi fell dead. Lorinda starts to laugh like a maniac. When she calms down, she says she doesn’t want to play the game again and wants to go home. They decide to look for PJ and decide they’ll find him at the game he mentioned to Joe earlier “Road Kill”. They don’t find the game or PJ. When they try to leave, Mr. Blake snatches Joe back and tells him there’s something he needs to show him. He says he wants to show him the back room where the virtual reality games are, but later when he takes his lady friend home. Joe says maybe tomorrow night.
Meanwhile, PJ as at Hades playing the game that no one sees and getting carried away with all the kills. PJ is absent at school. But he’s at Hades (out of money) pulled by the temptation. Mr. Blake tells him he knows where to find more money (in his mom’s room in her jewelry box). His mother comes home and he asks why he’s home. He ends up losing his patience with her and tells her to leave him the hell alone. Then he returns to Hades. Mr. Blake invites PJ to come to his back room to see the VR version of the game he’s playing. PJ accepts even tho he’s told it might be more expensive to play this game.
PJ comes late to a Christian Youth Group meeting about good vs Evil. When he hears the lecture about just ignoring people who do bad things against because it’s what God would want you to do, he calls it bull, gets upset, and walks out. Joe goes after him but he’s already gone. Joe sees a car coming and realizes whose car it is. Its PJ’s parents car and its driving for David and Kristi. He yells out to them but its too late. PJ hits them both. As he drives away he yells ROAD KILL! Then he comes back and starts to run over them repeatedly. The car begins to spin and then the Buick then catches on fire. Mr. Blake comes out and smiles at the car in flames. PJ (in flames) tries to struggle to get out the car. He screams for Blake but he’s soon engulfed in flames.
*(The windows cracked and burst, their shards tinKling thickly on the sidewalk. The figure in the flames fell limp, hanging out of the driver’s window, still smoking and flickering with flames. But it wasn’t P.J. Not anymore. Now it was black and lumpy and glistening with something other than sweat. There’s an assembly held for the 3 students and funeral’s. Hades popularity continues. There are now no signs of Road Kill or Safari Slaughter. Joe returns to Hades and Mr. Blacke gives him the use of the arcade with free tokens. Joe asks about the game Road Kill. He says he doesn’t have it but he can order it. He asks about Safari Slaughter and he says it broke down and he had to replace it. However, he has it in the VR back room.
Joseph is going to tell him no, but finds himself saying sure. In the room, he’s given the helmet, gloves, and something that feels like a machete. In the game, Joe takes out Al DiCosta. Then he encounters Trina Scott. She shoots him and he falls backwards and then forwards. He rips off the helmet and Mr. Blacke is there laughing. Joe realizes the people are real and tries to confront Mr. Blacke but they just stare at each other. He tells him he thinks he should go. Mr. Blacke says if he likes but he knows he’ll be back. Meanwhile, other students like (Arlo and Louisa) play the games obsessively and start to wonder what it would be like to do the damage to their enemies (shown on the screen) with the weapons from the game in real life.
Joe sees Arlo kill Bruce with an ax and the police take him away. At school, he hears screams and finds Lousin in the girls bathroom with a hammer in her hands standing over a bloody body on the floor. It doesn’t take long for Joe and Lorinda to figure out that Mr. Blacke is using the games to prey on their anger and fears to get them all to kill each other. They realize that the things that each PJ, Louisa, and Arlo were each yelling out phrases that sounded like the games in the arcade but there were no games with those names. So, they decide to talk to Pastor Crane about if it’s evil.
They pay Hades a visit but there’s no games called “Death Match” “Road Kill” or “Hammer Head”. He invites them in the back room to take their minds off the tragedy. He introduces them to this game that’s sort of like ping pong but instead of with paddles there are guns and the table has spikes. Joe wins because there are less balls on his side, But it turns out they aren’t balls. They’re heads one of them is PJs. The others are of David, Kristi, Kaya, and Bruce’s. Lorinda screams. Mr. Blacke asks if they enjoyed the game. He hopes so because it’ll give him a good idea of what’s to come.
Mr. Blacke tells him he’s decided he’s his opponent but just know he’ll win. A long, forked, tongue slithers out his mouth. Joe asks him who he is. He says he has many and asks which he prefers and then he starts to laugh and his voice distorts and gets deeper. Joe and Lorinda get the hell out of there. (He says his name is Legion). They go to Pastor Crane’s house but his neighbor tells him he and his wife are out of town until tomorrow night. They decide to call him tomorrow from a pay phone and if he’s there they’ll skip school.
Jay is playing a game called “Heart attack” and thinking about cutting on Bev’s heart. He always knew she was out of his league but he asked her out anyway doing an impersonation. She just laughs at him and tells him he’ll be a great comedian some day. On his way out she calls him over to her and her clique and asks him to do an impression. They need a good laugh. He tells all of them to (I imagine) to kiss his a**. Mr. Blake intercepts and tells him to go do what he was thinking and that he’ll see him again. Stephanie watches Tim leave with Trina. He used to be hers. She’s playing a game involving an ax and imagines the ax embedding itself on Trina’s neck. Mr. Blacke tells her tells her he has the same virtual reality game in the back.
Jay kills Bev with a sword yelling Heart attack as he does. Bey’s mom shot him and Joe finds out now he’s in the hospital. After this he’ll go to the police and juvenile detention. Stephanie kills off Trina and then Tim with an ax. Joe and Lorinda convince the Pastor to go with them to confront Mr. Blacke. Surprisingly they find that the arcade is closed. Once inside, Blacke knocks out Lorinda and the Pastor. Now he tells Joe its time to play. They’ll be playing for his friends souls. He tells him the game will be like a dream or a nightmare. There will be no rules. It will be too the death.
Joe realizes all he has to do is use his imagination and he can conjure up any weapon. He also realizes while fighting this morphing creature he can’t take off the VR gear. The “thing” offers to make a deal with him (as PJ did who now works for him) but Joe says he’d rather die. He holds up the Pastor Crane and Lorinda in his tentacles. Joe still says no way tho they appear to beg him. Joe says if he’s evil he can call on good (God’s armor) and there’s a flash of white light. He’s now wearing a helmet and a sword flashing white light. The Pastor and Lorinda disappear. The creature turns bat-like.
With the sword he vanquishes the creature and then the armor disappears. Then Mr. Blake’s body burst into flames and then the room. Joe rips the VR gear off. He gets Lorinda and Pastor Crane out of the arcade and into the daylight. An ambulance is called. The arcade goes up in flames as Joe gets Pastor Crane out. The fire department is called. Joe says a living thing in the smoke -made of flames- fly upward until its gone.
Rating: 6 Very interesting concept! This one was a little harder to find. The title caught my attention out of curiosity for trying to create something similar with the same name.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2013
I enjoyed the story line and the characters. It deals a lot with the price of seeking revenge against those who have wronged you in the past.
February 25, 2024
Finally! I have been wanting to read a really good story about cursed or haunted media, and Game Over by Jospeh Locke almost filled that order to a T. A new arcade called Hades opens up in town. As the local teens begin to play the games that Hades has on offer, a wave of chaos and brutal violence sweeps through the town. One teen, Joe, begins to suspect that Hades and its proprietor, the strange Mr. Blacke, are to blame for a rash of murders.
Game Over is a young adult horror novel released in 1993. Since it was released in a decade before helicopter parents took over, this book is pretty violent. There is no sexual content and maybe one or two cuss words at best, but the violence is not off-page, and it is graphic. I loved that. Tween me would have eaten this book up.
The book does drag out just a little, and it gets a bit repetitive, but I enjoyed it overall. There is a surprising Christian element in the story as well. It is not heavy-handed, but it is a nice addition for Christian readers who also love a good horror story.
I would recommend this book to folks who love Needful Things, Dreamscape, the Freddy Krueger movies. and any books about cursed media. Don't let the fact that Game Over is a young adult book scare you away. Joseph Locke is the pen name for extreme horror author Ray Garton, and he does not hold back on the violence here.
Game Over is a young adult horror novel released in 1993. Since it was released in a decade before helicopter parents took over, this book is pretty violent. There is no sexual content and maybe one or two cuss words at best, but the violence is not off-page, and it is graphic. I loved that. Tween me would have eaten this book up.
The book does drag out just a little, and it gets a bit repetitive, but I enjoyed it overall. There is a surprising Christian element in the story as well. It is not heavy-handed, but it is a nice addition for Christian readers who also love a good horror story.
I would recommend this book to folks who love Needful Things, Dreamscape, the Freddy Krueger movies. and any books about cursed media. Don't let the fact that Game Over is a young adult book scare you away. Joseph Locke is the pen name for extreme horror author Ray Garton, and he does not hold back on the violence here.
April 8, 2024
More like 3.5 stars. A new arcade opens up in town in place of the burned down hardware store that was owned by the father of the main character in Kill the Teachers Pet so good with the continuity. We follow our protagonist Joe who of course is obsessed with video games who is drawn to the new arcade, Hades, along with most of the other teens in the town. But this isn’t your average arcade oh no there are games only they can see that are always available for them and in those games they get to kill characters that just happen to look like people they dislike or are bullied by. So suddenly the kids who are playing the game take the game to literally and start murdering other teens in similar ways to the games. Now major pluses for some gruesome murders that go in good detail. Although I will say most were just killed with axes for some reason lol. With a name like Hades and the main character being part of a Christian club with most of the misfits I was not a fan of the religiousness of the book. Could have done the good vs evil really without that. And the climax was super lame because of that. Such buildup of such an evil guy to just really end so easily.
September 20, 2023
Forgot to write my review here for this one, but I have in my notes: "WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ" 🤣
This one is a rare one to find, but 1000% WORTH IT!
This must’ve been the highest body count I’ve encountered so far in a vintage YA. There was
“charred and bubbling flesh” galore, GNARLY!! Meanwhile someone gets hacked to death by an axe and there are “sprays of blood” everywhere, GRODY!! I felt like a sicko for reading this 🤣😈
Death and destruction and video games in a deranged book that goes off the rails and is totally bonkers. Loved this one!
P.S. The owner of Hades Arcade is Mr. Blacke and he has "meaty hands", wears a pentagram ring, and has a small PONYTAIL. How the hell can anyone trust that 🤣🤣😈
P.P.S. I gave my 60 second review on @talespointhorrorbookclub's Instagram, awhile back too!
This one is a rare one to find, but 1000% WORTH IT!
This must’ve been the highest body count I’ve encountered so far in a vintage YA. There was
“charred and bubbling flesh” galore, GNARLY!! Meanwhile someone gets hacked to death by an axe and there are “sprays of blood” everywhere, GRODY!! I felt like a sicko for reading this 🤣😈
Death and destruction and video games in a deranged book that goes off the rails and is totally bonkers. Loved this one!
P.S. The owner of Hades Arcade is Mr. Blacke and he has "meaty hands", wears a pentagram ring, and has a small PONYTAIL. How the hell can anyone trust that 🤣🤣😈
P.P.S. I gave my 60 second review on @talespointhorrorbookclub's Instagram, awhile back too!
March 11, 2023
Some gnarly deaths and an arcade literally called Hades, I mean…
November 6, 2015
This story was about Joseph and a new video arcade that just opened in his small town which was owned by a very odd man named Mr. Blacke. These games would make kids go crazy because of the graphics and how they looked so detailed and familiar that it actually made the kids do what they were doing in the game. I thought this story was interesting and weird, but I liked it.
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June 1, 2009JM-Loc
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