From Goodreads: The stunning conclusion to the groundbreaking Scandinavian crime trilogy featuring a deadly game that blurs reality and fiction in a world obsessed with social media. It’s the middle of summer and Stockholm is preparing for the wedding of a beloved Swedish princess. Trying to move on with his life after the end of The Game, HP is still struggling to find his way when he receives an anonymous text message asking if he’d like back in. HP knows his participation has already put himself and his sister in danger and he’d like to ignore the text, but he also realizes he doesn’t know who to trust. HP tried to stay hidden and on the run, but he can’t escape the Game Master. Hoping to uncover the truth behind The Game and free himself from the Game Master’s control forever, HP decides to accept one more assignment.
Rebecca’s life has changed dramatically as a result of her brother’s involvement in The Game and she, too, is trying to move on and find the truth. And now she’s determined to uncover the connection between her late father’s past and her brother’s current predicament. But will Rebecca’s investigation into the past cost her the future? Taking action, HP hunts down a man he believes might be the Game Master himself. With a band of fellow former Game players, they infiltrate the Fortress in order to collect information that could be the Game’s undoing. But is he strong enough to take down The Game? And can he trust his fellow gamers?
A fast-paced, technological thriller that concludes the story that began in Game and Buzz, Bubble will have readers gasping for breath during the final showdown between HP and the Game Master.
___________________________________________________________________
In this final installment in The Game Trilogy, many questions are answered as HP embarks on his final task while trying to find the Game Master in order to put an end to it once and for all. But, nothing is as it seems, and no one is who they say they are… making this another intense read as both HP and his sister and thrown for a loop as events materialize that shake them to their core. Who is the Game Master? I was shocked by the revelation within the text—it bowled me over and left me piecing together all the evidence. Luckily, Anders presents the truth in vivid detail, making it the perfect fit, and bringing a smile to my face—especially because it isn’t necessarily over, even though this is the last novel in the series.
HP has grown a lot over the course of the series. While he’s still not my favorite person in the world, he has put his vindictive, childish ways of the first novel behind him, focusing more on stopping the Game and keeping his sister safe than on being let into the Game one last time.
Likewise, HP’s sister’s involvement and the back and forth nature of the novel, focusing first on HP, and then on Rebecca, flows much better in this third installment. Whereas I wasn’t a fan of this writing style at all in book one, I now really enjoy it, especially as the events all intertwine and have much more meaning to me than they did when I first picked up this series.
Overall, this is a great read, a great series, that ultimately swept me up in its intrigue and betrayal. And, while I wish that HP and his sister could have seen eye to eye and had a more open relationship, which would in turn have prevented much of the disasters within the novel, the story just wouldn’t have been as intense had they been on the same page throughout. This is definitely a series worth reading if you enjoy mysteries and cat and mouse scenarios. Four stars.
Atria and Emily Bestler Books have been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release tomorrow, February 4, 2014.