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“rowanthea said: 4 stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Tuesday, September 1, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
If you are looking for a fast paced thriller this book is for you. Alban Bane has traveled to San Quentin to watch the execution of Hayden, a ruthless serial killer. While there he gets a call to head back to Vermont to check out a crime scene.
The murder takes place on the set of "Haunted Mansion" a reality tv show filmed in a haunted house. The murder is a copycat of Hayden's and Bane is not happy. The bodies start piling up on the west and east coast as it becomes obvious that there are multiple murderers. Do not start this book unless you have time to read it straight through. There were a few things that annoyed me but the pace was so fast it didn't matter.
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“If you are looking for a fast paced thriller this book is for you. Alban Bane has traveled to San Quentin to watch the execution of Hayden, a ruthless serial killer. While there he gets a call to head back to Vermont to check out a crime scene.
rowanthea wrote this review Friday, August 28, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The murder takes place on the set of "Haunted Mansion" a reality tv show filmed in a haunted house. The murder is a copycat of Hayden's and Bane is not happy. The bodies start piling up on the west and east coast as it becomes obvious that there are multiple murderers. Do not start this book unless you have time to read it straight through. There were a few things that annoyed me but the pace was so fast it didn't matter. ”
“Very clever and funny. A great read.”
Ivana Hruba wrote this review Tuesday, March 4, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“FINISHED AT 5:38 AM Let me put it this way: "The Game" isn't a page-turner. It's beyond that. It's a page-BURNER. Derek Armstrong propels his complex plot with a deftness rarely found. From small things like page design - to chapter ending hooks that stun, "The Game" has what it takes to draw you in and keep you reading. As you can see from the header, I couldn't put it down. The price - a day feeling like I was the one who got injected with pancuronium bromide, (the drug used to carry out death sentences), instead of that certain someone near and dear to Bane - was absolutely worth it. Art Tirrell is the author of "The Secret Ever Keeps", ISBN 1601640048”
Art T wrote this review Sunday, October 28, 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“5/5 The Game is a Mix of ‘Survivor’, ‘Fear Factor’ and ‘House on Haunted Hill’
Cheryl Kaye Tardif, bestselling suspense author wrote this review Saturday, June 23, 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Derek Armstrong, author of his debut thriller The Game, knows how to tell a story. His narrative is dead-on, his dialogue snaps with authenticity and his main protagonist is entertaining and memorable. The shorter chapters make for a briskly paced read, while he delves into subplots and characterizations that keep you up to speed.
The story starts off with Detective Alban Bane pushing his way past prison protestors so he can witness the execution of serial killer Tyler Hayden. Just before the psychopath’s death, he says that he knows who killed Bane’s wife. And that admission sparks an intriguing subplot. With skill, Armstrong draws out Bane’s personal issues and his fears.
Bane’s sidekicks are Justine Kipfer—aka Kip—and his trusty pal Armitage Saulnier, or Arm. And Bane’s two daughters also play a small role. Not only are these characters important to the story, they are used to show the depth and emotion of Alban Bane, who otherwise might just come across as a wisecracking ass. But he doesn’t. In fact, his sarcastic humor and his obvious love for family and friends are what make this novel so appealing.
Also appealing is the novel’s setting. An old mansion, once owned by Mordecai Mason, the ‘bogeyman’ of Vermont and a famous mass murderer who slaughtered his entire family. The mansion is now host to a new and deadly reality game show where one contestant will walk home with a million dollars—if they make it out alive. Someone is killing off people involved with the show.
Enter, Abbey Chase, the show’s producer, who reminded me of a blond Susan Lucci. She is arrogant, all business and gets what she wants. Most of the time. Her ‘charms’ seem lost, mostly, on Alban Bane. Along with Chase, there is a multicultural buffet of contestants who provide for an interesting mix. It certainly makes it easier to keep all the characters straight. Normally, a novel that deals with too many would turn me off. But Armstrong is a master at creating unique characters and giving them individual traits that set them apart.
And the author always keeps you guessing. He leads you down paths that twist and turn, like the secret pathways in the walls of the old mansion. And just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, Armstrong throws another curve ball and sets your head spinning. Thoroughly gripping and an easy read with enjoyable characters, this is one thriller you won’t put down until you’ve read the final page!
~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a freelance journalist, book reviewer and editor. She is also the author of three mystery novels set in Canada, including the bestselling ‘assisted suicide novel’ Whale Song, which was released April1st, 2007, by provocative publisher Kunati Books.
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“Aspirin-popping, tartan-accented Alban Bane pushes his way through the crowd outside San Quentin with an open umbrella. He carries a badge, he says, he’s allowed to be a jerk. Bane’s come to witness the execution by lethal injection of an old nemesis, Tyler Hayden, who tortured and killed 13 youngsters on a spree from Florida to California. Bane had been with the FBI back then. He’d had a wife back then. As Bane watches Hayden die on the gurney, IVs strapped to each arm, the killer speaks to him: Friend Bane, he says. I know who killed your wife.
hlshaw wrote this review Monday, April 9, 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
As much as Bane would like to get to the bottom of that sodium thiopental revelation, fresh kills keep getting in the way. Less than 24 hours after the execution, Bane is in a chopper in the middle of a snowstorm on the other side of the country. As chief detective for Vermont’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, he’s been called to the scene of the state’s biggest money-maker, Mason Place mansion, home of the reality TV show Haunted Survivor. There, in a sub-basement, dangling upside-down from a beam, is an “unrecognizable lump that might have been Colin Lorentz, television producer.” In a murder reminiscent of Tyler Hayden’s style, the body is shorn of head, genitals, fingertips, identity. Most ominous of all however, are the injection marks, one on either arm—not like Tyler Hayden’s style, rather just like the dead Tyler Hayden.
Over a period of 21 days, from Golden Gate Bridge Park to the bat-filled caves of Vermont’s Green Mountains, Detective Alban Bane is whirled from victim to victim. Within the labyrinthine Mason Place, through attics, dungeons and mansion halls, the glass eyes and ears of reality TV spy silently from behind walls. Reporters crowd the mansion gates and cameramen crowd the detective’s back as the murders become a “game,” a personal war of revenge between Bane and the daddy of all killers.
Derek Armstrong writes with tremendous force and self-confidence. The co-author a book of nonfiction, The Persona Principle (Simon & Schuster), he has another book of fiction, a historical thriller, in the works at Kunati. The Game promises to be the first in a series of Alban Bane thrillers. Gruesome, suspenseful, and rich with dark humor, Armstrong moves the reader through time and space with a keen sense of momentum and dash. His characters are diverse, bold, unforgettable, from the detective’s adolescent daughters to the Renfield-like doctor on the set of Haunted Survivor. Armstrong’s swashbuckling Scotsman is a welcome addition in the thriller tradition of Weisman and Connolly.
Heather Shaw
ForeWord Clarion Reviews”
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