Rabbits

 Rabbits by Terry Miles, 448 pages. 

K is obsessed with the alternate reality game most commonly known as "Rabbits" or sometimes simple "The Game." This mysterious game is so vast that it uses all of reality as it's canvas, and so secretive that nobody really knows what it is or what the prize might be (although the rumor is NSA or CIA recruitment and a billion dollars). There are also rumors that playing the game can be deadly. But something is wrong with the game. K is approached out of the blue by Alan Scarpio, a billionaire and the rumored winner of the sixth iteration of rabbits. He says tells K that something is wrong with the game. Players have been disappearing at an unprecedented rate, and if K isn't able to fix it before the 11th iteration starts the results will be catastrophic. Then Alan Scarpio disappears and 11 starts. Now K must follow the signs and win the game in it's most dangerous form, or face terrible consequences.

This novel is set in the same universe as the podcast of the same name by Pacific Northwest Stories, which is why I picked it up. Although based on the same fictional game, they are both standalone stories, and don't seem to quite line up with each other factually (which has some interesting implications within the narrative). This novel is described as a "technothriller" which I would say is pretty accurate, although I would say that it is also obvious that Terry Miles has a background in writing horror. I found this book riveting and hard to put down, and found myself plowing through to the end. Unfortunately, the ending was a little disappointing to me. I won't get into specifics here (for spoilers reasons), but I feel like this books real strength was building mysteries. This strength falters a little when it comes to actually providing answers for those mysteries, and I feel like what was presented as "what's actually going on here" was not the most interesting option, or the one that goes best with the evidence we were provided. Overall I would say that this book is still definitely worth the read, even if it flubbed the landing a little.