The Never Game

Jeffery Deaver

May 2019 · A Colter Shaw Novel Book 1 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Kaleo Griffith

About this audiobook

The first installment in Jeffery Deaver’s Colter Shaw series—the inspiration for the upcoming CBS original series TRACKER starring Justin Hartley!

The son of a survivalist family, Colter Shaw is an expert tracker. Now he makes a living as a “reward seeker,” traveling the country to help police solve crimes and locate missing persons for private citizens.

“You’ve been abandoned. Escape if you can. Or die with dignity.”

Hired by the father of a young woman who has gone missing in Silicon Valley, Shaw's search takes him into the dark heart of America’s cutthroat billion-dollar video-game industry. When another person goes missing, Shaw must ask: Is a madman bringing a twisted video game to life?

Encountering eccentric designers, trigger-happy gamers, and ruthless tech titans, Shaw soon learns that he isn't the only one on the hunt: someone is on his trail and closing fast....

Named a Crime Novel of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Never Game proves once more why “Deaver is a genius when it comes to manipulation and deception” (Associated Press).






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TRACKER is a trademark of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Used under license.

Ratings and reviews

These are the rules : You are taken away and isolated. You will be given five objects. It’s up to you how you use them to free yourself before time runs out. OK, are you ready to play? Play .. or die Can't escape .... die Colter Shaw is hired by a missing woman's father. Colter is a kind of reward seeker, He travels all over the country helping police departments solve cold cases, sometimes, as in this case, he looks for missing people. What seems to be a fairly easy job for him turns into something totally unexpected. When another victim is kidnapped, the clues point to one video game with a troubled past--The Whispering Man. In that game, the player has to survive after being abandoned in an inhospitable setting with five random objects. Is a madman bringing the game to life? He soon learns he is not the only one hunting ... someone has targeted him. A new series, this is sheer non-stop action with dubious characters swirling around Silicon Valley. What he finds are game designers, gamers who are a little bizarre, and the techies at the top of the charts. The characters are solidly defined and bring life to a complex plot and intriguing story line. Many thanks to the author / G.P. Putnam's Sons / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

The narrator was monotone and didn't keep my focus. The story would jump back and forth between time periods and you would never know.

About the author

Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world, including Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers and the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was the recipient of three lifetime achievement awards. A former journalist, folksinger, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.

Kaleo Griffith's film and television work includes Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Diagnosis X, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, and All My Children, among others. Griffith has recorded over 30 audiobooks, numerous commercials, and voice-overs.