Book Review: Rabbits

This year I'm keeping track of what I read. Whether I enjoy the book or not, I'll post a blurb and brief review. Most will be speculative fiction in some form—genres I gravitate toward in my own writing. Today, it's Rabbits by Terry Miles.

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses the entire world as its canvas. Since the game started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. The identities of these winners are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more dangerous the game becomes. Players have died in the past—and the body count is rising. And now the eleventh round is about to begin.

This one hooked me from the opening scene, and I couldn't turn the digital pages fast enough. The intrigue, the pacing, the action and dialogue—seriously impressive. I thought I'd found the next Ready Player One, only more adult in tone, more subversive, more grounded in reality. I'm a slow reader, but I got halfway through the book in only a few days, and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. That was the good part. The wondering. Because where it actually went was...yikes. Sure, there's a sappy happy ending, but it didn't feel earned after so much shark-jumping. A very disappointed 2 out of 5 stars.