by JD Gillam

When Veronica agrees to play Hide & Seek via VR headsets with her younger brother, Max, in the hospital, little does she know what adventure truly awaits her. Instead of trying to find each other, Veronica finds herself dragged into the Game – a hidden contest within the VR that promises untold riches to the winner – and having to team up with four strangers to try and solve a murder mystery.

Charlie, Yasmin, Nate, Aaron, and Veronica have little in common, and all seem to have their own agendas as they try to solve the riddle of who killed an NPC in their version of the game. All have their reasons for wanting to win the money – Veronica’s being able to pay for Max’s treatment that could save his life – but they have to work together to solve the crime. Each of them has a special tool that can help, a guide named Angel, and a bunch of suspects they need to interview as they work their way up through the house.

However, things are not as they seem. The game itself seems to be suffering issues, glitching and going wrong, Veronica keeps seeing her dead half-sister pop up, and someone is killing off the players themselves.

This is a clever twist on the whodunnit mystery, and there are some nice touches, but it just falls short of being great. Perhaps the teen setting is stopping the author from going fully gung-ho with the scares and gore. Maybe the twist makes you question who you have been rooting for or against all along.

Worth a read, but once you finish, you’ll probably want to play something else instead.