The Never Game

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith

Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Crime Novel of the Year

From the best-selling and award-winning master of suspense, the first novel in a thrilling new series, introducing Colter Shaw.

"You have been abandoned."

A young woman has gone missing in Silicon Valley, and her father has hired Colter Shaw to find her. The son of a survivalist family, Shaw is an expert tracker. Now, he makes a living as a "reward seeker", traveling the country to help police solve crimes and private citizens locate missing persons. But what seems a simple investigation quickly thrusts him into the dark heart of America's tech hub and the cutthroat billion-dollar video-gaming industry.

"Escape if you can."

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?

"Or die with dignity."

Shaw finds himself caught in a cat and mouse game, risking his own life to save the victims even as he pursues the kidnapper across both Silicon Valley and the dark net. Encountering eccentric game designers, trigger-happy gamers, and ruthless tech titans, he soon learns he isn't the only one on the hunt: Someone is on his trail and closing fast.

The Never Game proves once more why "Deaver is a genius when it comes to manipulation and deception" (Associated Press).

©2019 Jeffery Deaver (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Jeffery Deaver creates insanely devious plots calculated to make your head explode...[The Never Game] dazzles with its crafty twists and turns.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Deaver introduces a fascinating new character in the methodical Colter Shaw. Nothing is predictable in the case, and like a curvy mountain road, the twists are intense. Hopefully more stories with Shaw are in the future.” (Associated Press)

“[A] superb series launch from Thriller Award-winner Deaver.... Fans of twisty suspense that pushes the envelope of plausibility without inviting disbelief will be enthralled.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Gr8 listen

Great story & narrator. I hope JD writes more with Colter Shaw. I'm planning on listening to the Goodbye Man.

Two for One, Story and Credit

This author is mixed for me and l am not compiled to buy his work unless l am a big fan of the narrator. The story was several hours too long as the author established our hero’s background, good but that could have been spread out over the books to come. This diluted the mystery and at times it got lost. I am a fan of Mr Griffith, see the l Team series he reads. Well done
See the 3 star reviews of this story and they pretty much sum up my misgivings.
Once again, Shelly’s review is better than the story. This is two in a row for me!

coulter

narrator takes some getting used to but matches the main character once you get into the book. good overall, will likely want to hear more

Far from his best

Expected better from Deaver. Thought it would never end. To many %’s and meaningless details.

I think Deaver is an excellent writer

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I really like his new character and hope that he will start a series with him.

Love Colter Shaw!

I read all the Lincoln Rhyme books, and when I finished I wanted more! I went through the Kathryn Dance series but didn’t love it. I found Colter Shaw and I think this is as good as Rhyme! Or close to it. I can’t wait to start the next book.

Good Deaver Book

it's been several years since I've read or listened to a Jeffrey Deaver Book. Somewhere in one of the Lincoln Rhyme books, there were just 5 twists too many and I soured on Deaver for a long time. I was looking for something to listen to after a particularly boring audiobook and settled on this one. Deaver has wonderful plots and always has interesting characters. I listened to a sample and liked the narrator so I went for it. This is a good book with an interesting protagonist. I liked the setting of Silicon Valley and the many characters who play and create games. This is a thriller and Deaver is a master in this genre. Lots of mini cliffhangers and tense confrontations. We get a lot of background information on the protagonist and it's pretty unique. He's a good character. There are two main female characters and they're pretty interesting, too. One is a professional livestream gamer (Twitch isn't mentioned. Didn't check the publication date, this might have been pre -Twitch), and the other one is a cop. Both are well drawn characters and avoid most of the usual tropes. The story is never boring. Part of the climax uses a gimmick I really don't like. I know it's in most stories of this genre but still annoying. We've spent the whole book seeing the story as the protagonist sees it. it's not first person but we never get anyone else's perspective on things as the story unfolds. At a key moment, something unexpected happens but the protagonist isn't surprised, he's ready for it. Turns out the author withheld information in order to pull out a big twist. Like I said, I know it's common in fiction of this genre but still annoying. Also, this is the first in a series for this character. Various bits of backstory are peppered throughout the book, sometimes with no explanation. I figured this was part of the plan to set up the next book. I didn't figure on the last 35 minutes or so of the audiobook to tack on a lot of exposition to set the stage for book 2. It wasn't horrible, but everything had been tied up and then I had to spend 30 minutes with a new semi-antagonist and a lot of monologuing. Good book, most of it was fun, it does have it's share of groan-worthy moments, mainly when the thriller formula shows itself a little too blatantly. I would recommend it. I will probably check out the next Colton Shaw book in a few months, maybe longer. I really like the narrator. I've never heard him before and he did a bang up job. The number one reason I bail on an audiobook is because I just can't take the narrator any more. Did not have that trouble. My only criticism of the narrator is his female voices. He was great at all male voices, each character had a distinctive voice but the two female characters sounded the same to me. it's a good female voice he uses, I like it a lot. But, one woman was a white, redheaded professional video gamer and the other was a black cop. They sounded the same to me. Luckily for the narrator, those two characters were never in the same room together.

Good Book

Fast paced. Interesting hero. Excellent storyline. I'm definitely recommending this book to everyone I know.

Way to Long

This book had it’s moments, but it was extremely long and drawn out. I found myself sleeping through large chunks and still being able to catch up with the story. I’ve read several of Jeffery Deaver’s books in the past and don’t remember them being so boring.

Twisty page turner

Great, intelligent protagonist put in impossible situations. So good, I’m going to listen to it again!