Scan barcode
imzadirose's review against another edition
1.0
What the hell? Was this even written by the same person? As out of place as the American movie quotes on every other page were in the first book, it was stranger still to have almost NONE in this book. Ok, I can look past that. But the first book was all action ~ vandalism, explosions, car crashes, and in this one you get........ chapters and chapters of writing on blogs and message boards.
OMG. If I wasn't doing a challenge, I would have never finished this, and it was torture suffering through it. Will NOT be reading the next one.
OMG. If I wasn't doing a challenge, I would have never finished this, and it was torture suffering through it. Will NOT be reading the next one.
go_jan's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book was better than the first ["Game"] as the narrative just seemed more thought out. The slightly frightening thing is how credible the story line is... in today's world, who's to say something like that isn't going on?
A good read and I sincerely hope that the conclusion to the trilogy will not, forgive the pun, burst the Bubble. ;-)
A good read and I sincerely hope that the conclusion to the trilogy will not, forgive the pun, burst the Bubble. ;-)
gloriouspanic's review against another edition
4.0
See all of my reviews at https://gloriouspanic.wordpress.com/
This is the second story in the Game Trilogy where Henrik Pettersson finds a cell phone on the subway and pockets it only to find it inviting him to play a game. Not just any ordinary game - one that crosses moral boundaries again and again utilizing Henrik's craving for approval to the utmost. We also get the point of view from his sister who is a police officer and body guard as she plays into the story with the game.
This second book continues from the first after leaving off with a bit of a shocker. I like the plot but my problem with the first book had been the very quick story line along with extremely frequent point of view shifts. I don't think the second book had any less point of view shifts but it did seem to flow better. In the first there were times I'd have to go back to figure out whose point of view I was getting but I didn't have that happen in this second book.
Another thing that was a bit odd is while in the first book Rebecca came across as far more mature than Henrik - in the second her level of responsible decisions took a nose dive. Being caught up in all this drama is not helping her at all and it was nice to see that some of her behaviors matched the actual events going on around her. Henrik however seemed to grow up at least a little. It seems the events that keep happening start waking him up to make different decisions. But, not too much - this isn't a deeply radical unbelievable change. The growth seems realistic and gradual.
I'd say this is a mystery thriller but a lot of the themes that came out with this book almost seemed alarmingly realistic which kept me reading for sure. I'm looking forward to grabbing the third and final book of the series to see how this all wraps up. I can see where with the point of view changes this isn't a book everyone will enjoy - it takes getting used to but if you can over come that it's worthwhile.
This is the second story in the Game Trilogy where Henrik Pettersson finds a cell phone on the subway and pockets it only to find it inviting him to play a game. Not just any ordinary game - one that crosses moral boundaries again and again utilizing Henrik's craving for approval to the utmost. We also get the point of view from his sister who is a police officer and body guard as she plays into the story with the game.
This second book continues from the first after leaving off with a bit of a shocker. I like the plot but my problem with the first book had been the very quick story line along with extremely frequent point of view shifts. I don't think the second book had any less point of view shifts but it did seem to flow better. In the first there were times I'd have to go back to figure out whose point of view I was getting but I didn't have that happen in this second book.
Another thing that was a bit odd is while in the first book Rebecca came across as far more mature than Henrik - in the second her level of responsible decisions took a nose dive. Being caught up in all this drama is not helping her at all and it was nice to see that some of her behaviors matched the actual events going on around her. Henrik however seemed to grow up at least a little. It seems the events that keep happening start waking him up to make different decisions. But, not too much - this isn't a deeply radical unbelievable change. The growth seems realistic and gradual.
I'd say this is a mystery thriller but a lot of the themes that came out with this book almost seemed alarmingly realistic which kept me reading for sure. I'm looking forward to grabbing the third and final book of the series to see how this all wraps up. I can see where with the point of view changes this isn't a book everyone will enjoy - it takes getting used to but if you can over come that it's worthwhile.
zzzrevel's review against another edition
4.0
At first I was disappointed to find out this
second novel of the Game trilogy was not
as exciting as the first one. But then once
the author has all his set-up complete, (about
three-quarters into the book), then
wham!, it gets good again. Lots of twists and
a satisfying conclusion to Book 2, despite also
being a cliffhanger for Book 3.
I am still frustrated with the author's technique
of bobbing back and forth in short scenarios
between his two protagonists -- why can't he
just give alternating chapters over to each
of them? But I guess that would not ramp up
the thriller and cliffhangers aspect across the
whole novel.
I will be reading the third novel soon. Can't wait!
second novel of the Game trilogy was not
as exciting as the first one. But then once
the author has all his set-up complete, (about
three-quarters into the book), then
wham!, it gets good again. Lots of twists and
a satisfying conclusion to Book 2, despite also
being a cliffhanger for Book 3.
I am still frustrated with the author's technique
of bobbing back and forth in short scenarios
between his two protagonists -- why can't he
just give alternating chapters over to each
of them? But I guess that would not ramp up
the thriller and cliffhangers aspect across the
whole novel.
I will be reading the third novel soon. Can't wait!
wilovebooks's review against another edition
4.0
As fast-paced and action-filled as the first. HP is hiding from The Game, but still sees them everywhere. He's afraid, yet still misses it. Again, alternates POV with Rebecca who is having some troubles of her own. Where their stories cross is again very unexpected. The whole story keeps you guessing. Unclear what is The Game and what is not. There are still plenty of questions to be cleared up and I look forward to the third and final installment.
sarah1984's review against another edition
4.0
22/7 - Great plot! Great suspense! I just wish the author hadn't decided to make his POV changes even worse than they were in Game. The changes are lightning fast, leaving the reader with a paragraph or two only, before the story switches from one sibling to the other, and then back again. The switches are very annoying but they definitely achieve their desired outcome (or what I believe was the author's desired outcome) - keeping the suspense level raised and forcing me to read pages, if not chapters more than I had intended when I first picked up the book.
As with Game I'm finding myself drawn to, and more sympathetic towards, Rebecca's POV. HP is continuing to show himself to be a drug-addicted idiot who never learns. You'd think that being used as a patsy for a contract killer's murder would teach him that DRUGS ARE BAD and are only going to get him into more trouble, but no, as soon as he is released from the Saudi prison (where a pair of lawless, ruleless police-types have been waterboarding him for hours, even days) he's looking for his next hit from the bong. He's also still addicted to the Game and the feelings of fame and power he gets from the supposed accolades of playing the Game. Currently can't see a whole lot of redeeming features in HP, I thought I did at the end of the last book, when he fought back and managed to break free of the Game. Unfortunately, it seems he has a seriously addictive-type personality, and so anything that a person could possibly get addicted to he will be addicted to. To be continued...
23/7 - I'm really speeding through this. Due to those annoyingly frequent POV changes the suspense never really dies down, if one sibling's side of the story relents on the tension a little the other keeps dragging you along - for the reader it never really lets go. Late last night I glanced at the clock at one point, thinking "It's getting late, I'll just finish this chapter and then turn out the light.", then I get to the end of the 'chapter' and glance at the clock again (just to see if I can hurry through one more tense chapter), only to find that 45 minutes and the rest of that original chapter plus three extras have gone by without me even realising it (I still managed to squeeze another chapter in before going to sleep).
The description of the business ArgosEye is in is frighteningly believable and disturbing considering the epidemic of trolls we have been experiencing over the last months and years. The thought that there might be a whole company of them working to bury true reviews from real consumers upsets my sense of fair play. In Buzz not only are they working on actual review sites like this one, but also all the social media sites that most of us use. With the type of troll ArgosEye employs we would never know if we were dealing with one, they don't behave in a suspicious manner the way your normal run of the mill GR troll does. They have full online lives, join all the right sites months before making their move on behalf of which ever client hired them to make sure their name is shown in a positive light. They don't all start flame or praise wars, mostly they're a lot less conspicuous, simply writing multiple reviews in favour of their client's products, but not all on the same day the way most of GR's less intelligent trolls do. I wonder if one day that kind of fake review might become illegal and prosecutable in a court of law... To be continued...
24/7 - Yep, finished that last night with ease, even got a decent start on the next book in the pile. This is definitely a middle-of-the-series book, you couldn't read it without having read the first book, and only the most determined of people could read this without going on to the final book - not so much a cliffhanger, more simply a case of nothing being tied up or concluded in any way. In fact Game was less conclusionless, possibly in case it was a one hit wonder, than Buzz.
Buzz didn't focus so much on the game. It was mentioned in reference and as background, but as far as HP knew he wasn't playing the game. Despite the fact that he wasn't receiving missions, or anything else through the phone, both HP and Rebecca still appeared to be dancing to the puppet master's tune, at least they were as far as the italicised conversations that preceded a few of the chapters seemed to show.
The surprise reveal of who was trolling Rebecca was indeed a surprise to me. I had my mind set on one particular character who I was sure Rebecca was discounting as not being guilty way too quickly. I thought this person had a far stronger motive for wanting revenge towards Rebecca than she believed and was already planning how I would write about it without revealing the culprit. So when my suspicions were proven wrong I was quite surprised, in fact my suspected unsub ended up helping Rebecca identify the real bad guy. Oh well, I rarely guess the bad guy in mysteries, so the fact that I was totally off isn't too surprising.
I would highly recommend this, and probably the whole series (although can't guarantee the quality of the third book, not having read it), to anyone who's a fan of other Swedish/Danish crime thrillers.
As with Game I'm finding myself drawn to, and more sympathetic towards, Rebecca's POV. HP is continuing to show himself to be a drug-addicted idiot who never learns. You'd think that being used as a patsy for a contract killer's murder would teach him that DRUGS ARE BAD and are only going to get him into more trouble, but no, as soon as he is released from the Saudi prison (where a pair of lawless, ruleless police-types have been waterboarding him for hours, even days) he's looking for his next hit from the bong. He's also still addicted to the Game and the feelings of fame and power he gets from the supposed accolades of playing the Game. Currently can't see a whole lot of redeeming features in HP, I thought I did at the end of the last book, when he fought back and managed to break free of the Game. Unfortunately, it seems he has a seriously addictive-type personality, and so anything that a person could possibly get addicted to he will be addicted to. To be continued...
23/7 - I'm really speeding through this. Due to those annoyingly frequent POV changes the suspense never really dies down, if one sibling's side of the story relents on the tension a little the other keeps dragging you along - for the reader it never really lets go. Late last night I glanced at the clock at one point, thinking "It's getting late, I'll just finish this chapter and then turn out the light.", then I get to the end of the 'chapter' and glance at the clock again (just to see if I can hurry through one more tense chapter), only to find that 45 minutes and the rest of that original chapter plus three extras have gone by without me even realising it (I still managed to squeeze another chapter in before going to sleep).
The description of the business ArgosEye is in is frighteningly believable and disturbing considering the epidemic of trolls we have been experiencing over the last months and years. The thought that there might be a whole company of them working to bury true reviews from real consumers upsets my sense of fair play. In Buzz not only are they working on actual review sites like this one, but also all the social media sites that most of us use. With the type of troll ArgosEye employs we would never know if we were dealing with one, they don't behave in a suspicious manner the way your normal run of the mill GR troll does. They have full online lives, join all the right sites months before making their move on behalf of which ever client hired them to make sure their name is shown in a positive light. They don't all start flame or praise wars, mostly they're a lot less conspicuous, simply writing multiple reviews in favour of their client's products, but not all on the same day the way most of GR's less intelligent trolls do. I wonder if one day that kind of fake review might become illegal and prosecutable in a court of law... To be continued...
24/7 - Yep, finished that last night with ease, even got a decent start on the next book in the pile. This is definitely a middle-of-the-series book, you couldn't read it without having read the first book, and only the most determined of people could read this without going on to the final book - not so much a cliffhanger, more simply a case of nothing being tied up or concluded in any way. In fact Game was less conclusionless, possibly in case it was a one hit wonder, than Buzz.
Buzz didn't focus so much on the game. It was mentioned in reference and as background, but as far as HP knew he wasn't playing the game. Despite the fact that he wasn't receiving missions, or anything else through the phone, both HP and Rebecca still appeared to be dancing to the puppet master's tune, at least they were as far as the italicised conversations that preceded a few of the chapters seemed to show.
The surprise reveal of who was trolling Rebecca was indeed a surprise to me. I had my mind set on one particular character who I was sure Rebecca was discounting as not being guilty way too quickly. I thought this person had a far stronger motive for wanting revenge towards Rebecca than she believed and was already planning how I would write about it without revealing the culprit. So when my suspicions were proven wrong I was quite surprised, in fact my suspected unsub ended up helping Rebecca identify the real bad guy. Oh well, I rarely guess the bad guy in mysteries, so the fact that I was totally off isn't too surprising.
I would highly recommend this, and probably the whole series (although can't guarantee the quality of the third book, not having read it), to anyone who's a fan of other Swedish/Danish crime thrillers.
fionabond's review against another edition
3.0
As much as I enjoyed Game, Buzz wasn't quite as great as its predecessor. The author's overuse of exclamation marks was a little infuriating, not to mention the random uses of text speak in the middle of prose IRL?! The shift from the actual game into something else was both exciting and frustrating. Whilst the conspiracy was a nice twist at the end of the last book, I do feel that the story arc of Game would have been much better suited to the whole trilogy. One of the nice things about the first book was that the game was exciting, it was different and that is partly what made the book so good. Unfortunately, with the shift from fun but dangerous game to conspiracy comes only danger and not so much fun. And there's only so many times it can be believed that one not very fit and injured man can escape the clutches of a psychopath who runs miles on the treadmill every single morning.
annikavo's review against another edition
3.0
Ik heb dit boek toegezonden gekregen als onderdeel van een pakket. Wat ik echter niet wist is dat dit een vervolg was op een eerder boek. Wat, voor de achtergrond van de personages, handig was geweest om dat eerst te lezen.
Zo duurde het bij mij een hele poos voordat ik wist dat de 2 hoofdpersonages broer en zus zijn.
Het verhaal zit goed in elkaar, veel spanning en plot twisten. Al had ik al mijn vermoedens over het uiteindelijke slot hoofdstuk. Want ja, alleen wat bloederige kleding dat wil niet zeggen dat er een moord gepleegd is. Toch?
De 3-sterren gegeven omdat ik de aansluiting miste met het eerste boek. Al kan daar de auteur natuurlijk niets aan doen, dat mijn een pakket met deel 2 wordt toegezonden.
Zo duurde het bij mij een hele poos voordat ik wist dat de 2 hoofdpersonages broer en zus zijn.
Het verhaal zit goed in elkaar, veel spanning en plot twisten. Al had ik al mijn vermoedens over het uiteindelijke slot hoofdstuk. Want ja, alleen wat bloederige kleding dat wil niet zeggen dat er een moord gepleegd is. Toch?
De 3-sterren gegeven omdat ik de aansluiting miste met het eerste boek. Al kan daar de auteur natuurlijk niets aan doen, dat mijn een pakket met deel 2 wordt toegezonden.
uptoolatereading's review against another edition
1.0
As predicted the second book did not live up to the first. Sometimes wonder why bother with trilogies when all could have been done and dusted in the first book. Will not bother reading the third book. Still recommend Game (first book), just don't bother with the rest!
scarlettletters's review against another edition
4.0
*Possible spoilers for Game, the first book in the trilogy*
In this sequel to Game, we pick up after protagonist HP has spent almost a year travelling the world with the money he was able to steal from the Game. In Dubai, he is accused of a murder he didn't commit, then makes his way back to Sweden to get to the bottom of what is really going on.
While the first book focused more on HP's experience playing the Game, this one is about manipulation of the Internet. HP gets an amazing sounding job, basically being a net-troll. He works for a company whose clients hire them to influence public perception by posting blogs, tweets, comments, etc. I know it's possible to pay for Amazon reviews; I wonder how much else of what de la Motte describes actually goes on.
Like the first book, this is a thrilling page-turner with a bit of a surprise at the ending that provides a perfect hook to get the reader ready for book three.
I received my copy free from NetGalley.
In this sequel to Game, we pick up after protagonist HP has spent almost a year travelling the world with the money he was able to steal from the Game. In Dubai, he is accused of a murder he didn't commit, then makes his way back to Sweden to get to the bottom of what is really going on.
While the first book focused more on HP's experience playing the Game, this one is about manipulation of the Internet. HP gets an amazing sounding job, basically being a net-troll. He works for a company whose clients hire them to influence public perception by posting blogs, tweets, comments, etc. I know it's possible to pay for Amazon reviews; I wonder how much else of what de la Motte describes actually goes on.
Like the first book, this is a thrilling page-turner with a bit of a surprise at the ending that provides a perfect hook to get the reader ready for book three.
I received my copy free from NetGalley.