"The Game - Hugely cinematic Thriller With Dark Comic Moments: Must Read," writes Films and Books Magazine. "This is an irresistible story that centers around a new American reality show called "Haunted Survivor," where a boiling-pot mix of soon-to-be-dead-but-they-don't-know-it-yet contestants see how long they can survive...You've got to love a novel that crystallizes, in a single line, our squirmy fascination with this sort of thing..." 2007 Kunati (ISBN 978-1-6-60164-001-7). Don't miss the animated trailer at http://www.kunati.com. "Derek Armstrong is good," Michael Korda, Simon & Schuster VP. “The Game is all mystery, and a marvelous psychological suspense drama. A great read.” Gloria Piper, author Train to Nowhere "The Game rocks," Dr. Audra Himes, Professor of literature "The Game is very strong and very marketable." Dave Shields, The Race Several large movie production houses are vying for the darkly humorous thriller, The Game. “The Game is all mystery, and a marvelous psychological suspense drama. A great read.” Gloria Piper, author Train to Nowhere The Game slays reality television. In this darkly humorous thriller, reality television becomes too real when a killer with a message preys on the contestants of America's number one TV show. In The Game, a killer plays a high-stakes game on the set of a live-broadcast reality television show where guests are trapped for six months in a “haunted” mansion. Thousands of miles away, a psychopath is executed by lethal injection in California–and dies with a secret that could save many lives. Only a comical detective who fears nothing--except his teenage daughters--can hope to understand what links these two seemingly unrelated crimes, without ever losing his zest for the game or his sense of humor. The spree could be the work of a separatist group in Vermont who seek independence from the United States; or ruthless reality television producers juicing ratings on their hit show; perhaps the killers are vengeance-seeking parents; or are they underworld enforcers? In the world of The Game, the actual killer might be the least dangerous of all. Don't miss the zany, thrilling world of The Game. DON'T MISS THE OH-SO-COOL ANIMATED BOOK TRAILER OF THE GAME, ON THE HOME PAGE OF KUNATI, WWW.KUNATI.COM. US$ 27.95 FIC031000 FICTION/Thriller Pages 384 ISBN 978-1-60164-001-7 EAN: 9781601640017 January 2007 Kunati Cloth Hardcover “Reality television as a backdrop to this high-pace suspense thriller is just brilliant.” Pat Brown, author L.A. Heat About the Author Derek Armstrong authored the popular Simon & Schuster title The Persona Principle, translated into five languages. He is the author of The Bane Mysteries, The Game, MADicine and other "humorous" thrillers. Song of Montségur is his first epic historical thriller, a swipe at "Holy Grail" trhillers and the history of the Catholic Church, by Kunati Book Publishers in 2007.

Professional Reviews
Booklist Review of The Game: Injects the trope with new vigor.
Armstrong, Derek. The Game. Jan. 2007. 352p. Kunati, $24.95 (1-60164-001-3).
Like Ben Elton’s Dead Famous (2001), this offbeat mystery features a Big Brother–like reality TV show, a murder, and a cantankerous detective, Alban Bane, who must overcome his revulsion for everything and everyone connected with the show if he is to find out whodunit. There’s also a touch of the hit TV series House here, too: like the small-screen physician, the cranky, pain-pill-popping Bane adds a delightfully sarcastic tone to the action. But, for all of that, the novel somehow manages to avoid feeling derivative. Armstrong’s abundant enthusiasm for his material, combined with the semi-satirical plotline, compel us to keep reading, and his prose style keeps us chuckling. The sleuth who disdains the world in which he finds himself is an idea as old as Raymond Chandler, but Armstrong injects the trope with new vigor. This is a series to watch from a new publisher to watch. —David Pitt


Films and Books Magazine: The Game Hugely Cinematic Thriller with Dark Comic Moments: Must Read
Title: The Game

Author: Derek Armstrong

Publisher: Kunati Books

ISBN: 9781601640017

Price: $24.95

REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ


Premise and Originality: 10 out of 10

Characterization: 8 out of 10

Dialogue: 9 out of 10

Storyline: 9 out of 10


Reviewer: T. Sentell

Fathering two teenage daughters, you’d think detective Alban Bane would have enough to fret about, but in “The Game,” a hugely cinematic thriller with hilarious dark comic moments, we find him quickly dealing with headless corpses. Not that headless corpses give you much trouble because they’re usually real still and don’t talk back and you don’t have to worry about making meaningful eye contact with them, it’s just that this scrappy, witty cop is pretty motivated to find out how they lost so much weight real quick … especially after he gets a creepy letter inviting him to come find out. This is an irresistible story that centers around a new American reality television show called “Haunted Survivor,” where a boiling-pot mix of soon-to-be-dead-but-they-don’t know-it-yet contestants see how long they can survive in an old Vermont mansion haunted by its former occupant, a mass murder, who left the planet in the first chapter by execution by lethal injection. Survive and get one million dollars, but these contestants are having a hard time surviving. They’re having an easy time, however, getting slaughtered. You’ve got to love a novel that crystallizes, in a single line, our squirmy fascination with this sort of thing, delivered by Haunted Survivor’s uptight producer who finally becomes good and unstrung at the end of the story herself, “We’re assuming,” she said, “America’s fascination with reality television and crime will continue.” Sure does, lady. Sure does. And you’ve got to love a thriller, like all great literate thrillers, that makes you feel pretty sure you know who the killer is … but guess what. Depending on how you lean, Bane pulls for the Boston Red Sox, so this gives him a dangerous or desperate quality, or both. The poor cop’s pretty beat up by the end of the story, but he knows how to take a bullet and a good stabbing and bleed all over the place as he attempts to save one of those pesky teenage daughters of his who got caught up in the slaughter. Bane doesn’t know it, but one of the best fight scenes you’ll ever read … and there are a bunch of them in The Game … is being videotaped by the show’s sinister creator, and later shown as a news clip as a testament to Bane’s professional viciousness. Good job, Dad, saving your daughter’s head like that. Videotape is fine for now, but from the first few lines of The Game, you can see this book on the big screen, too. Of course, by then you’ll know who the killer is … but who cares. We’re fascinated with reality television and crime and we just can’t help it … because it’s so much bloody fun.

Foreword: in the thriller tradition of Weisman and Connolly
FICTION : THRILLER
The Game
Derek Armstrong
Künati
348 pages
Hardcover, $24.95
ISBN: 1-60164-001-3
Five stars

Aspirin-popping, tartan-accented Alban Bane pushes his way through the crowd outside San Quentin with an open umbrella. He carries a badge, he says, he’s allowed to be a jerk. Bane’s come to witness the execution by lethal injection of an old nemesis, Tyler Hayden, who tortured and killed 13 youngsters on a spree from Florida to California. Bane had been with the FBI back then. He’d had a wife back then. As Bane watches Hayden die on the gurney, IVs strapped to each arm, the killer speaks to him: Friend Bane, he says. I know who killed your wife.

As much as Bane would like to get to the bottom of that sodium thiopental revelation, fresh kills keep getting in the way. Less than 24 hours after the execution, Bane is in a chopper in the middle of a snowstorm on the other side of the country. As chief detective for Vermont’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, he’s been called to the scene of the state’s biggest money-maker, Mason Place mansion, home of the reality TV show Haunted Survivor. There, in a sub-basement, dangling upside-down from a beam, is an “unrecognizable lump that might have been Colin Lorentz, television producer.” In a murder reminiscent of Tyler Hayden’s style, the body is shorn of head, genitals, fingertips, identity. Most ominous of all however, are the injection marks, one on either arm—not like Tyler Hayden’s style, rather just like the dead Tyler Hayden.

Over a period of 21 days, from Golden Gate Bridge Park to the bat-filled caves of Vermont’s Green Mountains, Detective Alban Bane is whirled from victim to victim. Within the labyrinthine Mason Place, through attics, dungeons and mansion halls, the glass eyes and ears of reality TV spy silently from behind walls. Reporters crowd the mansion gates and cameramen crowd the detective’s back as the murders become a “game,” a personal war of revenge between Bane and the daddy of all killers.

Derek Armstrong writes with tremendous force and self-confidence. The co-author of a book of nonfiction, The Persona Principle (Simon & Schuster), he has another book of fiction, a historical thriller, in the works at Künati. The Game promises to be the first in a series of Alban Bane thrillers. Gruesome, suspenseful, and rich with dark humor, Armstrong moves the reader through time and space with a keen sense of momentum and dash. His characters are diverse, bold, unforgettable, from the detective’s adolescent daughters to the Renfield-like doctor on the set of Haunted Survivor. Armstrong’s swashbuckling Scotsman is a welcome addition in the thriller tradition of Weisman and Connolly.

Reviewed by Heather Shaw

Reader Reviews for "The Game"

Reviewed by Cheryl Kaye Tardif	12/13/2006
5/5 Stars! April 2007 Release The Game is a Mix of ‘Survivor’, ‘Fear Factor’ and ‘House on Haunted Hill’ Derek Armstrong, author of his debut thriller The Game, knows how to tell a story. His narrative is dead-on, his dialogue snaps with authenticity and his main protagonist is entertaining and memorable. The shorter chapters make for a briskly paced read, while he delves into subplots and characterizations that keep you up to speed. The story starts off with Detective Alban Bane pushing his way past prison protestors so he can witness the execution of serial killer Tyler Hayden. Just before the psychopath’s death, he says that he knows who killed Bane’s wife. And that admission sparks an intriguing subplot. With skill, Armstrong draws out Bane’s personal issues and his fears. Bane’s sidekicks are Justine Kipfer—aka Kip—and his trusty pal Armitage Saulnier, or Arm. And Bane’s two daughters also play a small role. Not only are these characters important to the story, they are used to show the depth and emotion of Alban Bane, who otherwise might just come across as a wisecracking ass. But he doesn’t. In fact, his sarcastic humor and his obvious love for family and friends are what make this novel so appealing. Also appealing is the novel’s setting. An old mansion, once owned by Mordecai Mason, the ‘bogeyman’ of Vermont and a famous mass murderer who slaughtered his entire family. The mansion is now host to a new and deadly reality game show where one contestant will walk home with a million dollars—if they make it out alive. Someone is killing off people involved with the show. Enter, Abbey Chase, the show’s producer, who reminded me of a blond Susan Lucci. She is arrogant, all business and gets what she wants. Most of the time. Her ‘charms’ seem lost, mostly, on Alban Bane. Along with Chase, there is a multicultural buffet of contestants who provide for an interesting mix. It certainly makes it easier to keep all the characters straight. Normally, a novel that deals with too many would turn me off. But Armstrong is a master at creating unique characters and giving them individual traits that set them apart. And the author always keeps you guessing. He leads you down paths that twist and turn, like the secret pathways in the walls of the old mansion. And just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, Armstrong throws another curve ball and sets your head spinning. Thoroughly gripping and an easy read with enjoyable characters, this is one thriller you won’t put down until you’ve read the final page! Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of The River, Divine Intervention and Whale Song (ISBN: 1-60164-007-2 available April 2007 from Kunati Books)

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