The Never Game -- Jeffery Deaver

<b>A <i>New York Times Book Review</i> Top 10 Crime Novel of the Year <p/>From the bestselling and award-winning master of suspense, the first novel in a thrilling new series, introducing Colter Shaw.</b> <p/><i>You have been abandoned.</i> <p/>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. <p/><i>Escape if you can.</i> <p/>When another victim is kidnapped, the clues point to one video game with a troubled past--<i>The Whispering Man</i>. 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? <p/><i>Or die with dignity.</i> <p/>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 that he isn't the only one on the hunt: someone is on his trail and closing fast. <p/><i>The Never Game</i> proves once more why Deaver is a genius when it comes to manipulation and decepti