Hostage Run

by Andrew Klavan Narrated by Andrew Kanies

Overview

RICK DIAL IS FACED WITH AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE: SAVE THE LIFE OF*HIS BEST FRIEND MOLLY . . . OR SAVE THE FREE WORLD.

Rick Dial's career as a superstar quarterback ended when a car accident left him unable to walk. But his uncanny gaming ability caught the attention of a secret government organization trying to stop a high-tech terrorist attack on America. He's been to the fantastical cyber world called the MindWar Realm . . . and returned to Real Life victorious.

But the stakes have just gone up. Another attack is imminent, and Rick is the only one who can stop it. How can he, though, when terrorists have kidnapped his best friend Molly and are threatening to kill her if Rick returns to the Realm?

As Molly uses every resource of mind and body to outwit her brutal captors,*Rick races against time inside a nightmare video game where a fate worse than death may be waiting for him.*

Hundreds of miles apart, both will have to test the power of their faith and the strength of their spirits. They're being forced to a moment of sacrifice . . . one that could cost them everything.

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

03/01/2015
Gr 7 Up—Rick Dial continues his quest to bring down the secret government organization behind the Mindwar Realm and save his family, his Realm friends, and now his ex-girlfriend Molly, who has been taken hostage by Miss Ferris and her secret agent lackeys. With the potential to be an action-packed page-turner, this second installment of the "Mindwar" trilogy (Thomas Nelson) unfortunately falls short of expections. Uneven writing filled with unecessarily detailed descriptions and wordy exposition makes this volume a laborious read. The poorly conceived Virtual Reality world, which was introduced in the previous volume, reveals a lack of knowledge of video games and advanced technology. While the addition of a female protagonist, Molly, brings a new element to the story, there is little appeal to her character. Finally, the continued use of a variety of foreigners as the baddies, including Islamist and Russian terrorists, creates an unrealistic and negative global viewpoint. VERDICT A compelling premise is not enough to save this lackluster sequel.—Eden Grey, Kenton County Public Library, KY

Kirkus Reviews

2014-12-06
The desperate MindWar enters a new phase when evil mastermind Kurodar breaks through the boundary between his digital Realm and Real Life in this cranked-up middle volume.The plot is wholesale nonsense, manufactured to carry set piece chases, battles and angst-y ruminations. Scheming to obliterate Washington, Kurodar has opened a Breach, created a giant digital WarCraft and also hacked into a fleet of weaponized drones. Hoping to keep his nemesis, teen gamer/athlete Rick Dial, out of the Realm, he also kidnaps Rick's closest friend, Molly. This doesn't work, of course. Rick charges off into the Realm once again to take on digital monsters from vampiric wraiths to a multitentacled Octo-Guardian, blast multiple drones into ones and zeros, and then, in a magical (certainly not science-based) transformation, zoom through the Breach to bail Molly out. Meanwhile, he frets over tangled feelings about Molly, other women and his own recently reappeared father, ultimately giving himself over to God and graduating, as his mother puts it, from "boy faith" to "man faith." Molly too is strong in faith and body both; though she ultimately needs male rescue, she still single-handedly destroys many of the drones and even guns down a thug. A thoroughly cheap cliffhanger sets up the closer. Another empty-caloried thriller, thinly sauced with superficial psychology and earnest professions of generic faith. (Science fantasy. 11-13)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171220112
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	03/17/2015
Series:	Mindwar Trilogy
Edition description:	Unabridged

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