The Zero Game

published	2005 by Warner Vision
binding	Mass Market Paperback
isbn	0446612111 (isbn13: 9780446612111)
pages	512
description	The New York Times bestselling author of The Millionaires and The First Counsel returns to Wash-ington, D.C., with the story of an insider's game that...more [close] The New York Times bestselling author of The Millionaires and The First Counsel returns to Wash-ington, D.C., with the story of an insider's game that turns deadly.Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler are best friends who have plum jobs as senior staffers to well-respected congressmen. But after a decade in Washington, idealism has faded to disillusionment, and they're bored. Then one of them finds out about the clandestine Zero Game. It starts out as good fun--a simple wager between friends. But when someone close to them ends up dead, Harris and Matthew realize the game is far more sinister than they ever imagined--and that they're about to be the game's next victims. On the run, they turn to the only person they can trust: a 16-year-old Senate page who can move around the Capitol undetected. As a ruthless killer creeps closer, this idealistic page not only holds the key to saving their lives, but is also determined to redeem them in the process. Come play The Zero Game--you can bet your life on it. [close]
date added	02-09-07 edit book

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jcg rated it:

04/27/08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This book opens with what has to be the weakest first chapter in the history of thriller writing: two guys playing a practical joke in a men’s room. Usually, editors are anonymous, but Brad Meltzer names his editor in a rambling, Oscar-acceptance type acknowledgement and thank-you speech that is almost as long as the book. So we know who didn’t pay enough attention before allowing this flawed work off her desk and into print: Jamie Raab of Warner Books.
The book opens with a present tense, ...more This book opens with what has to be the weakest first chapter in the history of thriller writing: two guys playing a practical joke in a men’s room. Usually, editors are anonymous, but Brad Meltzer names his editor in a rambling, Oscar-acceptance type acknowledgement and thank-you speech that is almost as long as the book. So we know who didn’t pay enough attention before allowing this flawed work off her desk and into print: Jamie Raab of Warner Books.
The book opens with a present tense, first person narration; which is problematic as the character soon meets an untimely end. So, we have a character telling us what he is experiencing at the moment of death; how, exactly, is the character telling us this? (Jamie Raab, what were you thinking letting this slip by you?)
During this character’s short narration, we are introduced to the Zero Game of the title, but it is so poorly explained that even after reading it twice I still didn’t understand what the game was supposed to be about. (Jamie Raab, don't you care if the reader knows what's going on?)
The narration then shifts to third person, past tense. Changing from first to third person seems to be the technique du jour for thriller writers; bad guys in third person, good guys in first person.
We then switch back to first person present tense, only this time with a new narrator. At the scene of the death of the original first person narrator, our new narrator finds a clue the police missed (aren’t we lucky that the police are so incompetent? Jamie Raab, can't you spot nonsense like this?). Then the chase begins with a ruthless, hi-tech, seemingly invincible killer pursuing our hero, a Senator’s aide, and a seventeen-year-old page he has teamed up with. The ruthless killer can effortlessly dispatch everyone who stands in his way, except the aide and the page. Not very believable. (Jamie Raab, did you read this book at all?)
The killer is caught by the police impersonating an FBI officer; we don’t find out how he got out of that one, impersonating a police officer is a serious crime, but it's just glossed over and the killer reappears later still in pursuit of the aide and the page. (Come on, Jamie Raab, do your job here.)
No matter how elusive the aide and page are, even managing to leave town on a private jet, the killer is able to track them. The bad guys must be on a budget as they seem to be able to afford only one killer.
Meltzer’s action sequences are good, even if unbelievable, but his downfall is conversation. Meltzer doesn’t have an ear for dialogue and the conversations between the aide and the page are repetitive and go on way too long. (Jamie Raab, where were you? You should have been advising Brad to tighten up his dialogue.)
There is some gratuitous filler material, like when the hero gets lost in a mine. There are several pages of him wandering around trying to find his way out that have nothing to do with the plot and can be skipped.
After crawling around in the mine, Meltzer has to clean his characters up before they return to the city, so he has them doing laundry and taking showers on the plane. Are there airplanes with washers and dryers and showers? (Jamie Raab, where were you? Editors are supposed to spot gaffs like this.)
In the end, Meltzer plays into some stereotypical, post-9-11 paranoia and reveals that those pesky Arabs were behind the dastardly plot to destroy the world after all. (Jamie, don't you believe in your writers? Meltzer could have invented something more original than that.)
With competent editing to encourage Brad Meltzer to fill his gaping plot holes, tighten up the dialogue, and make his action sequences believable, this could have been a good book....less

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