Book review: Daniel Burke’s Red Screen
In Daniel Burke’s Red Screen Parker Reid knows monsters. Not just because he is a renowned profiler, but because he faced one and lost everything. It took a lot to claw himself back, but he did. Now, with only his job left, he works hard to find the monsters so others don’t have to experience what he did. The thing is, by the time they call him in, there is already loss and suffering. This case, however, promises to reopen the thin scar tissue covering his wounds. A murderer roams the streets, killing and taking trophies in such a way it stumped everyone. The answers could lie within an anomaly, or should that be The Anomaly, the one who roams The Land of Might and Magic destroying all within its path as it hunts. The developers know there is a problem, but admitting it could be their downfall. With so many secrets, with the company wanting to keep their problems quiet and using their own players as bait, Parker must fight through red tape and questions to seek answers no one wants to give him before the killer strikes again.
A perfect combination of murder mystery and thriller meets LitRPG. The worlds and plot run parallel, their overlap becoming clearer as the in-depth plot continues to explore events in the ‘Real-Real’ that mirror those in Metaverse, or more specifically, in The Land of Might and Magic. Daniel Burke sets a perfect pace, combining the exploits of Shea, our resident LMM player, with those of the FBI’s Parker Reid and those working for Xperion, all unfolding and combining pieces of the jigsaw for the readers to slot into place and build the bigger picture. Character development, both in-game and in the Real-Real is brilliantly handled, the attachment gamers have to their avatars is something only a true gamer understands, and perfectly summarized. The threat is real, the gamers have livelihoods being wiped out by the Anomaly when their game is red-screened. But in the Real-Real, people are losing their lives. I loved the character development, and the leg work put into overcoming roadblocks and obstacles to uncover the truth. Secrets, lies, hidden agendas and threats hide in every chapter of Red Screen, creating a story you won’t want to put down.
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