Polybius

By: Collin Armstrong

Narrated by: Rachanee Lumayno

“If you’re a fan of Stephen King and Stranger Things, then this is the book for you.” —Richard Chizmar, New York Times bestselling author

Stranger Things meets The Walking Dead in this chilling horror novel based on the terrifying urban legend about a video game created by the government for psychological warfare.

October, 1982. Forced to move to the quiet seaside town of Tasker Bay by her mother, the only thing on high schooler Andi’s mind is saving up enough money to return to her old stomping grounds in Silicon Valley. Her self-taught skills with all things electronic make her a perfect fit for a job at the dingy local arcade where she can tune out from life and bankroll her eventual escape.

Pining over the distant and aloof Andi is Ro, the son of Tasker Bay’s sheriff, who begins spending more time at the arcade. Despite promising herself she wouldn’t get attached to anyone in town, Andi finds herself opening up to the thoughtful, like-minded Ro.

With Polybius—a new bleeding-edge game of unknown origin arrives—the shop is suddenly overwhelmed with players fighting for time on the machine. Seemingly overnight, a virus-like epidemic grips Tasker Bay while a violent coastal storm rolls in, isolating it from the outside world. People begin experiencing fits of anger, paranoia, and hallucinations—no one can be trusted. After a grisly act of violence goes unsolved, the town descends into chaos. Is the arrival of this mysterious game and the disorder in Tasker Bay a coincidence? Convinced the dire situation is somehow linked to Polybius, Andi and Ro desperately search for clues that might stop the spread before they, too, begin experiencing side effects…

Snoozefest ZzZzZzZz

How can such a cool and interesting premise be so mind-numbingly boring? The only thing worse was the performance. It sounded like a Temu version of Alexa. Would not recommend.

Wasted potential

it could've been so good. Great idea. But just turns into "science is magic". Should've been supernatural from the start. Or the government used things with supernatural powers they didn't understand. But instead it gets into "the government has super sophisticated technology well beyond what could've existed in 1982." So essentially magic anyway.
To call the characters two-dimensional would be generous. I feel like this is a screenplay that didn't work, so it got adapted into book form so the narrator could use third-person omniscient perspective to tell instead of show.
Also the ending sucked.
Now that I think about it, two stars is being generous as well.
I need to find out who this guy's agent is because if he can get work writing, I surely can.

Fun story, until the end

No spoilers, but there was a lot more that could have been done with the game, and the characters. The narration was overly enunciated to the point of being distracting at times.

Still a fun read though

Cool idea and you can fix the narration!

This foot my horror/found items niche so had to try it. Yes, the narration is odd but I found a way to make it better - speed it up to 1.2. It was a lot better!

Good book

I really like the premise of the novel and how I could visualize everything that was happening. However I feel like the ending kinda sold short. The ending seemed rushed and unfinished