Review: A Killer’s Game

A Killer’s Game by Isabella Maldonado
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A group of 12 mercenary killers are invited to help an unknown client develop a special ops training program that will be conducted almost entirely virtually. Once they arrive at an unknown location in a desert-like location, they find themselves in a seven story underground maze the corridors and rooms of which are controlled remotely by the baritone voice of an unseen master. And they are not there to help him develop any training program.

All the questions are answered by the end--Who is this man? What is this set up if not a training program? Why does he seem to have as his end game the death and destruction of each of the participants? How is he reaching his goal? And Where the Hell are they? When will anyone come to rescue them? After all, one of their numbers is an undercover FBI Agent and another is a man who she and her fellow Agents have turned into her ally.

Throw in a little Hispanic female Ranger who is smarter, tougher and stronger than any of the thugs who make up this team or the guy who is manipulating them and you have the requisite minority gal who can do anything her male counterparts can do, only better. Oh, sure, the spandex suit she is wearing is adequately described to let the reader know that she has all the feminine bodily allure that some of the men might notice. And, she has a few emotional moments, when she reacts momentarily to the deaths of her fellow captives or has memories of her backstory or interactions with her younger brother and sister. But, for all intents and purposes, she is just one of the guys in a book where most of the characters, including Dani, are called and referred to by surnames only--Vega, she is.

The theme is similar to The Naked Prey and The Most Dangerous Game in which humans are hunted prey and the heroine is similar to Erin Carter in the Netflix show--Who is Erin Carter--Vega just doesn't get gut shot or have as much hand to hand combat but the incredible survival skills shown usually by men in such shows and books is the same for her.

Not terribly original and having a definite agenda, still the book is riveting and the ending has a good hook.

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