Firewall

September 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-Josh and his father, a recently divorced police officer, just moved from Chicago to Valleytown, a city in the middle of nowhere. The only redeeming factor is that Josh can still play his favorite video game, Killswitch. In Killswitch, he can live out his fantasies, as long as his dad does not catch on to exactly how much time Josh spends in front of the computer. Josh and his only new friend Griggs find a secret world within Killswitch, and it is an exact digital replica of Valleytown. Josh gets sucked into the creator Sudo's nefarious purpose of creating Valleytown in Killswitch. Suddenly, Josh has to make a decision to either save his new school or let Sudo enact his plans of revenge. This work contains a surprising amount of drama and plot for a slim volume. Readers, reluctant and avid alike, will be quickly drawn into Josh's lonely world. Unfortunately, it reads almost too quickly and wraps up abruptly leaving readers with questions. VERDICT Purchase for collections where hi-lo titles circulate or for libraries with a prevalent video gamer culture.-Morgan Brickey, Arlington Public Library, TX

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