Tag, You're Dead

May 16, 2016
Six teenagers play a high-stakes game of tag through Chicago in this engrossing standalone from the pseudonymous Lane (Leave Tomorrow Behind and five other Stella Crown mysteries as Judy Clemens). Unattractive socialite Brandy Inkrott loathes naturally pretty, popular girls, so her wealthy parents gift her with the chance to kill Laura Wingfield, a stranger who’s everything Brandy isn’t. Robert Matthews, a politician’s son, believes he’d be the star of his high school basketball team with Tyrese Broadstreet out of the way. Brilliant Charles Akida simply wants a challenge, but to convince equally astute Amanda Paniagua to take the game seriously, he has to appear to pose a lethal threat to her. The “Its” know tagging their “Runner” means committing murder, but they don’t realize that if they fail, the game’s mysterious referee has a twist in store for them—and the hunters will become the hunted. Despite one-dimensional characters and a lack of development, readers will enjoy seeing how each Runner draws on his or her best qualities to try to survive the game. Agent: Uwe Stender, Triada US Literary Agency.

May 15, 2016
In a technology-infused game of tag to the death, six teenagers must use every resource at their disposal to stay alive.Coming home from a night of babysitting, Laura Wingfield is whisked off by a stranger who explains that her life is in danger. Apparently someone has paid a great deal of money to play "hunt tag" with Laura, though this game is to the death. Laura's outfitted with a specialized watch that tracks her every move and transmits her location to her "It" every half hour. Laura is shocked. She's never been in trouble and can't think of anyone who would want to harm her. She doesn't have long to think about it, though, because the game begins quickly and she has to concentrate on making her way to home base alive. Two other "Runners," Tyrese Broadstreet and Amanda Paniagua, have different reactions to the similar instructions they receive. Tyrese is an all-star basketball player whose street smarts make his game of tag a challenge for his It. Amanda, on the other hand, is a geeky gamer girl who doesn't take the referee's threat seriously until her It finds a way to raise the stakes. The Its, Brandy Inkrott, Charles Akida, and Robert Matthews, all have specific reasons for chasing their individual runners. Everyone has something to gain by winning the game--especially the Runners, who'll forfeit their lives if they lose. A veteran of several genres, Lane (aka Judy Clemens, Till the Cows Come Home, 2004, etc.) talks tough tech. Though the sci-fi aspects of the plot may not have enough detail for true junkies, she still takes readers on a fun ride.

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May 1, 2016
Three predators, three prey: six young people playing a high-stakes game of tag in which the object is for the predator (the it ) to find and kill the prey (the runner ). The novel is a well-constructed hybrid of Richard Connell's 1920s short story The Most Dangerous Game (in which people hunt humans for sport), Stephen King's The Running Man (featuring a murderous game), and, of course, The Hunger Games, but Lane includes enough original material to make the tale feel fresh. Its shifting point of viewthe narrative jumps back and forth among the six playershelps keep us flipping the pages, and the big mysteries, including the identity and motivation of the people who are running the game, are appropriately difficult to penetrate (for us and for the players). Good reading for King fans as well as those many millions who secretly wish that Katniss Everdeen was still playing her own dangerous game.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)