The Games

Ted Kosmatka

ISBN 10: 0345526619 / ISBN 13: 9780345526618

Published by Random House USA Inc, 2012

About this Item

Jurassic Park meets The Hunger Games in this stunning new high-energy, high-concept tale from first-time novelist Ted Kosmatka, a Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEKLY Brilliant geneticist Silas Williams oversees U.S. selections for the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: No entrants may possess human DNA. Desperate to maintain America's edge in the upcoming Games, Silas's superior engages an experimental supercomputer to design the ultimate, unbeatable combatant. The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. But even a genius like Silas cannot anticipate the consequences of allowing a computer's cold logic to play God. Growing swiftly, the mutant gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and--most chillingly--intelligence. And before hell breaks loose, Silas and beautiful xenobiologist Vidonia Jo o must race to understand what unbound science has wrought--even as their professional curiosity gives way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror. Praise for The GamesBlends the best of Crichton and Koontz.--Publishers Weekly (starred review) Outstanding . . . very like something Michael Crichton might have written . . . a] bold mix of horror and SF . . . Expect big things from Ted] Kosmatka.--Booklist (starred review) Kosmatka successfully captures the thrill of groundbreaking technology. . . . The pleasure of his polished, action-packed storytelling is deepened by strong character development. This near-future SF thriller . . . seems destined for the big screen.--Library Journal (starred review).

Seller Inventory # CIN0345526619G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Games
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345526619
• ISBN 13: 9780345526618
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Jurassic Park meets The Hunger Games in this stunning new high-energy, high-concept tale from first-time novelist Ted Kosmatka, a Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist.
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Set in an amoral future where genetically engineered monstrosities fight each other to the death in an Olympic event, The Games envisions a harrowing world that may arrive sooner than you think.
 
Silas Williams is the brilliant geneticist in charge of preparing the U.S. entry into the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: no human DNA is permitted in the design of the entrants. Silas lives and breathes genetics; his designs have led the United States to the gold in every previous event. But the other countries are catching up. Now, desperate for an edge in the upcoming Games, Silas’s boss engages an experimental supercomputer to design the genetic code for a gladiator that cannot be beaten.
 
The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. Not even Silas, with all his genius and experience, can understand the horror he had a hand in making. And no one, he fears, can anticipate the consequences of entrusting the act of creation to a computer’s cold logic.
 
Now Silas races to understand what the computer has wrought, aided by a beautiful xenobiologist, Vidonia Joćo. Yet as the fast-growing gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and—most disquietingly—intelligence, Silas and Vidonia find their scientific curiosity giving way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror.

Praise for The Games
 
“Blends the best of Crichton and Koontz.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Outstanding . . . very like something Michael Crichton might have written . . . [a] bold mix of horror and SF . . . Expect big things from [Ted] Kosmatka.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“Kosmatka successfully captures the thrill of groundbreaking technology. . . . The pleasure of his polished, action-packed storytelling is deepened by strong character development. This near-future SF thriller . . . seems destined for the big screen.”—Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author

Ted Kosmatka was born and raised in northwest Indiana and spent more than a decade working in various laboratories there before moving to the Pacific Northwest. His short fiction has been nominated for both the Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He now works in the videogame industry where he’s a full-time writer at Valve, home of Half-Life, Portal and Dota 2.