LEAP POINT

In 2014, Medicine Falls is just another rural town with a dying economy and a way of life that has become increasingly irrelevant. The lure of the Net and virtual-reality games has replaced the malls and movie theaters. The hottest game of all is Nir--short for Nirvana--with its promise of escape into a world of addictive pleasures.

When Abbey McCrae's teenage daughter dies mysteriously, everyone calls it suicide. But Abbey believes it's murder, somehow connected to her daughter's addiction to Nir--and to the cultlike Dimension Institute, led by the charismatic Zachariah Smith. As more and more townspeople fall under Nir's spell, Abbey and a cynical detective uncover a horrifying conspiracy involving the game, the Institute, and the secret "guests" Zachariah Smith keeps at his ranch. And Abbey will learn that she alone can stop an alien threat that seeks to consume all of humanity....

In 2014, Medicine Falls is just another rural town with a dying economy and a way of life that has become increasingly irrelevant. The lure of the Net and virtual-reality games has replaced the malls and movie theaters. The hottest game of all is Nir--short for Nirvana--with its promise of escape into a world of addictive pleasures.

When Abbey McCrae's teenage daughter dies mysteriously, everyone calls it suicide. But Abbey believes it's murder, somehow connected to her daughter's addiction to Nir--and to the cultlike Dimension Institute, led by the charismatic Zachariah Smith. As more and more townspeople fall under Nir's spell, Abbey and a cynical detective uncover a horrifying conspiracy involving the game, the Institute, and the secret "guests" Zachariah Smith keeps at his ranch. And Abbey will learn that she alone can stop an alien threat that seeks to consume all of humanity. --Bonnie Bouman